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The Storm, the Whirlwind, and the Earthquake

The Storm, the Whirlwind, and the Earthquake

Artist: Bisa Butler (American, Born 1973)
Date: 2020
Dimensions:
93 × 54 × 3/8 in. (236.2 × 137.2 × 1 cm)
Medium: Cotton, silk, wool, and velvet quilted and applique
Place of Origin: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Classification: Textiles and Fiber
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
Object number: 2020.35
Label Text:Bisa Butler’s quilted fabric portraits display a painterly use of vibrant colors and textures. She uses West African wax-printed fabrics, batiks, and kente cloth to connect her subjects to their African roots. Her subjects are based on historical photographs and rendered at human scale, often engaging the viewer eye to eye. Butler states, “I represent all of my figures with dignity and regal opulence because that is my actual perspective of humanity.”

This quilt portrays the American social reformer Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), who, after escaping slavery, became an influential orator, writer, and leader of the Abolitionist movement. The title references a famous line from Douglass’s July 5, 1852 speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” in which he condemns the celebration of freedom during a time of chattel slavery: “It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused … the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.”

Butler took Douglass’s likeness from several photographic sources, rendering him with a contemporary flair. The result conveys a powerful and confrontational presence that expresses the subject’s conviction in his lifelong fight for racial equality.

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