Alison Saar

Black Snake Blues

Maker

Alison Saar (American, b. 1956)
Robert Franklin, printer

Title

Black Snake Blues

Year

1994

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Image/sheet: 55.2 x 75.6 cm (21 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscribed in graphite on verso LL: 52/70; Inscribed in graphite on verso LC:Black Snake Blues; Inscribed in graphite on verso LR: Alison Saar 1994; Brandywine blind-stamp in LR corner

Identification

Edition

52/70

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Georgianna Sayles Aldrich Fund

Object Number

2014.66.44

Type

Exhibition History

Drawing Conclusions
Jan 22, 2016 – Sep 25, 2016

Label copy

The title of this piece is taken from the song “Black Snake Blues,” first recorded by Victoria Spivey in 1926 and better known by Blind Lemon Jefferson’s 1927 version, “Black Snake Moan.” The song’s themes of longing and loss color this evocative lithograph of a woman lying on a bed cupping her breast, her eyes vacant, with a snake coiled beside her. The relationship between the woman and the creature remains ambiguous, but it suggests sexual desire as well as Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Image use

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In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Alison Saar (American, b. 1956)
Robert Franklin, printer
Black Snake Blues, 1994
Color offset lithograph on paper
Image/sheet: 55.2 x 75.6 cm (21 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches)
Georgianna Sayles Aldrich Fund 2014.66.44

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