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Student Union Collection |
Robert Colescott
American, born 1925 Famous
Last Words: Death of a Poet, 1989
acrylic on canvas
84” x 72”
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Famous Last Words: Death of a Poet by one of America's most eminent black artists, Robert Colescott, is one of the most provocative works in the Wake Forest Collections.
A black poet lies on his deathbed immersed in vivid memories. A collage of images surround him, suggesting gambling, interracial sex, blackmail, murder, and drugs, but also the satisfactions of being a writer and of fame. He has lived a life filled with self-destruction and terror, but also, delight and accomplishment. And it has been his life.
As with all of Colescott's works, this painting deals with memory and racial intolerance. Educated in California and in Paris with the French artist Fernand Leger, Colescott returned home to paint his own distinctly American experience. He is best known for his parodies of famous paintings in which white figures are replaced by blacks rendered in stereotypically racist cartoon style.
After being on display for three years in the Benson
University Center, Colescott's work was vandalized when the white lover in the
poet's memory was colored with a black permanent magic marker. With the artist's
help, the painting was restored.
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