Congolene Resistance

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Congolene Resistance
Congolene Resistance
Artist/Maker (American, born 1956)
Printer
Date2021
MediumScreen print, acrylic spray paint, and gloss varnish on aluminum tin
DimensionsOverall: 18 1/2 in. × 18 1/2 in. × 2 in. (47 × 47 × 5.1 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, The Wynant J. Williams '35 Art Collection Fund
Object number2022.10
On view
DescriptionAlison Saar’s Congolene Resistance is meant to resemble the top of a tub of Congolene, a hair relaxer popular with Black men between the 1920s and the 1960s. However, the figure in Saar’s image proudly boasts “stubborn and kinky” natural hair while biting down on a hot comb. In mimicking a product that was used to tame natural hair, Saar instead creates a badgelike symbol of defiance. For Saar, the daughter of acclaimed assemblage artist Betye Saar and art conservator Richard Saar, natural hair is a crucial element of her identity as a biracial woman. Several of her works consequently depict natural hair as a response to racism and sexism.
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Additional Details

Provenance 2022: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by purchase from Tandem Press, Madison, WI.
Signature Signed by the artist on bottom outside edge of the aluminum tin.
© Alison Saar. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton,…
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Object number: 2017.16.1
© Alison Saar. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton,…
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Medium: Woodcut on vintage linen seed sacks
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Jeffrey Gibson
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Medium: Digital print, silkscreen, and collage, with gloss varnish, in custom-color frame
Object number: 2020.3.1
© Jeffrey Gibson. Image courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co. For educational purposes only.
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Date: 2019
Medium: Digital print, silkscreen, and collage, with gloss varnish, in custom-color frame
Object number: 2020.3.2
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Thomas Nast
Date: published October 3, 1868
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.103
Photograph by David Revette.
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Unknown artist, Greek (Ancient)
Date: date unknown
Medium: Terracotta
Object number: INV.542
Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Pho…
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Unknown artist, Roman (Ancient)
Date: 1st century
Medium: Drawn and tooled glass
Object number: 2015.6.36
Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Pho…
Decorative hair pin in the shape of a sewing needle
Unknown artist, Roman (Ancient)
Date: 1st century
Medium: Drawn and tooled glass
Object number: 2015.6.44
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Thomas Nast
Date: published October 17, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.255
Image Not Available for Pin
Pin
Date: date unknown
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 1929.132
Photograph by John Bentham.
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Unknown artist, Greek (Ancient)
Date: c. 332-250 BCE
Medium: Terracotta with remnants of pigment
Object number: 1943.20
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Nude in Blue Chair
Maxil Ballinger
Date: 1953
Medium: Color woodcut on paper
Object number: 1984.65