Confrontation 28A and 28AA
- On View
- Visual Arts Gallery
- Museum Maps
- Objects in this Location
- Exhibition
- Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.
- Created by
- Simpson, Merton Daniel, American, 1928-2013
- Date
- 1966
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- H x W x D (28a): 39 1/2 × 59 1/2 × 1 in. (100.3 × 151.1 × 2.5 cm)
- H x W x D (28b): 39 1/2 × 59 1/2 × 1 in. (100.3 × 151.1 × 2.5 cm)
- Caption
- In 1963, painter and arts activist Merton Simpson joined the artist collective, Spiral, as a founding member. This African American artist collective was established in part to improve the position and agency of Black artists and people in American society. Two years later, he participated in Spiral’s only art exhibition. His contribution to the show became the genesis of his Confrontation series.
- “I’m painting what I think I see: ugly people fighting ugly people,” Simpson says. “I see wrongness on either side. I just think that it’s an ugly thing. I want to paint it as that. And I think if people can see it, and frown upon it enough, it might make them think, ‘Am I really a part of this? Then I should want to do something about it.’”
- Description
- A diptych of two (2) oil paintings in an abstract expressionist style, featuring white and black faces depicted in thick brushstrokes and bold shapes with strong, swirling lines covering the canvases in a palette of black, red and tan. Each canvas is shadowbox framed and displayed in landscape orientation.
- Portfolio/Series
- Confrontation
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Movement
- Civil Rights Movement
- Type
- oil paintings
- Topic
- Abstraction
- African diaspora
- Art
- Civil rights
- Race relations
- Violence
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Partial gift of the Estate of Merton Simpson
- Object number
- 2015.175ab
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Estate of Merton Simpson
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.