Toni Morrison
Francesco Clemente Italian
Not on view
Toni Morrison (1931–2019) was a celebrated author, editor, and activist whose outstanding body of work earned her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, while her novel Beloved (1987)—a haunting narrative of enslavement combined with a ghost story—won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Part of Clemente’s "Devi" series—sympathetic and fanciful portraits of New York women, among them a number of local luminaries such as fashion designer Diane von Furstenburg, artist Ellen Gallagher, and author Fran Lebowitz—this canvas depicts a reclined Morrison in sophisticated dress to convey the monumental cultural status that she embodied. It is also a sympathetic and loving portrait of a dear friend whom the artist greatly admired.
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