Since the 1960s Ringgold used her art to address gender and racial issues in America and Europe. In Freedom of Speech—commissioned by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia as a poster design for a 1991 exhibition commemorating the two-hundredth anniversary of the Bill of Rights—Ringgold painted the words of the First Amendment, which protects the freedoms of speech, religious practice, peaceful assembly, and lawful redress of grievances, on the red stripes of the American flag. Over the stars and white stripes, she names individuals and groups who were perpetrators or victims of serious breaches of these freedoms, laying bare that across U.S. history, the country’s ideals put forth in the Bill of Rights and symbolized by the flag have not always been upheld by its government or its people.
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right, in metallic paint): Faith Ringgold 10/90
the artist, New York (1990–2001; sold through ACA Galleries, New York to MMA)
Philadelphia. First Bank of the United States, Independence National Historical Park. "Celebrating America's Great Rights—The Artists' Perspective," March 18–April 20, 1991; exhibition toured national parks through 1992 including Guadalupe Mountains National Park Visitors Center, Texas, June 1–14, 1991; Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area Visitor Center, Ohio, July–August 31, 1991, unnumbered cat. (p. 3).
Atlanta. Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. "Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists," July 6–December 31, 1996, unnumbered cat. (p. 149).
Fort Wayne, Ind. Fort Wayne Museum of Art. "Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists," February 1–March 30, 1997, unnumbered cat.
Lakeland, Fla. Polk Museum of Art. "Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists," November 4, 1997–January 7, 1998, unnumbered cat.
Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia. "Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists," January 28–March 16, 1998, unnumbered cat.
Dallas. African American Museum. "Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists," April 6–May 19, 1998, unnumbered cat.
St. Paul. Minnesota Museum of American Art. "Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists," June 9–August 11, 1998, unnumbered cat.
Wichita, Kan. Ulrich Museum of Art. "Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists," January 29–March 16, 1999, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists," June 20–August 15, 1999, unnumbered cat.
New York. Puck Building. "National Black Fine Arts Show," February 3–6, 2000, no catalogue?
New York. ACA Galleries. "Faith Ringgold: Coming to Jones Road and other Stories," January 27–February 24, 2001, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Home Is a Foreign Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context," April 9, 2019–March 12, 2020 [intended closing date June 21, 2020], no catalogue [added to the exhibition on November 22, 2019].
Eleanor Flomenhaft inFaith Ringgold: A 25 Year Survey. Exh. cat., Fine Arts Museum of Long Island. Hempstead, 1990, p. 14.
Samuel Hughes. "Bill of Rights Blowout." Philadelphia Inquirer (April 4, 1991), p. 16, ill.
Dorothy Shinn. "Bill of Rights Brought to Life." Akron Beacon Journal (July 15, 1991), p. C5.
"Visions of Freedom." Philadelphia Inquirer (December 25, 1991), ill. p. 8-F.
Jontyle Theresa Robinson inBearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists. Exh. cat., Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta. New York, 1996, pp. 20, 173, ill. p. 149 (color).
Karma Lowe. "'Bearing Witness': Black Women Artists Tell 'Herstory' at Houston Museum." Facts (June 25, 1999), p. 4W, ill.
Lisa E. Farrington. Faith Ringgold. Petaluma, Calif., 2004, p. 111.
Faith Ringgold (American, New York, 1930–2024 Englewood, New Jersey)
1985
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