<I>Untitled</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1990s
name: label: Created by
content: Purvis Young, American, 1943 - 2010
notes: label: Caption
content: Purvis Young was a long-time resident of Overtown, a black neighborhood in Miami, Florida. He began drawing while in jail, after a vision led him to embrace the idea of becoming an artist. He educated himself about the history of art, and focused on a daily routine of making art, much of it on public surfaces and walls.
label: Caption
content: In Untitled, as in much of Young’s work, angels and horses are prominently featured; angels represent goodness and horses represent freedom. Just as he had found salvation through art, he hoped his own art would bring harmony to his neighborhood, and to the world.
label: Description
content: This painting depicts a large mass of abstract human and animal figures rendered in simple brushstrokes. Human figures and horses are aligned in rows, with a burial ground of headstones and crosses through the center. The figures are formed in a series of curving line brushstrokes of black, grey, yellow, and red against a red and yellow background. On the far side of the burial ground, figures on horseback surround an animal figure resembling a buffalo. In the foreground are four dark forms resembling hte back of heads, necks, and shoulders. These heads are surrounded by yellow halos. The top left corner of the fiberboard is missing.
place: label: Place made
content: Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: American West
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: United States History
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Calynne and Lou Hill
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2010.64.2
objectType: label: Type
content: paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Larry T. Clemons / Gallery 721 / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acrylic paint on fiberboard
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 64 11/16 × 47 3/8 × 1/4 in. (164.3 × 120.4 × 0.6 cm)