Critic Spotlights Prison Art, Including Ledger Drawings

The New York Times critic Jillian Steinhauer is highlighting Prison Art exhibited at the Drawing Center in New York. The Pencil is Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists features 140 drawings made by more than 50 artists from the nineteenth century until today, including an important group of Ledger Art on loan from Donald Ellis Gallery. Opening with lithographs by Honoré Daumier and Gustave Courbet, the exhibition also showcases works by Native American warrior artists created during their three year incarceration at Fort Marion, in St. Augustine, Florida. According to the author, drawings by Howling Wolf, Koba and Etadleuh Doanmoe “offer glimpses of their nations’ exploits and struggles against the United States government.” Prison Art, a Dark Place Where the Muse Never Leaves makes a soulful statement about the nature of creative expression and what it means to be imprisoned. The inclusion of Plains Ledger Drawings created at Fort Marion signals an important confrontation with the past.