Woman with ceramic headdress from TSU (study)

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.

A charcoal and pastel drawing by Robert Pruitt. The drawing depicts a woman wearing a cape made of chicken feathers in a deep red hue and a black headdress inspired by a ceramic sculpture by Calvin Hubbard (“Figure with Turtle and Bird,” 1966). The headdress encircles her neck and chin, from which four broad, rectilinear bars arise to create a V-shaped enclosure around the woman’s face. At the center of the sculpture headdress’s flat top, is a small turtle figure. Underneath the cape, the woman wears dark grey leggings and a green shirt. She is turning her head to look out over her proper left shoulder. There are no marks or inscriptions, front or back.

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