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Kenyatta

Artist
Gene Davis, American, 1920–1985
Date
1965–66
Material
Oil on canvas
made in
Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
Classification
Paintings
Collection
Modern and Contemporary Art
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
49 5/16 × 68 1/4 in. (125.3 × 173.3 cm)
framed: 50 × 69 3/16 in. (127 × 175.7 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Julian C. Eisenstein
Rights
© Artist's Rights Society, New York
Object Number
1891:1981
NOTES
A chromatic rhythm plays out across this canvas; brilliant bars of color seem to dance against black and gray stripes. Gene Davis compared his compositions to the offbeat musical intervals of jazz. The stripe served as a particular source of improvisation for him. Jomo Kenyatta became the first president of Kenya upon the country’s independence, just two years before Davis began this painting and may have inspired the title.
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