Object Details
Artist
Charles Searles, born Philadelphia, PA 1937-died New York City 2004
Exhibition Label
In 1974, Searles was invited to paint a mural for the William J. Green Jr. Federal Building in his hometown of Philadelphia. Celebration, a study for that mural, fuses the energy of an American street festival with memories of Searles’s 1972 trip to Nigeria. The canvas is filled with syncopated color, the echoing forms of circular drumheads, and the waving arms of dancers. Searles suggests the duality of the human psyche by dividing the figures vertically into light and dark sections. At the bottom center, he included a child with a masklike face and spiky hair in homage to his young daughter, who died in 1971.
African Amerian Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program
Date
1975
Object number
1977.47.31
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Painting
Medium
acrylic on canvas
Dimensions
27 1/2 x 81 3/4 in. (70.0 x 207.6 cm)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
African American
Recreation\dancing
Performing arts\music\drum
Landscape\time\sunrise
Study\mural study
Ceremony\festival
General Services Administration\Art-in-Architecture Program
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1977.47.31