Malcolm X #17

The sculptures for which Barbara Chase-Riboud is perhaps best known are those dedicated to the assassinated civil rights leader Malcolm X (1925–1965), which she produced from 1969 to 2016. Envisaged as funerary steles, the works are not intended to represent the deceased or his political struggle in any literal way. Instead, the artist made them “in memoriam” of a “historical icon whose life radiated far beyond the politics of the temporal.” Cast at the Fonderia Artistica Mapelli outside Milan, Malcolm X #17 has a gold patina, which the artist chose to add reflectivity and illumination, rather than the black patina of most of the series. Describing the work’s forms as “flowing, convoluted, mobile—like music,” the artist acknowledges the influence of the Baroque, which has captivated her since her time in Rome. Fundamentally, Malcolm X #17 is an object that celebrates light, movement, and material union. “The silk material is motion,” Chase-Riboud says. “Each strand is alive. The polished bronze is light, always reflecting the noble material and sublime materiality.”