Alabama Wall I

William Christenberry, Alabama Wall I, 1985, metal and tempera on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1986.8
William Christenberry, Alabama Wall I, 1985, metal and tempera on wood, 45 3⁄8 x 50 1⁄2 in. (115.3 x 128.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1986.8

Artwork Details

Title
Alabama Wall I
Artist
Date
1985
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
45 3⁄8 x 50 1⁄2 in. (115.3 x 128.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums
Mediums Description
metal and tempera on wood
Classifications
Subjects
  • Object — other — sign
  • Allegory — place — Alabama
  • Architecture — vehicle — detail
Object Number
1986.8
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.8

Artwork Description

William Christenberry grew up immersed in the landscape and history of the American South. Even after settling permanently in Washington, DC, in 1968, he continued to make an annual pilgrimage to his childhood home in Alabama, returning repeatedly to rural Hale County where he had spent summers on his grandparents' farm. The photographs, sculptures, and assemblages that Christenberry made throughout his career were inspired by his deep connection to this place, and the traditions, disruptions, and complicated social legacies that defined it. Alabama Wall I is a quilt of sorts: a rough homage to the region's culture made from found objects including license plates, advertising signs, and corrugated and rusted metal. The repeated number 36 is the license plate code for Hale County as well as the year of his birth, intimately joining the artist and landscape into a single form.

Works by this artist (12 items)

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Walter Shirlaw, Roses, before 1888, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William T. Evans, 1909.7.60
Roses
Artist
Datebefore 1888
oil on canvas
Not on view
Walter Shirlaw, The Gate Slide, n.d., pencil and watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Zabriskie Gallery, 1972.127
The Gate Slide
Artist
Daten.d.
pencil and watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard
Not on view
Walter Shirlaw, Figure Study for Decorative Panel, n.d., pencil and watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. William Henry Holmes, 1930.12.47
Figure Study for Decorative Panel
Artist
Daten.d.
pencil and watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard
Not on view
Walter Shirlaw, Standing Figure, ca. 1880, pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Mary Louisa Adams Clement, Louis Amateis, Emily Dorothy Ammann, Sargent B. Child and Mrs. David Karrick, 1990.4
Standing Figure
Artist
Dateca. 1880
pencil on paper
Not on view

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Self-Portrait Reflected in Mirror
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oil on canvas
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Edward Mitchell Bannister, Untitled (Landscape with Two Women Reclining on Rocks), oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Alan and Melvin Frank, 1983.95.132
Untitled (Landscape with Two Women Reclining on Rocks)
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oil on canvas
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Alice Pike Barney, Woman with Red Hood, n.d., oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney, 1952.13.66
Woman with Red Hood
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oil on canvas
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