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Preview image of work. woodcut and lithograph on paper,  Snake Man 11400

1995.10

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Snake Man

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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.