Child with Father, from the portfolio The Fifteen Days of May
John Wilson
(American, 1922–2015)
1968
Medium/TechniqueLithograph
DimensionsSheet: 45 x 59 cm (17 11/16 x 23 1/4 in.)
Credit LineGift of Impressions Workshop
Accession number1970.542
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The image of a father’s embrace, arms forming a protective wall around his child, takes on added poignancy against the turbulent backdrop of late sixties America. This lithograph was Wilson’s contribution to a portfolio for Artists Against Racism and the War, a group organized in Boston in the spring of 1968 to resist the Vietnam war and “challenge indifference to the critical issues in the black community.” Dedicated to the memory and ideals of Martin Luther King, and printed just weeks after his assassination, the portfolio accompanied a series of political actions that took place throughout Boston from May 10-25. The theme of father and child remained important to Wilson throughout his career. A similar treatment of this subject may be seen in his bronze sculpture at nearby Roxbury Community College.
CopyrightEstate of John Wilson