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 is depicted in profile facing the right. His eyes are closed. In place of his nose and mouth is a bird’s beak emerging from feathers sprouting out of his cheeks and chin. The portrait is enclosed in a frame of red paint creating a square birdcage with the two sides consisting of thin red lines while the bottom and top are wide red bars. There is a red decorative finial on the top consisting of a wide rounded flattened finial topped by a knob with a length of chain emanating from the top. The artist's signature "Ruck" appears along the man's neck.

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