Portrait of My Grandmother

1922

Archibald John Motley Jr.

Artist, American, 1891 - 1981

Shown from the knees up, a woman with brown, wrinkled skin, wearing a white blouse, apron, and black skirt is shown in front of a pale gray background in this vertical portrait painting. Straight-backed, she faces and looks at us with her hands resting in her lap. Her wavy, iron-gray hair is parted in the center and pulled back from her face. Her eyebrows are slightly raised, and her face is deeply lined down her cheeks and around her mouth. She wears a heart-shaped brooch with a red stone at its center at her neck and a gold band on her left ring finger. The light coming from our left casts a shadow against the wall to our right. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner: “A.J. MOTLEY. JR. 1922.”

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When 80-year-old Emily Sims Motley posed for her grandson, her eyes focused on the artist working in front of her. That direct gaze now invites us to look carefully at this portrait. We take in the details of her lined yet regal face. Her white blouse is fastened with a heart-shaped pin. Her hands, worn and somewhat arthritic, rest gently in her aproned lap. Her slight shadow is behind her. After a while, we sense the love and respect that artist Archibald John Motley Jr. felt for this dignified elder, who was born enslaved and endured to live with four generations of her family in Chicago.

Portrait of My Grandmother (English)
View Tour Stop
On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 66

Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

Article:  Your Tour of Black Artists at the National Gallery

These 10 works by Black artists are on view in our galleries, so you can see them during your next visit.

Article:  Portrait by a Grandson: Motley’s Portrait of My Grandmother

Archibald John Motley Jr. captured the significance and dignity of his grandmother’s lived experience, ensuring that her story would be remembered.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1891-1981], Chicago; by inheritance to his son, Archibald John (Archie) Motley, III [1934-2002], Chicago; joint owner from 1986 with his wife, Valerie Gerrard Browne [b. 1940]; full ownership 2002 to Valerie Gerrard Browne; joint owner from 2017 with her daughter, Mara Hope Gerrard Motley, M.D. [b. 1985], Chicago; purchased February 2018 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1923

  • Twenty-Seventh Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, Art Institute of Chicago, 1923, no. 189.

1928

  • Exhibition of Paintings by Archibald J. Motley, Jr., The New Gallery, New York, 1928.

1933

  • Archibald Motley, Jr., Tudor Gallery, Chicago Woman's Club, 1933.

1976

  • Two Centuries of Black American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas; Brooklyn Museum, 1976-1977, no. 80.

1988

  • Three Masters: Eldzier Cortor, Hughie Lee-Smith, Archibald John Motley, Jr., Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, 1988, no. 63.

1991

  • The Art of Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Chicago Historical Society; Studio Museum of Harlem, New York; High Museum/Georgia-Pacific Gallery, Atlanta; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1991-1993, no. 9, repro.

2014

  • Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Chicago Cultural Center; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2014-2016, no. 4, repro.

Bibliography

2023

  • Ramos, Carmen E. "Collecting for the Nation." _Art for the Nation_no. 67 (Fall 2023): 12, fig. 15.

Inscriptions

lower right: A.J.MOTLEY.JR / 1922

Wikidata ID

Q58698586

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