This print by Louisiana artist Robert Gordy was completed after the artist’s 1983 residency at Graphicstudio, an experimental printmaking studio at the University of South Florida. The composition makes direct reference to African sculpture, which Gordy collected. Female Head/Classical Head features an exceptionally rich, black and velvety aquatint, and the central figure occupies nearly the entire picture plane. The work uses the imagery of a mask to metaphorically address the artist’s confrontation with death during the AIDS crisis, which plagued his community at that time. Gordy’s life partner died of the virus in 1984, as did many of his friends. Gordy himself died of AIDS in 1986, at the age of 52.

This object is a member of the following portfolios: