Jacob LawrenceIn the Heart of the Black Belt
Art Bridges Collection
Kerry James MarshallLost Boys: AKA BB
About
Lost Boys AKA BB is part of Marshall’s Lost Boys portrait series, which derives its name from the band of young orphaned characters in J.M Barrie’s book Peter Pan. Marshall reframes Peter Pan’s Neverland, presenting America as a place where oppression, incarceration, and death deprive young Black men of the opportunity to grow up. Through referencing the reverential, memorial forms of Ancient Egyptian funeral portraits and Renaissance icons, Marshall imbues his work with a tone of loss.
The emphasized blackness of Marshall’s figures directly responds to and counters a lack of representation in American Art, and the individualized details of Lost Boys AKA BB establish the sitter’s distinctive identity.
Artist
Kerry James Marshall
Dimensions
Framed: 28 in. × 30 in. × 1 1/2 in.
Credit Line
Art Bridges
Date
1993
Medium
Acrylic and collage on canvas mounted on board
Object Number
AB.2017.1
Signed
l.r.: K. MARSHALL 93
Inscriptions
verso, u.c: AKA BB / 27 1/8 x 29 1/8 verso, each side of frame: BB
Provenance
to (Koplin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA); (Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA); to Barbara Billings and Ernest Vogel, Seattle, WA; (Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA); purchased by Art Bridges, TX, 2017
