The Soprano at the Mourning Easter Wake of 1968

Daniel Pressley, The Soprano at the Mourning Easter Wake of 1968, 1968, varnished walnut relief, 35 ¹⁄₄ x 18 x 1 in. (89.5 x 45.7 x 2.5 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.78

Artwork Details

Title: The Soprano at the Mourning Easter Wake of 1968
Artist: Daniel Pressley
Date: 1968
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
1st Floor
/
West Wing
Dimensions: 35 ¹⁄₄ x 18 x 1 in. (89.5 x 45.7 x 2.5 cm.)
Credit Line: Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums: paint
paper
paperboard
walnut
pressure-sensitive tape
Mediums Description: varnished walnut relief
Classifications: Sculpture
Relief
Subjects: History — United States — Civil Rights Movement
Ceremony — funeral
Figure female — waist length
Ceremony — holiday — Easter
Performing arts — music — voice
African American
Object Number: 1997.124.78
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1997.124.78

Artwork Description

Daniel Pressley learned the art of wood carving when he was a boy, from his grandfather who was a former slave. In South Carolina during the first half of the twentieth century, African-American families lived under the pall of racism. Pressley moved to New York City in 1953, like many African Americans of the era, in search of a better life. He became deft at compressing profound moments of human emotion into tight, controlled carvings. This carving shows a singer at the wake for Martin Luther King Jr., just after he was assassinated in 1968. Her clasped hands and anguished expression evoke the widespread passion and grief over the death of a hero to black Americans.