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Eldzier Cortor, Southern Gate, 1942-1943, oil on canvas, 46 1⁄4 x 22 in. (117.5 x 55.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.19
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Southern Gate
- Artist
- Date
- 1942-1943
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 46 1⁄4 x 22 in. (117.5 x 55.8 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Figure female — nude
- African American
- Figure female — knee length
- Architecture Exterior — detail — gate
- Object Number
- 1980.137.19
Artwork Description
Painted in the early years of World War II, Southern Gate offers, a surreal, dreamlike picture of a solemn young woman standing in a space defined by a once-elegant wrought-iron fence, a river, and the steeple of a distant church. They are evocative elements -- the river is a traditional metaphor for passage, the fence an emblem of both confinement and of safe haven from the outside world. Wearing a necklace adorned with a cross and with a bird perched on her shoulder, she invites associations with the Virgin Mary; but Cortor's figure is as physical as she is innocent, an Edenic Eve who stands outside the sacred garden.
African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012