The Means to an End...A Shadow Drama in Five Acts

20 Dec. 1995 sold by sold by Charles Young Fine Prints and Drawings (Glastonbury, CT) to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

• Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Artscene." Spring 1998. p. 4
• Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Artscene." Vol. 15, No. 3, Spring 1999. p. 4

This large-scale panoramic print features black silhouette figures against a white background. The artwork spans five panels, each depicting a different scene that collectively conveys a narrative. From left to right: The first panel shows a standing figure wearing a mid-calf length skirt and a tightly cropped hairstyle with short braids or knots. The barefoot figure stands with one hand on their hip as a child suckles at their breast. The child has short, straight hair and wears short pants and shoes. In the second panel, a child wearing a dress with a bow atop their long, curly hair faces left, arms extended, and rides backwards upon a dog-like creature that runs with to the right with outstretched legs. The third panel depicts a figure in a long dress who appears to be stumbling over indiscernible objects below their feet. As the figure stumbles, their arms reach up over their head, and the skirt of the dress flies upward, revealing bloomers. The fourth panel is mostly white but shows a human head and hand emerging from the lower edge of the print. The head, with short-cropped hair, is in profile, facing right and looking upward, seemingly observing the action in the adjacent panel. The final panel portrays a larger figure in profile facing left, with one leg extended up and forward in a marching motion. This figure is dressed in a suit with long coattails, boots, and a tall hat. They hold a child up by the neck, face-to-face, the child’s feet dangling above the ground. The thin child appears nude except for shoes and a small bow at the end of a short braid extending from a puff of hair.

• North America
• Prints
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