1995.10
Snake Man
Artist
Alison Saar
(Feb. 5, 1956 – )
Title
Snake Man
Creation Date
1994
Century
20th century
Dimensions
27 3/4 in. x 37 1/16 in. (70.49 cm x 94.14 cm)
Object Type
print
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
woodcut and lithograph on paper
Credit Line
Anonymous Gift and Museum Purchase
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
1995.10
Alison Saar is best known for her large-scale sculptures and installations. Influenced by American folk art, classical mythology, African and Haitian folklore, Mexican syncretic Catholicism, and contemporary African American culture, her sculptures can be read on a number of levels from storytelling to social commentary. While Saar was at Vinalhaven Press in the summers of 1993 and 1994, she moved from three to two dimensions, translating a number of her previous sculptures into prints. This image was first incarnated as a bust titled Snake Charmer (1985). In an interview with cultural critic bell hooks, Alison Saar explained that the snake charmer is an imaginative figure: "Whether he was a shaman or a gypsy, he could go between people and stir things up." The surface of the print retains elements of the original sculptures' distinctly tactile presence.