- Created by
- Jarrell, Wadsworth Aikens Sr., American, born 1929
- Subject of
- Williams, José J., American, born 1934
- AfriCOBRA, founded 1968
- Date
- ca. 1970
- Medium
- watercolor on wove paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 47 3/16 × 40 3/8 in. (119.8 × 102.5 cm)
- Caption
- Wadsworth Jarrell was a founding member of AfriCOBRA, an influential collective of Black artists formed in 1968 on the South Side of Chicago. As a painter and photographer, he used vibrant colors to depict political activism and musical life in Chicago in the late 1960s and 70s. This is a double portrait of fellow Chicago artist José J. Williams.
- Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Williams was a painter, printmaker, musician, textile artist, and designer. In addition to teaching art at Northwestern University, he owned the AFAM Gallery and was director of the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago in the early 1970s. A talented jazz saxophonist, he often played events at Jae and Wadsworth Jarrell's WJ Studio and Gallery.
- Description
- A portrait of artist and jazz musician, José J. Williams, in watercolor on light green wove paper by Wadsworth Jarrell. The colorful double portrait depicts two views of Williams during a live performance, surrounded and overlaid by round bursts of watercolor in black, blue, green, orange, red, pink, and yellow. In the left depiction, Williams’s eyes are closed as he leans back slightly, playing his soprano saxophone. He is painted with curly black hair and wearing a bright green shirt, yellow belt, and red fading to white trousers. In the right depiction, Williams plays in a forward, bending stance, wearing a blue shirt and pink trousers. In the bottom right corner of the painting is the artist’s signature [Wadsworth A. Jarrell] in dark blue watercolor.
- Place depicted
- Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Movement
- BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976)
- Type
- watercolors
- Topic
- Art
- Communities
- Instrumentalists (Musicians)
- Jazz (Music)
- Music
- Musicians
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Object number
- 2023.46.1
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Wadsworth Aikens Jarrell Sr
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




