Celebration

Charles Searles, Celebration, 1975, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, 1977.47.31
Copied Charles Searles, Celebration, 1975, acrylic on canvas, 27 1⁄2 x 81 3⁄4 in. (70.0 x 207.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, 1977.47.31

Artwork Details

Title
Celebration
Artist
Date
1975
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
27 1⁄2 x 81 3⁄4 in. (70.0 x 207.6 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • African American
  • Recreation — dancing
  • Performing arts — music — drum
  • Landscape — time — sunrise
  • Study — mural study
  • Ceremony — festival
  • General Services Administration — Art-in-Architecture Program
Object Number
1977.47.31
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1977.47.31

Artwork Description

In 1974, Searles was invited to paint a mural for the William J. Green Jr. Federal Building in his hometown of Philadelphia. Celebration, a study for that mural, fuses the energy of an American street festival with memories of Searles’s 1972 trip to Nigeria. The canvas is filled with syncopated color, the echoing forms of circular drumheads, and the waving arms of dancers. Searles suggests the duality of the human psyche by dividing the figures vertically into light and dark sections. At the bottom center, he included a child with a masklike face and spiky hair in homage to his young daughter, who died in 1971.


African Amerian Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012

Exhibitions

Media - 1995.22.1 - SAAM-1995.22.1_1 - 65784
African American Art in the 20th Century
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is home to one of the most significant collections of African American art in the world.