Amalia Amaki
Bessie Live

Bessie Live

© Amalia Amaki

Bessie Live
Bessie Live
ArtistAmerican, born 1949
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Bessie Live
Date1991
PlaceUnited States
MediumCyanotype on cotton with stitching and buttons
DimensionsOverall: 15 1/16 × 17 7/16 in. (38.2 × 44.3 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Clinton T. and Dortha Willour in honor of Young T. Hughley, Jr.
Object number93.211
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

During her childhood, Amalia Amaki would listen to blues
vocalists such as Bessie Smith with her family. Amaki describes Smith’s
“naturally raw God-given voice” as one of the two touchstones for her childhood;
the other was buttons. Her mother, in an attempt to dissuade Amaki from her
tomboy ways, started a button collection for her. Together, those elements defined
Amaki’s upbringing and eventually became her artistic signature. In Bessie
Live
, the blues singer is rendered in a cyanotype on cotton fabric,
surrounded by buttons. These personal and tactile items signal the artist’s intimate
connection to this public figure.



Provenance Research Ongoing Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Signed in pencil and black ink, lower right corner: Amaki/ 1991
Inscribed in pencil & black ink, lower left corner: Bessie, Live!
Signed in pencil and black ink, lower right corner: Amaki/ 1991

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue, #1
Amalia Amaki
1991
Cyanotype on fabric with stitching and applied color
95.172.A-.C
Fan: Bessie Blues
Amalia Amaki
1993
Mixed media with cyanotype
2002.468
Suit
Franco Moschino
1985–1989
Cotton, cotton appliqué, faux pearl buttons, and brilliants
95.512.A,.B
Front
House of Chanel
c. 1990
Cotton, lycra, grosgrain ribbon, and buttons
95.91.A,.B
Evening Bolero Jacket with Horse Heads
Bob Mackie
1980–1989
Silk fille, cotton, ostrich feathers, silver thread, and onyx and rhinetone buttons
97.425
SUITS:  The Clothes Make the Man
The Art Guys
1997–1998
Wool, silk, cotton with embroidered logos, plastic buttons
2001.77.A-.L
image recto in frame
Amalia Amaki
2010
Inkjet print
2011.633
Silence
Amalia Amaki
2010
Inkjet print on canvas
2011.634
Send in the Crowd
Amalia Amaki
2001
Inkjet print
2001.759
On Two
Amalia Amaki
2001
Inkjet print
2001.760
Finale
Amalia Amaki
2001
Inkjet print
2001.761