''Untitled'' is a 1995 painting by Ellen Gallagher. It is in the collection of the Institute of Contemporary Art in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the United States. According to Gallagher, this

mixed media In visual art, mixed media describes work of art, artwork in which more than one Art medium, medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different List of art media, media. M ...

artwork represents a

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

. It comprises a collection of pieces of paper adhered to a canvas like a collage, including two pieces of

penmanship Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. Today, this is most commonly done with a pen, or pencil, but throughout history has included many different writing implement, implements. The various generic a ...

paper in the middle. Groups of eyes and red lips are lightly painted onto the pieces of paper. The viewer must get close to the artwork to see the faint lips and eyes. This work was acquired by the Institute in 2016 as part of an ongoing effort to expand their collection of

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

art and abstract figurative art.

References

1995 paintings Paintings by Ellen Gallagher {{20C-painting-stub