Description
Artwork Description:
Joseph Holston’s Three Girls captures a moment of stillness and subtle intimacy among three young African American girls. Rendered in bold, expressive color blocks and rhythmic linework, the composition reflects Holston’s signature fusion of Cubist abstraction and human emotion. Each figure is uniquely posed, suggesting quiet reflection and individuality within collective identity. With a minimalist background, Holston centers the viewer’s focus on the figures, evoking both everyday realism and poetic presence.
This serigraph reflects Holston’s broader mission to affirm African American experiences with dignity, power, and visual sophistication.
About the Artist:
Joseph Holston (b. 1944) is an acclaimed African American painter and printmaker, widely recognized for his expressive use of color, form, and narrative. His work blends abstraction, Cubism, and realism to depict the Black experience with power and sensitivity. A native of Washington, D.C., Holston studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and has exhibited in prestigious institutions including the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and galleries around the world.
Holston is especially known for his Color in Freedom: Journey Along the Underground Railroad series — a landmark visual chronicle of slavery, struggle, and liberation in America.
