Psychological Redlining (13 Studies)

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

This is a mixed media portrait of a man with a pigeon emerging from the top of his head, framed within a red frame in the shape of a birdcage. The graphite portrait shows the man from the neck up. He faces front, his gaze directly on the viewer. The pigeon emerges from the man’s head slightly to the right-hand side. The bird is nearly fully formed body and is only missing its feet. Its body appears to be turned in profile to the viewer, but its head is turned back against its shoulder to gaze directly at the audience. The portrait is enclosed in a frame of red paint in the shape of a birdcage. The two sides consist of narrow red lines while the base is a thick red line with a beveled edge. The top of the “cage” is a solid red triangle with a round knob on top.

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