From the late 1960s to the mid-1970s Hammons made a series of "body prints" by pressing his skin and clothing, smeared with grease or margarine, against a board or a sheet of paper and then sprinkling the surface with graphite or pigment. This early example is a haunting image of the artist in profile with his hands joined in prayer. Created during a time of nationwide protests, race riots, and demonstrations against the Vietnam War, these works may reflect what Hammons described in the 1960s as his “moral obligation as a black artist to try to graphically document what I feel socially.”
Gallery label from Contemporary Art from the Collection, June 30, 2010–September 12, 2011.
