TitleAutobiography: Hiroshima Disguised (in 10 parts)
Artist
Howardena Pindell
(American, b. 1943)
Date1982
MediumAcrylic, paper, dye, gouache on cut and sewn canvas
DimensionsOverall: 60 x 132 in.
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, September 23, 2009
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, gift of Howardena Pindell, 2009
Object number2009.13
Label TextPioneering artist, educator, and author Howardena Pindell emerged in the late 1960s after receiving her MFA from Yale University. Her work from this period was process and material based and often incorporated small circles of punched paper. In 1971 Pindell was a founding member of the seminal A.I.R. Gallery, a cooperative alternative exhibition space founded by women artists. Since that time, her work has continued to directly confront important issues of identity, empowerment, gender, race, and politics."Autobiography: Hiroshima Disguised" represents a major turning point for the artist and combines elements of her process-based work from the 1960s and 70s with political and identity-based work from the 1980s to today. The painting was completed after Pindell had spent some time in Japan and was profoundly struck by visits to Hiroshima. Comprised of ten separate elements that refer to war and destruction, the work is not only a critique of the past but also served as a political critique of the Reagan administration's military policies.
