Two Heads #1

1968

Two Heads #1, 1968. Jack Whitten (American, 1939–2018). Pastel on laid paper; sheet: 29.2 x 50.2 cm (11 1/2 x 19 3/4 in.); framed: 37.4 x 58.3 x 3.8 cm (14 3/4 x 22 15/16 x 1 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2020.227 © Jack Whitten For over five decades, Jack Whitten experimented with materials and process to create his own distinctive style of abstract drawing. This work dates to a period shortly after the artist relocated to New York from rural Alabama and was involved with the civil rights movement. Depicting two anonymous African American women, it belongs to a series of portraits, created by the artist as a means of commentary on the lack of visibility of such figures throughout Western art. Depicted in gestural marks of bright color, the subjects command the viewer’s attention and convey a sense of power and dignity. Drawing was central to Jack Whitten’s artistic practice and he described it once as “an act of brave exploration into unknown territories.”