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
- 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
- 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
- Record ID
- saam_1977.47.31
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk71c2d73b3-76d7-429e-9f2f-913dc53c7bdb
