.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
When I Lay My Burdens Down is an extraordinary assemblage by Thornton Dial (1928-2016) that recalls the lived experience of African Americans in the Civil Rights movement. The central figure is depicted flying above a dense composition filled with struggling and twisting faces and a building at left. The rich dark monochromatic colors used by Dial further emphasizes a feeling of heaviness. At once a painterly and sculptural presence, the richly textural and layered work is collaged from a variety of found materials, including wire, carpet and Splash Zone compound on canvas. This churning materiality is typical of Dial’s practice and compliments the imagery and messaging found in the present work.
The title of the work is inspired by singer Odetta Holmes, an important African American folk singer and often called ‘The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement’. Her song ‘Glory, Glory’ includes the lyrics, which have been used in many variations, ‘Glory glory, hallelujah / Since I laid my burden down.’ The line recalls the gospel and addresses death, leaving this physical and earthly world and being freed of its troubles. In the present work, Dial visually communicates this sentiment. The central figure rises from the chaos of his reality, leaving his burdens behind.
Dial, a self-taught artist born in rural Alabama, started making art from repurposed objects in his backyard using the skills he had gained as a metalworker in the Pullman Standard boxcar factory, where he worked for three decades. In the late 1980s, he caught the attention of William Arnett, an Atlanta collector who sought to promote undiscovered Black artists. A blossoming ambition and opportunity followed. Dial’s works have since been acquired by institutions including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., the de Young Museum of Art, San Francisco, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The title of the work is inspired by singer Odetta Holmes, an important African American folk singer and often called ‘The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement’. Her song ‘Glory, Glory’ includes the lyrics, which have been used in many variations, ‘Glory glory, hallelujah / Since I laid my burden down.’ The line recalls the gospel and addresses death, leaving this physical and earthly world and being freed of its troubles. In the present work, Dial visually communicates this sentiment. The central figure rises from the chaos of his reality, leaving his burdens behind.
Dial, a self-taught artist born in rural Alabama, started making art from repurposed objects in his backyard using the skills he had gained as a metalworker in the Pullman Standard boxcar factory, where he worked for three decades. In the late 1980s, he caught the attention of William Arnett, an Atlanta collector who sought to promote undiscovered Black artists. A blossoming ambition and opportunity followed. Dial’s works have since been acquired by institutions including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., the de Young Museum of Art, San Francisco, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.