Artwork Details
- Title
- Li’L Sis
- Artist
- Date
- 1944
- Location
- Dimensions
- 26 x 21 1⁄4 in. (66.1 x 54.0 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Harmon Foundation
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on paperboard
- Classifications
- Subjects
- African American
- Portrait female — Brown, Ernestine — child
- Object — toy — doll
- Object Number
- 1967.59.1023
Artwork Description
The little girl in this portrait holds a flyswatter, ready to wave away any insects from the baby in her charge. The scumbled yellow background emphasizes the child’s dark skin and focuses our attention on her stalwart pose and grave eyes. William H. Johnson returned to his hometown of Florence, South Carolina, in 1944 to reacquaint himself with his family and to paint scenes from the community he grew up in. The younger children did not know Johnson, however, and his unpredictable behavior and short temper may account for the girl’s uneasy but resolute expression.