Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. gouache on paper, Quadroon Song 41486

2020.39.3

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Quadroon Song

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Artist

Kara Walker (Stockton, California, 11/26/1969 - )

Title

Quadroon Song

Creation Date

n.d.

Dimensions

9 1/16 x 12 3/8 in. (23.02 x 31.43 cm)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

gouache on paper

Credit Line

Archival Collection of Marion Boulton Stroud and Acadia Summer Arts Program, Mt. Desert Island, Maine. Gift from the Marion Boulton "Kippy" Stroud Foundation

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2020.39.3

American artist Kara Walker is best known for her silhouette figures. These works are often the result of a series of preparatory drawings that explore subjects and develop compositions. Quadroon Song and The Hi-Brids suggest the artist reckoning with the effects of miscegenation on people of African descent. Presented in these drawings are faces with stereotypical physiognomic features such as large foreheads and big lips, possibly the artist’s signaling of an African ancestry. In Crossover Artist, Walker seems to question her relationship to her art, as the left figure appears to be merging with the stoic figure profiled to the right. Poor Baby depicts a woman spilling milk while a nest of snakes nips at her body, prompting the viewer to question the act of violence done to the Black body. Together, these drawings explore themes found across her practice.