Image

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Nancy Elizabeth Prophet

Negro Head

Description

Maker

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (American, 1890-1960), (RISD 1918)

Title

Negro Head

Year

ca. 1924

Medium

maple wood

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

maple wood

Materials

wood

Dimensions

52.1 x 27.9 x 35.6 cm (20 1/2 x 11 x 14 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed on side of base:N Elizabeth Prophet

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Miss Eleanor B. Green

Object Number

35.780

Type

Sculpture

Exhibition History

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet

I Will Not Bend An Inch

Feb 17, 2024 – Aug 04, 2024

Label copy

This sculpture’s finely carved details suggest that it depicts the artist’s husband, Francis Ford. Alternatively, some scholars believe it may be a portrait of American singer Roland Hayes, who was also living in Paris at the time. The directness of the man’s gaze, combined with the work’s rigid frontality, its large and roughly finished base, and Prophet’s choice of title, gives it a more universal quality.

Head of a Negro is a particularly prominent work for Prophet, as it was exhibited at the Salon d’Automne exhibition in Paris in 1924, then purchased by former Rhode Island first lady Eleanor Burgess Green in 1927. It became part of the RISD Museum’s collection in 1935.

–Dominic Molon, Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art

Paula and Leonard Granoff Galleries

Dec 18, 2015

Modernism in the Americas

Jun 20, 2003 – Aug 31, 2003

"The Center Cannot Hold"

Art from 1900-1920

Mar 01, 1999 – Jul 01, 1999

One Voice, Many Visions

Work By African American Artists

Feb 20, 1998 – Jun 14, 1998

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Tombstone

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (American, 1890-1960)

Negro Head, ca. 1924

Maple wood

52.1 x 27.9 x 35.6 cm (20 1/2 x 11 x 14 inches)

Gift of Miss Eleanor B. Green 35.780

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Image

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet