- Title:
- The History of Her Life Written Across Her Face
- Object name(s):
- Brief description:
- Margo Humphrey, 'The History of her life written across her face', colour lithograph, 1992
- Brief description:
- Simplified self portrait overlaid with images, symbols and script. Colour lithograph with metallic leaf and chine colle on paper
- Collection:
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Associated concept:
- Black History
- Content - concept:
- self-portraits
- Content - concept:
- autobiography
- Credit line:
- Given by Judith Brodsky
- Current reproduction location:
- https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GA4769/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg
- Location type:
- Thumbnail
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measured part:
- unmounted
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 81
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measured part:
- unmounted
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 74.5
- Edition number:
- 19/30
- Inscription content:
- Handwritten text pasted to images front: 'It was in the spring of 79 that she first flew to NYC to see art. The angels kept her safe. She met a man in Chicago, they became lovers. Her lover made a bad move. For balance; her mom and dad dead. The ladder of life is a mystery. Her twins were born in 82. She went through the fire and the rain. TESTED. SURVIVED. Like the devil himself had taken over, but you see, not so. Her faith kept her strong and she longed to be free. She had no choice but to dig in deep for a chance to make it happen. So she rose to the occasion screaming all the way. And fighting. MH 1989/1990'
- Inscription content:
- 19/30 The History of her life written across her face Margo Humphrey 91
- Material:
- paper
- Object name:
- Object number:
- E.2833-1995
- Object production date:
- 1991
- Date - association:
- made
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1991-01-01
- Date - latest:
- 1991-12-31
- Object production person:
- Margo Humphrey
- Person's association:
- artist
- Object production place:
- United States
- Place association:
- made
- Physical description:
- Simplified self portrait overlaid with images, symbols and script. Colour lithograph with metallic leaf and chine colle on paper
- Reproduction number:
- 2013GA4769
- Responsible department/section:
- PDP
- Technique:
- lithograph
- Technique:
- collage
- Technique:
- Colour lithograph and collage on paper
- Text:
- [From leaflet] 'The American Margo Humphrey (b.1942) draws us into a more personal history through the engaging device of a child's reading game. Yet the hieratic face and byzantine gaze command the respect usually reserved for religious icons.'
- Text reason:
- Gallery label text
- Text:
- This print by Margo Humphrey recounts her personal experiences as an African-American artist and woman. A bold and simplified self portrait is overwritten with images, symbols and script which retell a personal narrative. The same narrative is presented in a piece of handwritten text pasted to the portrait. Humphrey began sketches for this portrait in 1986, inspired by images of veiled women and by a National Geographic photograph of a woman with a Sanskrit prayer tattooed across her face. Humphrey studied printmaking at the California College of Arts and Crafts and received her MFA in printmaking from Stanford University. After her studies, she travelled in Europe, Brazil, the Caribbean and Africa. She taught art in Benin, Nigeria and Uganda. Humphrey’s interest in oral traditions and storytelling is also apparent in this work.
- Text reason:
- Summary description
- Text reason:
- Collections online record
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/f8513c70-4347-3d7b-8d72-0edab242f6f9
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/f8513c70-4347-3d7b-8d72-0edab242f6f9, Victoria and Albert Museum, CC BY-NC
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