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“The Red I” by Whitfield Lovell (American) – Conté on paper with attached found object / 2021 – Cincinnati Art Museum (Ohio) #WomenInArt #WhitfieldLovell #art #artText #artwork #Lovell #AfricanAmericanArt #CincinnatiArtMuseum #BlueskyArt #AmericanArtist #PortraitofaWoman #BlackAmericanArt #ContéArt
In “The Red I,” American artist Whitfield Lovell merges portraiture and found object to evoke memory and ancestry, a hallmark of his conceptual tableaux that blend drawing, assemblage, and the poetics of history. Beginning in the late 1990s, he developed these stand-alone scenes that are almost ghostly yet grounded and inspired by vintage photographs of unnamed African Americans whose stories were never recorded. His process reanimates these lives, freeing them from prescribed narratives while allowing presence to emerge from silence. A dark-skinned young woman gazes slighyly to our left, her thoughtful eyes avoiding direct contact with us. Lovell renders her in soft black conté lines against a vivid red paper background, her 19th-century attire detailed with high-necked, long sleeves, and three rows of buttons that trace the bodice’s form. A large rose blooms at her chest; her right arm crosses her waist holding a sprig of leaves and a flower. Her hair is swept into an elegant updo while delicate dangle earrings catch light against her cheek. The drawing, measuring nearly four feet tall, rests within a deep black frame lined in darker red. At its lower left edge, a small circular black vase with neck narrow and mouth flared protrudes from the composition, bridging the world of the viewer and the drawn figure through shadow and reflection. The “Reds” series, to which this piece belongs, explores emotional intensity and remembrance through color and ritual object. The artist combines charcoal drawings of individuals with found objects that extend into the viewer’s space. Many feature exquisite, highly finished figures who appear as if emerging organically from the surface. The found vase acts as both vessel and offering like an echo of mourning, devotion, and endurance. Lovell has described his works as “visual poems” that “summon spirits from the past,” inviting us to contemplate how identity, loss, and love persist across generations, even if names are forgotten.
October 10, 2025 at 12:42 AM
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Kingbearbkk on X

Conte crayons on paper
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March 21, 2025 at 5:25 AM