The Hook

Artist Melvin Edwards (American, born 1937)

Date1980

MediumWelded steel

DimensionsOverall: 11 x 9 x 7in. (27.9 x 22.9 x 17.8cm)

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

20th Century

Object number96.10

DescriptionVertical wall-mounted sculpture; 'the hook is the kind longshoreman use to move bales of hay aboard ship' (without the handle); a second hook is bent in a round
form; 4 spikes appear to be railroad spikes.

On View

Not on view

Collections

Sculpture

Label TextMelvin Edwards has worked on his Lynch Fragments series since 1963. These head-shaped relief sculptures are composed of chains, spikes, barbed wire, automobile parts, tools, knives, and similar items. Edwards uses these materials for their positive, as well as their negative, connotations. Barbed wire, for example, can suggest both farming and imprisonment. Edwards says that the series is not specifically about lynching, but rather is "a metaphor for the whole struggle" for racial equality. The series also celebrates the efforts of people fighting for change: "People sacrifice to make things better." MEM