Monumental Head
John Wilson
(American, 1922–2015)
James Stroud
(American, born in 1958)
Center Street Studio
2003
Medium/TechniqueLift-ground etching and aquatint with chine-collé
DimensionsSheet: 109.2 x 90.2 cm (43 x 35 1/2 in.)
Credit LineThe Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection
Accession number2016.414
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This etching, like the etched portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the opposite wall, was produced in collaboration with printer James Stroud at Center Street Studio. The boldly drawn profile reprises a composition from 1972 that relates to Wilson’s Eternal Presence sculpture. Echoes of the work of Fernand Léger, with whom Wilson studied in the late 1940s, remain in the flat abstract patterns of the background—sumptuous fields of tone that rhythmically alternate with unprinted areas, where the warm Japanese paper shows through.
InscriptionsIn graphite, l.l.: 34/50; b.c.: Monumental Head; l.r.: Wilson 03ProvenancePrinter and publisher James Stroud, Center Street Studio, Milton, MA; 2016, sold by James Stroud to the MFA. (Accession date: September 28, 2016)CopyrightEstate of John Wilson
