The Strangest Fruit 9
Maker and role
Artist: Vincent Valdez, American, born 1977
Year
2013
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Object detail
Media/Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
96 x 136in (243.8 x 345.4cm)
Credit line
Museum purchase with the Helen and Everett H. Jones Purchase Fund
Accession number
2016.118
Object type
Department
Location
Further information
The song Strange Fruit made famous by jazz singer Billie Holiday was a poetic protest to lynchings of African Americans from the time of slavery to the present. South Texas native Vincent Valdez applies the title to a series of nine paintings depicting young Latinx men suspended mid-air by an invisible rope. Valdez recalls the violence against Texans of Mexican heritage while also commenting on the symbolic nooses that face many of America's youth.
"My aim is to incite public remembrance and to impede distorted realities that I witness, like the social amnesia that surrounds me." - Vincent Valdez
"My aim is to incite public remembrance and to impede distorted realities that I witness, like the social amnesia that surrounds me." - Vincent Valdez
Documentation
Vincent Valdez: The Strangest Fruit; 2015; p. 13; pl. 9
San Antonio Current; Dec 14, 2016; pictured in article
San Antonio Express News; May 31, 2018, Section D
San Antonio Current; Dec 14, 2016; pictured in article
San Antonio Express News; May 31, 2018, Section D
Subject period
Docent information sheet
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2016.118 Valdez\Vincent Valdez Strangest Fruit Washington.pdf
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2016.118 Valdez\McNay Acquires Painting from Strangest Fruit.pdf
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2016.118 Valdez\Artist Vincent Valdez at the McNay 053118.pdf
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2016.118 Valdez\McNay Acquires Painting from Strangest Fruit.pdf
V:\Object Documentation\Paintings\2016.118 Valdez\Artist Vincent Valdez at the McNay 053118.pdf
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