North Win X-O Games
Object Details
- Artist
- Robert Dennis Reid
- Date
- c. 1965
- Medium
- oil and collage on canvas
- Dimensions
- Frame: 19 1/2 × 23 9/16 × 1 3/8 in. (49.5 × 59.8 × 3.5 cm)
- Caption
- Robert Dennis Reid (1924-2002) invokes football play diagrams and the game of tic-tac-toe in a painting that combines collage with oil paint. Arrows, crosses, circles, and tic-tac-toe grids cut from canvas create a textured field in muted violets, yellows, and grays. In the center, white lines huddle in short, thick strokes. Thin, black arrows enter from the painting’s north, south, east and west, their four points converging in the middle. Like a coach’s locker room drawing explaining an upcoming play, the arrows, usually representing the defensive line, encounter the offense, typically “X.” The title’s reference to northern victory, especially amidst black and white paint, might recall the Civil War’s outcome, as the abstract composition was executed on the eve of the conflict’s centennial. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, the African American artist and educator studied at Clark College, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Parsons School of Design. He taught painting and drawing at the Summit Art Center in New Jersey and the Rhode Island School of Design. In 1966, he was one of ten African American artists selected for an exhibition at the First World Festival of Negro Arts held in Dakar, Senegal.
- Accession Number
- 2002.0002.0007
- Type
- painting
- See more items in
- Anacostia Community Museum Collection
- Data Source
- Anacostia Community Museum
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Record ID
- acm_2002.0002.0007
