Narrator: In 1969, Whitten and his wife Mary visited Greece for the first time.
Artist, Jack Whitten: So we planned a trip to Greece. Two nights before leaving, I had this powerful dream. I saw a tree rooted in the earth in an isolated space. And the dream was a command. When you go to Greece, you are to find this tree. And when you find it, you're supposed to do a wood carving. So I went to Greece looking for this damn tree.
People advised us to go to Crete. We get on this bus, goes across the island, through the mountains. The bus goes all the way down to the seaside, and it pulled into this little village on the harbor and through the windows of the bus, I saw this tree, just as I saw it in my dream. I point it out to Mary, “Look, there's the tree. There's the tree! You see it?”
Narrator: This sculpture, Bush Woman, shows the influence of West African wooden sculpture on Whitten’s practice. The figure's exaggerated proportions also suggest ancient figurines Whitten saw in Greece.
Jack Whitten: I was interested in wood carving, because I had been introduced to African sculpture. In my naive mind, I figured, well, if I start wood carving, getting my hands on those shapes, maybe I can learn more than what I'm learning from the books. So I started carving wood. I figured it was the best practical way of understanding.
That became a very important part of what I do, going to Greece. I carve wood there in the summer months. I don't paint in the summer. I carve wood.
Archival audio courtesy of The Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution