Walkin' Blues

2000

American, born 1959

"Stranger Blues," a song recorded by Sweet Honey in the Rock (an African American female vocal group), inspired this sculpture. It recounts the saga of a woman who doesn't feel at home anywhere she goes and is constantly leaving because she has the "walkin' blues." Whitfield Lovell selected one of the historic photographs of African Americans that he collects from antique shops and flea markets to epitomize this unknown woman, sketching her haunting image on wallboards, not white canvas, to evoke a bygone era. Around her, the artist has created a "tableaux" that emphasizes her transient habits-an empty steamer trunk and suitcase wait for her to pack and move on.

Charcoal on wood and found objects

Panel: 86 x 50 1/2 in. (218.4 x 128.3 cm); Trunk 1: 30 x 16 1/2 x 11 in.; Trunk 2: 41 1/2 x 22 x 21 in.

The 1999 Maryatt Gala Fund

2000.217

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryNew York, New York, DC Moore Gallery, "Whitfield Lovell: Recent Tableaux," October 18 - November 11, 2000, no. 5

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "First Person Singular" May 31, 2001 - March 17, 2002

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Africa in America", December 18, 2004 - January 1, 2006

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Black Art II", November 21, 2008 - March 15, 2009

Published ReferencesLippard, Lucy. "The Art of Whitfield Lovell: Whispers from the Walls." Petaluma: Pomegranate Communications, Inc., 2003, p. 88, illus.

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