Accession Number
2008/2.247

Title
Mama

Artist(s)
Joseph Nechvatal

Object Creation Date
1984

Medium & Support
graphite and orange tint on paper

Dimensions
11 1/16 x 14 in. (28 x 35.5 cm)

Credit Line
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the Nation Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services

Label copy
Joseph Nechvatal
United States, born 1951
Mama
1984
Graphite and orange tint on paper
2008/2.247

Subject matter
Though the dense tattoo-like pattern that overwhelms the field is abstract, one can discern some recognizable imagery through the random hatch marks, such as the female nude at center. One reviewer described the effect as expressive of “a back-of-the-mind fear we all can identify with sometimes.” (Kimberly Fine, “Joseph Nechvatal and the Lower East Side,” East Village Eye, 15 Oct 1983)

Physical Description
Dense line drawing on orange-tinted paper.

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Primary Object Type
line drawing

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Abstract (fine arts style)
Abstract Imagist
drawing (image-making)
line drawings (drawings)
nudes (representations)
women (female humans)