Artwork Images
Photo:
Controls
Love Letter I
Object Details
-
Date
1971
-
Object Type
Prints
-
Medium
Lithograph
-
Dimensions
Image: 30 x 22 in.
Sheet: 30 x 22 in. -
Edition
6/25
-
Inscriptions
Sheet, recto:
l.r. in graphite: CHARLES WHITE ‘71
l.l in graphite: 6/25
-
Credit Line
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Purchase with funds provided by the Cynthia Brants Trust
-
Accession Number
2020.9
-
Copyright
© 1971 The Charles White Archives
Object Description
During the 1970s, White, a Los Angeles–based artist and teacher, paid homage to Black feminist role models in Love Letter, a series of three lithographs. He created the first print, Love Letter I, in response to the arrest and imprisonment of UCLA professor Angela Davis. In 1970, Black Panthers had used weapons registered in Davis’s name in an armed takeover of a Marin County courtroom, and prosecutors charged her as partially responsible for the crime despite there being no evidence of her involvement.
White depicted Davis hovering above blooming roses—symbols of love and respect—their colorful brilliance standing out against a fractured, scoured background. Before Davis was acquitted in 1972 following a 16-month incarceration, White featured his Love Letter series on postcards calling for her release that advocacy groups then sent to politicians, including California Governor Ronald Reagan.
—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)
Additional details
Location: Off view
See more by Charles Wilbert White
Tags
Amon Carter Disclaimer
This information is published from the Carter's collection database. Updates and additions based on research and imaging activities are ongoing. The images, titles, and inscriptions are products of their time and are presented here as documentation, not as a reflection of the Carter’s values. If you have corrections or additional information about this object please email us to help us improve our records.
Every effort has been made to accurately determine the rights status of works and their images. Please email us if you have further information on the rights status of a work contrary or in addition to the information in our records.
Related Works
-
Untitled, 1970
Luchita Hurtado
Lithograph
1970.86 -
Runaways [3 of 10], 1993
Glenn Ligon
Lithograph
2015.13.3 -
Roseate Spoonbill, ca. 1980-85
Scott Gentling, Stuart Gentling
Graphite, opaque and transparent watercolor on paper
2018.26 -
Runaways [10 of 10], 1993
Glenn Ligon
Lithograph
2015.13.10 -
Drawing No. 18, 1919
Georgia O'Keeffe
Charcoal on paper
1997.2 -
The Time Game, 2011
Jane Hammond
Gelatin silver print
P2011.29 -
Runaways [8 of 10], 1993
Glenn Ligon
Lithograph
2015.13.8 -
Runaways [1 of 10], 1993
Glenn Ligon
Lithograph
2015.13.1 -
Martha Graham - Letter to the World (Swirl), 1940
Barbara Morgan
Gelatin silver print
P1974.21.17