Mask

Sargent Johnson, Mask, ca. 1930-1935, copper with gilding on walnut base, 15 34 × 13 38 × 6 18 in. (40 × 34 × 15.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of International Business Machines Corporation, 1966.27.4

Artwork Details

Title
Mask
Date
ca. 1930-1935
Dimensions
15 34 × 13 38 × 6 18 in. (40 × 34 × 15.6 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of International Business Machines Corporation
Mediums
Mediums Description
copper with gilding on walnut base
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure female — head
  • African American
Object Number
1966.27.4

Artwork Description

Johnson learned to work copper sheet metal in the 1920s as an assistant in the studio of the sculptor Beniamino Bufano, one of his instructors at the California School of the Fine Arts in San Francisco. The stylized oval of the face, generous lips, and wide nose reflect Johnson's aim to show the "pure American Negro." He said he wanted to depict the "natural beauty and dignity in that characteristic lip, that characteristic hair, bearing and manner." With Mask, Johnson situated the image of the black face within a dialogue about race taking place among Alain Locke, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes and other poets and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance.

African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012

Works by this artist (1 item)

Jill Moser, 4/1/86, 1986, graphite and oil on mylar, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anonymous donor, 1989.64
4/1/86
Date1986
graphite and oil on mylar
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 1995.22.1 - SAAM-1995.22.1_1 - 65784
African American Art in the 20th Century
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is home to one of the most significant collections of African American art in the world.

More Artworks from the Collection

Joseph Hardin, Untitled (figure at Table, View of Legs), ca. 1978, colored pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.111
Untitled (figure at Table, View of Legs)
Dateca. 1978
colored pencil on paper
Not on view
William Zorach, (Untitled--Child's Head), 1925, pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift from the collection of the Zorach children, 1976.145.8
(Untitled – Child’s Head)
Date1925
pencil on paper
Not on view
Michael Clark, Classic Series, 1970, pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Fendrick, 1980.131.3
Classic Series
Date1970
pencil on paper
Not on view
Study for the Pushover
Date1981
pencil on paper
Not on view