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Image of Pensive

Pensive
Sculpture

1992
76 x 20 x 18 in. (193.04 x 50.8 x 45.72 cm)

Willie Birch (New Orleans, Louisiana, 1942 - ) Primary

Object Type: Sculpture
Medium and Support: Papier mâché and mixed media
Credit Line: Gift of Katie and Drew Gibson
Accession Number: 2012.08.06

SJMA Label Text


Breaking Ground: Gifts from Katie and Drew Gibson (2013)

Willie Birch has worked with paper mache since he was a child growing up in New Orleans, where he often constructed paper mache floats for Mardi Gras parades. Trained as a painter, however, he did not use it in his art until the late 1970s when he was in residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. Prompted by an interest in American folk and outsider art, Birch turned toward a familiar medium to voice his concerns over growing violence in the country, particularly against African Americans.

In 1992, civil unrest unfolded in Los Angeles and elsewhere across the country following the acquittal of four white police officers on the charges of excessive force and assault against Rodney King, an African-American man. The “Rodney King” riots brought American racial tension to a height not seen since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Extensive looting, arson, murder, and property damage held Los Angeles hostage for six days.

Birch made Pensive, a life-size figure of an African-American man, in response to these harrowing events. He covered the sculpture with print media news headlines, many of which focused on the violence and rage of the rioters rather than on the injustices of the trial. In this and other sculptures, Birch used the medium of paper to call attention to the fragility of life and the human condition shared by us all.

Exhibition
Our whole, unruly selves, November 19, 2021 - June 25, 2022, North, South and Central Skylight Galleries, San José Museum of Art.

Breaking Ground: Gifts from Katie and Drew Gibson, July 18, 2013 - October 20, 2013, New Wing, Second Floor, North Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

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Dimensions
  • Sculpture Dimensions: 76 x 20 x 18 in. (193.04 x 50.8 x 45.72 cm)

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