Howardena Pindell (American, born 1943). Kyoto: Positive/Negative, June 1980. Lithograph, etching, aquatint, and collage with chine colle on paper, sheet: 26 1/4 x 20 1/2 in. (66.7 x 52.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, 85.48. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: , 85.48_PS11.jpg)
Howardena Pindell (American, born 1943). Kyoto: Positive/Negative, June 1980. Lithograph, etching, aquatint, and collage with chine colle on paper, sheet: 26 1/4 x 20 1/2 in. (66.7 x 52.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, 85.48. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 85.48_bw.jpg)
Kyoto: Positive/Negative
Howardena Pindell
Contemporary Art
Inspired by the Black Power movement and active as a feminist in the New York art world in the 1970s and 1980s, Howardena Pindell favored a craft-inspired aesthetic. Her choice of materials aligned with her commitment to political activism. She was particularly dedicated to fighting the censorship of Black artists that she experienced in the art world as both an artist and a curator.
Reflecting her conceptual and material interest in print- and paper-making, Kyoto: Positive/Negative incorporates personal references into abstract forms inspired by a variety of sources, from scrap paper in her studio to the beads, horns, shells, and hair she studied in African sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum. The use of rice paper here alludes to the artist’s first trip to Japan in 1979, accompanied by her father, with the speckle of vectors and numerical repetition perhaps alluding to his profession as a mathematician.
Reflecting her conceptual and material interest in print- and paper-making, Kyoto: Positive/Negative incorporates personal references into abstract forms inspired by a variety of sources, from scrap paper in her studio to the beads, horns, shells, and hair she studied in African sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum. The use of rice paper here alludes to the artist’s first trip to Japan in 1979, accompanied by her father, with the speckle of vectors and numerical repetition perhaps alluding to his profession as a mathematician.
MEDIUM
Lithograph, etching, aquatint, and collage with chine colle on paper
DATES
June 1980
DIMENSIONS
sheet: 26 1/4 x 20 1/2 in. (66.7 x 52.1 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed lower right, in pencil: "H. Pindell 6/80"
INSCRIPTIONS
Inscribed lower left, in pencil: "Trial Proof III"
COLLECTIONS
Contemporary Art
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
EXHIBITIONS
ACCESSION NUMBER
85.48
STATE
Trial Proof III
CREDIT LINE
Purchased with funds given by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation
RIGHTS STATEMENT
© Howardena Pindell
The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here.
The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act.
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.
CAPTION
Howardena Pindell (American, born 1943). Kyoto: Positive/Negative, June 1980. Lithograph, etching, aquatint, and collage with chine colle on paper, sheet: 26 1/4 x 20 1/2 in. (66.7 x 52.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, 85.48. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: , 85.48_PS11.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 85.48_PS11.jpg., 2020
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
TAGS
RELATED OBJECTS
