Demolition AB5

Mavis Iona Pusey, Demolition AB5, 1980, pastel and graphite on paper, sheet: 40 ⁷⁄₈ × 27 ¹⁄₄ in. (103.8 × 69.2 cm) image: 31 ¹⁄₂ in. × 23 in. (80 × 58.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, 2020.58.1

Artwork Details

Title: Demolition AB5
Artist: Mavis Iona Pusey
Date: 1980
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet: 40 ⁷⁄₈ × 27 ¹⁄₄ in. (103.8 × 69.2 cm) image: 31 ¹⁄₂ in. × 23 in. (80 × 58.4 cm)
Credit Line: Museum purchase made possible by the Catherine Walden Myer Fund
Mediums: pastel
graphite
Mediums Description: pastel and graphite on paper
Classifications: Drawing
Subjects: Architecture — industry — construction
Object Number: 2020.58.1
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2020.58.1

Artwork Description

Mavis Pusey emigrated from Jamaica to New York at age eighteen to study fashion, but classes at the Art Students League soon revealed her talents in painting and printmaking. Four years later, an expired visa forced her to move to London and then Paris, but she returned to New York in the late 1960s. Inspired by the architecture, lights, and movement of these cosmopolitan cities, Pusey created abstract works at a time when many fellow Black artists were producing representational art with themes that supported the civil rights movement. Here Pusey uses geometric forms to capture the transient nature of her urban surroundings, observing the city's cycles of neglect and gentrification. The textured surfaces suggest the skewed rectangular planks and boarded-up windows of abandoned buildings and construction sites.