Faith Ringgold (American, b. 1930), "Somebody Stole My Broken Heart", 2007, screenprint in colors, pencil-signed, titled, dated and numbered "44/60" lower margin, watermark visible, 22 1/2 in. x 18 3/4 in., unframed. Note: Faith Ringgold is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Harlem, New York during the peak of the Harlem Renaissance. After earning a master’s degree in 1959, she traveled to Europe where her work grew to be overtly political and explored the contemporary conditions of race in the United States with her “The American People” series. During the 1960s and 1970s, Ringgold was inspired to expand her work into tankas - a Tibetan inspired fabric painting. This period led to her travels to Nigeria and Ghana in the late 1970s where she was inspired by African masks, which she began incorporating into performance art. Next, she branched out to quilt making, furthering her experimentation with fabric. Her thought-provoking work reflects her research, experimentation and travels through the lens of Black history in America.The lot offered here is a silkscreen print by Ringgold and is part of a larger series of silkscreens with a focus on jazz and blues music. The title “Somebody Stole My Broken Heart” references the dialectic bind of love and pain often referenced in jazz and blues. Ringgold has been surrounded and influenced by jazz artists her whole life, saying “I could easily spend the rest of my life singing my songs in pictures.” The singer depicted can serve as a surrogate for the artist herself, vulnerable to the viewer with closed eyes and arms outstretched. The bright reds and blues and energetic lines weaving in and out of the background give the piece a bold and bright energy, a tangible loudness, while remaining accessible to all viewers who enjoy the sweet melancholy of the blues. Ref.: Mouly, Françoise. “Faith Ringgold’s Jazz Stories: Somebody Stole my Broken Heart.” The New Yorker Mar. 21, 2022. Ringgold, Faith. “Biography.” Faith Ringgold.

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