Self-Portrait with Banjo

Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Self-Portrait with Banjo, 1986, mixed media: mud, paint, and vegetable matter on board, 49 x 25 ¹⁄₄ in. (124.5 x 64.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.40

Artwork Details

Title: Self-Portrait with Banjo
Artist: Jimmy Lee Sudduth
Date: 1986
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
Luce Foundation Center
/
3rd Floor
/
23A
Dimensions: 49 x 25 ¹⁄₄ in. (124.5 x 64.1 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums: mud
mixed media
paint
Mediums Description: mixed media: mud, paint, and vegetable matter on board
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: African American
Occupation — art — painter
Portrait male — Sudduth, Jimmy Lee — self-portrait
Portrait male — Sudduth, Jimmy Lee — full length
Object — musical instrument — banjo
Object Number: 1997.124.40
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1997.124.40

Artwork Description

Jimmy Lee Sudduth starts his mud paintings by drawing the outline with a “dye-rock,” a soft stone sometimes used by Native Americans to paint their skin. He then fills in the shapes with a mixture of mud, sugar, and paint, and rubs leaves and berries over the top for more color. (Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia, 1990) Sudduth uses the sugar so that the mud will harden, and sometimes even adds honey or Coca Cola to the mixture. (Nancy Callahan, “Plywood for his canvas, turnip greens for paint, old houses as subject,” The Christian Science Monitor, July 23, 1980) In this image, he applied only three colors to create a vibrant self-portrait. The deep blue of the background and the bright white of the figure’s clothing emphasize the rich, earthy tones of the mud he used to “paint” his skin.