Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of The Print Society in honor of Dr. Leo Goertz and gift of Auldlyn Higgins Williams and E.T. Williams Jr. of Sag Harbor, N.Y.
Object number2018.4.1
SignedA blind stamp of the Blackburn emblem at the bottom left edge. The artist's
blind stamp at the bottom right edge, "(C) Hale Woodruff"
Inscribed"13/75" in pencil at the bottom left corner
DescriptionThe vertically oriented black-and-white print "By Parties Unknown" depicts a lynched black man, hands bound, whose lifeless body has been laid across the wooden steps before the front door of a dilapidated wooden church with a pointed-arch, stained-glass window on each side. The man's body is bent at a right angle. The legs, clad in torn pants, extend out of the composition at its left side and his head is just left of the center of the scene about one-quarter of the way up from its lower edge. The rope around his neck falls between the top and second-to-the-top step. Stylized plants group up on either side of the wooden steps.Gallery Label
As an African American man
working in the South, Hale Woodruff used his art to fight social
injustice. In 1935, Giddap! and By Parties Unknown were featured
in one of the nation’s first exhibitions to discuss racially motivated
violence, An Art Commentary on Lynching. It was held in New York City
and organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP).
By Parties Unknown presents
the aftermath of such a racially motivated atrocity. Its title comes from a
euphemism used to refer to lynching perpetrators. The phrase was adopted by
coroners’ juries, whose jurors may have been participants themselves.
Provenance
Auldlyn Higgins Williams and E.T. Williams, Jr., Sag Harbor, NY, 1996–2018;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 2018.
Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information,
is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete.
Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a
particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum.
If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image,
please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.
