Nell Painter, detail, Dedication (2009). Charcoal on paper, 11 x 85 inches.
Nell Painter’s Dedication appeared on the cover of the Summer 2010 issue of Signs (volume 35, number 4), which featured a symposium titled “Black Women’s Studies and the Transformation of the Academy.”
Artist Statement
Dedication consists of ten consecutive panels commemorating the dedication of Alison Saar’s monument to Harriet Tubman in Harlem. One reappears in paintings from 2009 and inserts black women into depictions of personal beauty. © 2009, Nell Painter. Permission to reprint may be obtained only from the artist.
Biographical Statement
Nell Painter, a graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design, is Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, Princeton University; the author of seven books and two Penguin Classics; and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book is The History of White People (New York: Norton, 2010).