Bouffant Pride

2003

Bouffant Pride, 2003. Ellen Gallagher (American, b. 1965). Collage of photogravures, plasticine, paint, ink, and found objects; sheet: 34.3 x 26.6 cm (13 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Judith and James Saks in memory of Lynn and Dr. Joseph Tomarkin Endowment 2003.340 © Ellen Gallagher. Courtesy Gagosian. Ellen Gallagher's work addresses the history of African American stereotypes. In this collage, the artist appropriated an advertisement for glamorous wigs from a 1960s issue of Ebony, a magazine geared toward African Americans. Using plasticine, toy eyeballs, paint, and ink, she exaggerated and completely transformed the images that once promised to beautify the magazine's average reader. Ellen Gallagher was drawn to wig advertisements like the one used in this collage due to their grid-like structure.