<I>Bush Man</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2002
name: label: Created by
content: Michael B. Platt, American, 1948 - 2019
notes: label: Caption
content: Michael B. Platt was a photographer, digital printmaker, and multi-media artist. He created figurative images that gave voice to marginalized people, often referencing history, rites of passage, and cultural rituals in his work. This print is from a series of drawings, “Bush Men 2,” inspired by the peoples of the Kalahari Desert. Platt stated, “My feelings about them are reflected in a statement by a !Xu Bushmen, Staff Sgt. Mario Mahongo of Schmidtsdrift, quoted in a National Geographic article (February 2001) on the Bushmen: ‘We Bushmen, we were the First People here so how come we are the last ones in line to get anything?’ The blues composer Willie Dixon could have written these words for the late blues man, Muddy Waters.”
label: Description
content: A lithograph depicting the figure of a man in black ink on off-white paper. Shown from the hips up, he stands in profile to the viewer, his back straight and his gaze directly in front of him. The sketch lines are visible amidst the softer, wider shadings of the man’s face, hair, and body. Animated splotches and splatters of black ink line the back side of the figure, starting at the top of the head and extending to the small of his back. Handwritten in graphite beneath the image is the edition [3/5] at left, the title [Bush Man] at center, and the artist’s signature and date [Michael B. Platt 02] at right.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Africa
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Local and regional
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: Bushmen 2
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Juanita and Melvin Hardy
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2020.58.8
objectType: label: Type
content: lithographs
label: Type
content: portraits
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Michael B. Platt
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 19 1/4 × 12 1/2 in. (48.9 × 31.8 cm)