Black & White

Byron Kim, Glenn Ligon, Black & White, 1993, oil on wood panels, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the C.K. Williams Family Foundation, Pamela K. and William A. Royall, Jr., Jane and James H. Cohan, Mihail Lari and Scott Murray, Aimee and Robert Lehrman, Home Front Communications, and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2014.16A-FF, © 1993, Byron Kim and Glenn Ligon

Black & White is a collaboration between Byron Kim and Glenn Ligon, both of whom were struck by the limited pink-white range of “flesh-colored” paint available in art stores. In response, Kim, who is Korean American, painted sixteen panels of the pinkish flesh tones and Ligon, who is African American, painted sixteen panels using various black pigments. Arranged in an austere grid, Black & White elegantly underscores racial privilege.

Title

Black & White

Artists

Byron Kim

Glenn Ligon

Date

1993

Location

Dimensions

overall: 43 × 71 in. (109.2 × 180.3 cm) each panel: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm)

Copyright

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Gift of the C.K. Williams Family Foundation, Pamela K. and William A. Royall, Jr., Jane and James H. Cohan, Mihail Lari and Scott Murray, Aimee and Robert Lehrman, Home Front Communications, and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment

Mediums Description