Dracula and the Artist

1991, printed 2019

Dracula and the Artist, 1991, printed 2019. Lorraine O'Grady (American, 1934-). Diptych, archival pigment print; image: 101.6 x 254 cm (40 x 100 in.); framed: 103.8 x 258.4 x 4.4 cm (40 7/8 x 101 3/4 x 1 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2022.90 Dracula addresses Black women’s relationship to their hair. In the left half of this diptych, or two-part piece, an artist with broken and unkempt hair stares at a flight of combs, their broken teeth evoking vampires’ fangs. In the right panel, the artist focuses on making her art, managing to accept herself as she is and overcome Dracula’s erotic allure. Lorraine O’Grady was an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Departments of Labor and State, a translator, and a rock critic before becoming an artist.