<I>The Man Nobody Killed</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1986
name: label: Created by
content: David Hammons, American, born 1943
label: Subject of
content: Michael Jerome Stewart, American, 1958 - 1983
label: Published by
content: Eye Magazine, British, founded 1990
notes: label: Caption
content: The Man Nobody Killed pays homage to the life and protests around the death of Michael Stewart, an artist and model who was arrested by the New York City Transit Police for writing graffiti on a subway station wall. Stewart was brutally beaten outside the subway station, and again outside the police station. Witnesses saw officers beat him with billy clubs, kick him, and choke him with a nightstick. His injuries were so severe that he was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he arrived hog-tied and without a pulse. Hospital staff revived him, but he remained in a coma and died of his injuries 13 days later. His death became the subject of protests and work by fellow artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. No officers were charged in his death.
label: Description
content: A framed stenciled paint and collaged work on printed commercially available cardboard featuring a portrait image of a young man, the artist Michael Stewart, who died after being beaten by New York City Transit Police following an arrest for writing graffiti on a wall in a subway station. Stewart is shows from the shoulders up in stenciled black paint. Across his face is stenciled text that reads "THE MAN NOBODY KILLED” in red paint. There is a white rectangle of paper adhered to the cardboard on top of the stenciled portrait. Located on his neck just below his jaw, the white rectangle has black text that reads “MICHAEL / STEWART / 1958- / 1984.”
label: Description
content: The artwork is stenciled atop a piece of white repurposed commercial cardboard with printing, stamps, and tape on it. In the upper left corner is black printed text "C/G." In the upper right corner is black printed text "BW. 4635 / FILLED." Next to this text is a small stamp in black ink "JUN 14 1983." Below this stamp are two large zeros in brown ink. At center right, appearing under most of Stewart’s face is a cream colored wine label printed in maroon and black text reading: Trefethen / NAPA VALLEY 1981 / PINOT NOIR / Grown, Produced & Bottled By /Trefethen Vineyards / Napa, California, U.S.A. / Alcohol 13.2% by Volume.” In the bottom right hand corner is text that reads "12 x 750 ML.” A piece of brown packing tape is adhered at bottom center and a scribble of red crayon at bottom left. A line of rectangular perforations appears along the left-hand margin and the upper left-hand corner is slightly crumpled.
place: label: Place depicted
content: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Police brutality
label: Topic
content: Race relations
label: Topic
content: Urban life
label: Topic
content: Violence
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2021.19
objectType: label: Type
content: collages
label: Type
content: portraits
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © David Hammons
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: stenciled paint with ink on paper and ink and tape on cardboard
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (paper): 11 × 8 1/2 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (Frame): 21 × 19 × 1 1/4 in. (53.3 × 48.3 × 3.2 cm)