Deborah Willis
Sisters

Sisters

© Deborah Willis

Sisters
Sisters
ArtistAmerican, born 1948
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Sisters
Date1993
PlaceUnited States
MediumGelatin silver emulsion on fabric
DimensionsOverall: 33 × 27 1/4 in. (83.8 × 69.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Anne Wilkes Tucker in honor of Alvia Wardlaw
Object number97.95
Not on view

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Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


Building on long-standing quilting practices of African American women, Deborah Willis’s innovative combining of photography, text, and fabric poignantly connects form and content to address familial narratives within broader histories of racial oppression in the United States. In Sisters, Willis repeatedly reprints a 1955 snapshot made by her father that lovingly depicts his two smiling daughters. While Willis holds a Black doll, her sister holds a White doll. On the lowest panels, Willis has inscribed prompts used by Drs. Mamie and Kenneth Clark during their groundbreaking 1940s studies of the psychological effects of segregation and racism on Black children.



ProvenanceAnne Wilkes Tucker, Houston; given to MFAH, 1997.
Exhibition History"Houston Collects: African American Art," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Upper Brown Pavilion, July 31-October 26, 2008.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscription: In black ink, in the lower white squares: "Give Me the Doll/That is the Nice/Doll/Give Me the Doll/That Looks Bad.../Give Me the Doll/that is a Nice/Color.../Give Me the Doll/That You Like To Play/With or The Doll You/Like Best.../D. Willis '93."
The work is signed in black ink, in the lower right white square.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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