Black Snake Blues

1994

Alison Saar

Associated Names
Alison Saar

Artist, American, born 1956

Jim "BJ" Hughes

Printer, American

This print shows a woman lying on a bed, with her head resting on one arm and her eyes open. She lays horizontally across the print, with her head near the left and the tops of her thighs on the right edge of the print. She has short, dark hair and warm brown skin, red lips, and open eyes that are pure white, with no iris or pupil. She is wearing a bright yellow dress or nightgown that clings tightly to her body and contrasts with the red bedspread below her. Beside her on the bed, partially hanging off of the mattress, is a greenish-blue snake. The bedding below the red blanket has a yellow and white leaf pattern, and the headboard behind her head is brown. The background features a dark blue wall with patches of lighter blue, and in the top right corner is the faint black horizontal outline of a body with its arms outstretched upwards and a crescent moon.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia; gifted to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2023.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

"Alison Saar 1994" lower right margin, graphite, artist's hand. "Black Snake Blues" lower center margin, graphite, artist's hand. "68/70" lower left margin, graphite, artist's hand.

Markings

Brandywine chop, lower left margin.

Watermarks

Arches


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