Untitled (Eisenhower says peace...)

1953–60

Not on view

Howard’s untitled text-based painting is filled to capacity with two excerpts from contemporary newspaper headlines. Roughly two-thirds of the work is filled with a headline summarizing a speech President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered on November 19, 1953. The remaining bottom third of the composition is given over to a headline concerning the famous kidnapping and murder of a young boy in Kansas City, Missouri. The stark contrast between the black 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. The painting numbers among hundreds of hand-painted signs featuring religious exhortations, political denunciations, and autobiographical details that Howard created and positioned throughout his yard at his home in Fulton, Missouri.

Artwork Details

Title: Untitled (Eisenhower says peace...)
Artist: Jesse Howard (American, 1885–1983)
Date: 1953–60
Medium: Paint on commercial fiberboard (Masonite)
Dimensions: 20 1/8 × 48 1/4 in. (51.1 × 122.6 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Kohler Foundation Inc., 2017
Object Number: 2017.171.1
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

By Jesse Howard

From the same time and place

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Untitled (June 14 1961 Governor John), Jesse Howard American, Paint on 2-partite hinged wood — Untitled (June 14 1961 Governor John)
Jesse Howard
1961

Let My People Go, Aaron Douglas American, Oil on Masonite — Let My People Go
Aaron Douglas
ca. 1935–39

Black Abstraction, Georgia O'Keeffe American, Oil on canvas — Black Abstraction
Georgia O'Keeffe
1927

Self-Portrait as a Photographer, Yasuo Kuniyoshi American, born Japan, Oil on canvas — Self-Portrait as a Photographer
Yasuo Kuniyoshi
1924

Tables for Ladies, Edward Hopper American, Oil on canvas — Tables for Ladies
Edward Hopper
1930

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