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

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

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

Projects & Publications

Publications

Pub_ID 199 Nancy Elizabeth Prophet I Will Not Bend an Inch v_01.jpg
  • Books

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend an Inch

Through original essays, catalogue entries on Nancy Elizabeth Prophet’s major works, and an illustrated chronology of her remarkable life, this book reframes Prophet’s powerful work and legacy. Contributors trace the artist’s transatlantic career, from Parisian ateliers to Spelman College, and consider topics such as the art institutions Prophet navigated, the stylistic connections between her figurative sculpture and the work of her modernist contemporaries, her Afro-Indigenous heritage, and how she resisted predetermined conceptions of her cultural identity. Continuing to inspire a new generation of artists and viewers today, Prophet offers a model of fearless devotion to her work.

Edited by Sarah Ganz Blythe, Dominic Molon, and Kajette Solomon, with contributions by Amalia K. Amaki, Simone Leigh, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Lorén M. Spears, and others. 

$45, hardcover, 184 pages. Copublished 2024 by Yale University Press and the RISD Museum. Proceeds from RISD Museum publications support the work of the museum.

Read Online ›

Exhibition History

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

Related Publications

Related Publications

Pub_ID 199 Nancy Elizabeth Prophet I Will Not Bend an Inch v_01.jpg
  • Books

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend an Inch

Through original essays, catalogue entries on Nancy Elizabeth Prophet’s major works, and an illustrated chronology of her remarkable life, this book reframes Prophet’s powerful work and legacy. Contributors trace the artist’s transatlantic career, from Parisian ateliers to Spelman College, and consider topics such as the art institutions Prophet navigated, the stylistic connections between her figurative sculpture and the work of her modernist contemporaries, her Afro-Indigenous heritage, and how she resisted predetermined conceptions of her cultural identity. Continuing to inspire a new generation of artists and viewers today, Prophet offers a model of fearless devotion to her work.

Edited by Sarah Ganz Blythe, Dominic Molon, and Kajette Solomon, with contributions by Amalia K. Amaki, Simone Leigh, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Lorén M. Spears, and others. 

$45, hardcover, 184 pages. Copublished 2024 by Yale University Press and the RISD Museum. Proceeds from RISD Museum publications support the work of the museum.

Read Online ›
LitID_3673 Imagining the Americas_cover .jpg
  • Digital Publication

Teaching Notes/ Imagining the Americas

Imaginig the Americas introduces key works from colonial times to the present day, encouraging students to investigate the changing American contexts.

Read Online ›

Use & Feedback

Image use

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This object is in copyright

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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