<I>Arty (Centerpiece)</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1970
name: label: Created by
content: Nelson Stevens, American, 1938 - 2022
label: Subject of
content: Arlene Turner Crawford, American
label: Subject of
content: AfriCOBRA, founded 1968
notes: label: Caption
content: Arty is the centerpiece of Nelson Stevens’s triptych, Unity, and was inspired by the archetypal Christian altarpieces from the Byzantine era. Stevens replaced the traditional white religious figures with an image of a young Black woman. To elevate African Americans to a position of reverence and respect, he painted this composition using the technique of forced perspective: the viewer occupies a position of supplicant, or child, looking up to what Stevens calls the “hero’s position.”
label: Caption
content: Stevens was a founding member of the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists, or AfriCOBRA, a collective formed in 1968 to create uplifting art relevant to Black communities. His triptych was displayed in the group’s first exhibition, AFRI-COBRA I: Ten in Search of a Nation, in Harlem in 1970.
label: Description
content: This is an abstract acrylic painting depicting a woman from the neck up. Done in a color palette of red, orange, blue, and purple, the woman's form is made up of clusters of rounded and abstract pools of color. Viewed slightly from below, she faces forward and gazes upward.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Associations and institutions
label: Topic
content: Christianity
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Professional organizations
label: Topic
content: Religion
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Movement
content: BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976)
label: Exhibition
content: Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.
label: On View
content: NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 052
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: 2016.73
objectType: label: Type
content: acrylic paintings
label: Type
content: portraits
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Nelson Stevens
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acrylic paint on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 50 × 50 × 2 in. (127 × 127 × 5.1 cm)