Harvard Art Museums > 2008.23: Harvesters Prints Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Harvesters (John Biggers) , 2008.23,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 18, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/323846. This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2008.23 People John Biggers, American (1924 - 2001) Title Harvesters Classification Prints Work Type print Date 1952 Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/323846 Physical Descriptions Medium Lithograph on wove paper Technique Lithograph Dimensions sheet: 50.17 x 39.05 cm (19 3/4 x 15 3/8 in.) image: 42.23 x 27.94 cm (16 5/8 x 11 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: Signed and dated lower right in pencil: John Biggers 1952 inscription: lower right margin in graphite pencil: John Biggers 1952 inscription: lower left margin in graphite pencil: Harvesters Provenance Recorded Ownership History Reverend and Mrs. Randall Lee Gibson, Bronx, NY, acquired directly from the artist when he was at Boston University, c. 1952; to Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY; purchased by HUAM February 2008. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of William S. Lieberman, by exchange Copyright © John T. Biggers Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Accession Year 2008 Object Number 2008.23 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Commentary Biggers was an African-American artist, who worked primarily as a mural painter and printmaker. He entered Hampton University in Virginia in 1941 where he studied with Viktor Lowenfeld, the former curator of the Museum of African art in Vienna. He was also acquainted with Charles White and Elizabeth Catlett, prominent black artists teaching at Hampton. While he was still an undergraduate, one of Biggers' paintings was included in a landmark exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943, Young Negro Art, establishing his reputation. After completing his Ph.D. in fine arts at Pennsylvania State University, Biggers took a teaching position at Texas Southern University where he started the art department. Although he reached a level of national artistic distinction, he experienced the inequity of racial difference throughout his life. Awarded notable prizes by the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Dallas Museum of Art in the 1950s, he was unable to attend the all-white prize ceremonies at the museums. This lithograph of two women working in a field is characteristic of his work of the late 1940s and early 1950s which focused on black folkways. Shielded from the sun in long dresses and wide-rimmed hats, the women carry a bucket and basket to haul their harvest. Their long arms hang from their tall, lean bodies, seemingly stretched from the work of bending and picking. Biggers' lithograph is composed of innumerable crayon strokes, both long and short, creating a range of shades of black and gray that give the image an overall dark and brooding tone. Exhibition History 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
