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Lonnie Holley, Yielding to the Ancestors While Controlling the Hands of Time, ca. 1992, oil on wood and metal, 108 1⁄2 x 59 1⁄2 x 21 3⁄4 in. (275.6 x 151.1 x 55.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William Arnett, 1993.1.3
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Yielding to the Ancestors While Controlling the Hands of Time
- Artist
- Date
- ca. 1992
- Location
- Dimensions
- 108 1⁄2 x 59 1⁄2 x 21 3⁄4 in. (275.6 x 151.1 x 55.2 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of William Arnett
- Mediums Description
- oil on wood and metal
- Classifications
- Highlights
- Subjects
- Object — art object — sculpture
- Allegory — time
- Object Number
- 1993.1.3
Artwork Description
“I travel around to see,” the artist Lonnie Holley explains. “It’s like walking back in time, to walk along the ocean, the beach, to walk in the sand. I am not trying to find my own footsteps in the sand, but to put my own footsteps where my ancestors might have stepped.”
Holley sees himself as a link connecting his ancestors—brought to America as slaves—to future generations. He explains that he gave this sculpture two heads; one is earthly, the other spiritual. “As we develop our personness, we learn to yield to the ancestors and the history of learning, we develop that inner head, that second head, the keeper head; the embankment of all wisdom.”
Exhibitions
October 21, 2016–January 31, 2030
SAAM’s collection of folk and self-taught art represents the powerful vision of America’s untrained and vernacular artists.