Child with Father, from the portfolio The Fifteen Days of May

John Wilson (American, 1922–2015)

1968

Medium/Technique Lithograph

Dimensions Framed: 55.9 × 71.1 cm (22 × 28 in.)
Sheet: 45 × 59 cm (17 11/16 × 23 1/4 in.)
Framed: 55.9 × 71.1 cm (22 × 28 in.)

Credit Line Gift of Impressions Workshop

Accession Number1970.542

ON VIEW
Charlotte F. and Irving W. Rabb Gallery (Gallery 155)

CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas, Prints and Drawings

ClassificationsPrints – Portfolios

The image of a father’s embrace, arms forming a protective wall around his child, takes on added poignancy against the turbulent backdrop of late sixties America. This lithograph was Wilson’s contribution to a portfolio for Artists Against Racism and the War, a group organized in Boston in the spring of 1968 to resist the Vietnam war and “challenge indifference to the critical issues in the black community.” Dedicated to the memory and ideals of Martin Luther King, and printed just weeks after his assassination, the portfolio accompanied a series of political actions that took place throughout Boston from May 10-25. The theme of father and child remained important to Wilson throughout his career. A similar treatment of this subject may be seen in his bronze sculpture at nearby Roxbury Community College.

DescriptionDedicated to the memory and ideals of Martin Luther King. Produced to accompany a series of politital actions May 10-25, 1968. From the colophon text: “Feeling the increasingly urgent need for real and meaningful protest against the Vietnam war and racist crimes continually perpretrated within this country, Artists Against Racism and the War have determined to organize for action . . . We resist the war and we challenge indifference to the critical issues in the black community.”

Provenance1970, gift of Impressions Workshop, Boston, to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 10, 1970)