Witness

Date1947

Maker Leo Kenney born 1925, Spokane, Washington; died Seattle, Washington, 2001

Label TextLeo Kenney is one of the most celebrated Northwest artists. SAM's collection is rich in his work, numbering twenty-nine pieces across many periods, and as time goes on, his early work looks increasingly prescient. During the 1940s and 1950s, he pursued provocatively surrealist imagery such as this, a haunting portrait suggesting a psychiatric X-ray, deconstructing and demarcating the contours (both inner and outer) of the human face.

Object number2008.42

ProvenanceGift of the artist to Jack Kennemur and Jack Stickland, San Francisco; Woodside/Braseth Gallery, Seattle

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, "Leo Kenney: selected works", Woodside/Braseth Gallery, November 2003

Credit LineGift of Jack Strickland and Woodside/Braseth Gallery

Dimensions23 x 18 3/4 in. (58.4 x 47.6 cm)

MediumInk and watercolor on paper