1. Home
  2. Art + Artists

The Struggle

  • Purvis Young, The Struggle, 1973-1974, acrylic on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Grumbacher-Viener Collection in memory of Nancy Grumbacher, 2014.15

Gallery Label
Purvis Young was a native of Miami, Florida, who created a unique art environment in the neighborhood of Overtown. In 1971, Young decided to make a statement in his downtrodden neighborhood after being inspired by murals made by African-American activists in Chicago and Detroit. He decided to paint in a vacant alley of boarded up store fronts—a blank slate—with images that charted the challenges of this once-vibrant neighborhood. The Struggle is widely regarded as Young’s most powerful and significant work from this period.
Title
The Struggle
Artist
Purvis Young
Date
1973-1974
On View
  1. Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. 1st Floor
  3. West Wing
Dimensions
88 × 77 in. (223.5 × 195.6 cm)
Copyright
Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Gift of the Grumbacher-Viener Collection in memory of Nancy Grumbacher

Mediums Description
acrylic on wood
Classifications
Painting
Highlights
Art by African Americans
Folk and Self-Taught Art
Keywords
  • Architecture – vehicle – truck
  • Cityscape
  • Figure male
  • Architecture Exterior – domestic – apartment
Object Number
2014.15
Palette
Linked Open Data URI

More from artist

More Artworks from the Collection