Photo of collection object [Untitled] (Crowd/The Fire Next Time)
Ligon, Glenn. [Untitled] (Crowd/The Fire Next Time), 2000. Screenprint with coal crystals on paper, image: 12 × 18 1/8 in. (30.5 × 46 cm) sheet: 19 5/8 × 27 11/16 in. (49.8 × 70.3 cm) frame: 27 1/8 × 35 1/8 × 2 1/4 in. (68.9 × 89.2 × 5.7 cm). Alfred T. White Fund, 2000.56. © Glenn Ligon, Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, Regen Projects, Los Angeles © artist or artist's estate.

[Untitled] (Crowd/The Fire Next Time)

2000

Glenn Ligon

American, born 1960

Contemporary Art

In this piece, spelled out in sparkling coal crystals are the words “something in me wondered ‘What will happen to all that beauty?’” This quotation, from a 1962 essay by James Baldwin (reprinted the following year in the volume The Fire Next Time), is set over a blurred black-and-white image of the Million Man March, a gathering of black social activists in Washington, D.C., in 1995. The accumulation of crystals suggests the mass of participants in this historic event as viewed from above, while the juxtaposition of Baldwin’s words with the image of the march—separated by more than three decades—reminds us of the still-ongoing dialogue about race in America.
Maker/Artist
Ligon, Glenn
Classification
Print
Formatted Medium
Screenprint with coal crystals on paper
Dimensions
image: 12 × 18 1/8 in. (30.5 × 46 cm) sheet: 19 5/8 × 27 11/16 in. (49.8 × 70.3 cm) frame: 27 1/8 × 35 1/8 × 2 1/4 in. (68.9 × 89.2 × 5.7 cm)
Departments
Contemporary Art
Accession Number
2000.56
Credit Line
Alfred T. White Fund
Rights Statement
© artist or artist's estate
Dominant Colors

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