Uprooted Stalk

Date1943

Credit LineGift of Carl and Marian Mullis

Dimensions11 3/4 x 16 in. (29.8 x 40.6 cm)

Object number1995.001.015

Label TextWhile a broken branch in the foreground and a paratrooper hanging in the air above give a sense of physical space, the landscape here is mainly metaphorical. A fallen soldier sinks into the arms of a shadowy female figure, at once Earth Mother embracing her child and the Virgin Mary cradling her Son, as in a Pieta. The soldier lies between two worlds, at the moment between life and death. Although the rifle in his hands is transforming into a stalk of corn, the soldier has himself been torn living from the earth, and the title of the print refers to him as much as to the weapon in his hands. Using the stalk of corn, Taylor overturns the idea of bringing forth bounty from the earth into an image of violently sundering life from it. At the same time, the agricultural metaphor and the welcoming embrace of the Earth may be meant to provide a hope for future peace. Taylor was a well-known artist who enjoyed a long working relationship with the poet Langston Hughes, illustrating several of his books.
Exhibition HistoryThe American Experience, 1920-1950: Prints and Drawings from the Collection of Carl W. Mullis III, Michael C. Carlos Museum, May 17 - September 17, 1997
Cultivating America: Visions of the Landscape in Twentieth-Century Prints, Michael C. Carlos Museum, March 8 - June 29, 2008

ProvenanceEx coll. Carl Mullis, United States.

Status

Not on view

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