Kyoto: Positive/Negative
1 of 2
Object Label
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.
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: Brooklyn Museum, 85.48_PS11.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Kyoto: Positive/Negative
Date
June 1980
Medium
Lithograph, etching, aquatint, and collage with chine colle on paper
Classification
Dimensions
sheet: 26 1/4 x 20 1/2 in. (66.7 x 52.1 cm)
Signatures
Signed lower right, in pencil: "H. Pindell 6/80"
Inscriptions
Inscribed lower left, in pencil: "Trial Proof III"
Credit Line
Purchased with funds given by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation
Accession Number
85.48
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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.
Frequent Art Questions
Why is Kyoto in the title of the work?
Kyoto is likely a reference to the Kinwashi paper (traditional Japanese paper) Pindell uses in this piece. She seems to have been working on Kyoto: Positive/Negative during or after her first trip to Japan in 1979. We also know that she was preparing for a return trip and taking Japanese language lessons!Pindell spent several months in Japan as a U.S./Japan Friendship Grant Fellow between 1981-1982. Visiting Japanese gardens and temples strongly influenced her artistic practice. She also practiced a form of Nichiren Buddhism during her artist residency to learn about Japanese philosophy.She also published an essay reflecting on her Japan trip in the 1982 issue of the feminist journal Heresies, titled "An American Black Woman Artist in a Japanese Garden."
Have information?
Have information about an artwork? Contact us at