Untitled (June 14 1961 Governor John)

Comprised of two horizontal pieces of wood hinged together, Howard’s untitled text-based composition presents four quadrants of space filled to capacity with handwritten prose in all capital letters. The painter filled the top-left quadrant with text drawn from a newspaper headline summarizing a speech given by John M. Dalton, 45th Governor of the State of Missouri (1961–65), about ethical, faith-based politics. In the remaining three quadrants, Howard’s text seems to challenge the Governor to live and act up to his own words. The stark contrast between the black and red text and the off-white ground lends the painting a graphic intensity that reinforces the painting’s powerful language, while specific words are further punctuated by the presence of hands pointing at them with index fingers.