Created by
Willis, Deborah, American, born 1948
Printed by
The Brandywine Workshop, American, founded 1972
Date
2009
Medium
ink on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 14 3/4 × 29 1/2 in. (37.5 × 74.9 cm)
Caption
When Deborah Willis was an undergraduate at the Philadelphia College of Art one of her professors told her "You're taking up a good man's space, you should not be in this program. All you're going to do is get married, get pregnant, have a baby and a good man could have been in your seat." Reflecting back on this moment later, Willis used self-portraits she created after becoming pregnant soon after graduation to flip the professor's sentiment into a positive - she created space for her son, who is also an artist.
Description
A color lithograph featuring a film photography triptych of self-portraits by Deborah Willis. The portraits are in black-and-white, with a pink-tinted background, set the against turquoise background of the print. In each portrait, a pregnant Willis sits in a wicker chair next to a closed door. In the first two, she wears a black dress, her eyes cast downward. In the first image, her hands are on her pregnant belly. In the second, another set of hands reach from out of frame to cradle her belly, and Willis holds those hands at the wrist. In the third image, Willis reclines in the chair, nude, looking directly at the camera. In white handwritten script above the images is: “A woman taking space from,” “You took the space from,” and “I made a space for.” In the same script beneath each image is: “a good man.” At the bottom left corner, handwritten in graphite, is [12/28] and in the bottom right corner is [Deborah Willis © 2009].
Place printed
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
Classification
Visual Arts
Type
lithographs
Topic
Art
Feminism
Motherhood
Photography
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Juanita and Melvin Hardy
Object number
2020.58.2
Restrictions & Rights
© Deborah Willis
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5ff57b937-72dd-41b1-96c2-9c5c4d05032a

Cataloging is an ongoing process and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. If you have more information about this object, please contact us at NMAAHCDigiTeam@si.edu

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