Melvin Edwards
Tambo1993
welded steel
28 1/8 x 25 1/4 x 22 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program
The date and title of this “steel life” are significant. Edwards frequently names his sculptures after African words and people. This work pays particular homage to Oliver Tambo who died in 1993. Tambo, a South African activist, co-founded with Nelson Mandela the Youth League of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944.
