- 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.




