Ancestral Memory

mid 20th century

Hale Woodruff American, 1900 - 1980

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title Ancestral Memory

Artwork Date mid 20th century

Artist Hale Woodruff

Life Dates 1900 - 1980

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 60 1/8 × 52 1/8 inches (152.7 × 132.4 cm) Framed: 62 1/2 × 54 7/16 × 2 1/4 inches (158.8 × 138.3 × 5.7 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department African American Art

Credit Founders Society Purchase, African Art Gallery Committee Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 78.87

Markings

Signed Signed, lower left: H. Woodruff

Provenance

1978-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Bulletin of the DIA 56, no. 5 (1978): p. 323, no. 37 (ill.).

Taylor, William E., and Harriet G. Warkel. A Shared Heritage: Art by Four African Americans. Indianapolis, 1996, pp. 88-90 (ill.).

Afro-American Images 1971: The Vision of Percy Ricks. Exh. cat., Delaware Art Museum. Wilmington, 2021, p. 6 (pl. 1).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Hale Woodruff, Ancestral Memory, mid 20th century, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, African Art Gallery Committee Fund, 78.87.