The Awakening Gypsy

#85027     66″ X 32″     ac

▪ Henri Rousseau: “The Sleeping Gypsy,” 1897, MOMA, NYC

In Chen’s 100 commemorations, he often radically transformed the Statue of Liberty to underscore her significance to all people.Rousseau described his painting The Sleeping Gypsy as a realistic painting, despite a wandering lion. She was, he said, a Black girl wandering in a desert. Exhausted, she fell asleep beside her mandolin and a jar of water.

In this version, Chen has awakened the gypsy and put her on a suitcase pedestal, which, along with her walking stick, are symbols of wandering and migration. She thrusts up her waterjug, from which Liberty’s torchflame blazes out.

– Lawrance Jeppson