Safari

The 1958 figurative abstract bronze sculpture Safari features five female figures in a straight line walking in a procession, physically joined by the skirts on the figures and by the metal piece they are carrying. At least two other sculptures of the single female figure carrying an object above her head exist at PAFA* and at the American Academy of Rome. Additionally, two nine-feet tall versions of Safari are in PAFA’s possession.* This version was exhibited in "An Exhibition of Sculpture by John Rhoden" at University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, 1971; also in "Two Centuries of Black American Art" (curated by David C. Driskell) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 30, 1976–November 21, 1976 and subsequent "tour: The High Museum of Art, Atlanta: January 8, 1977–February 20, 1977; The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts: March 30, 1977–May 15, 1977; The Brooklyn Museum: June 25, 1977–August 21, 1977; also in "John Rhoden Sculptures" at the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum (now the African American Museum in Philadelphia), June 23, 1982 - October 1, 1982; in "Sculpture by John Rhoden" at the Birmingham Museum of Art, January 20 - March 17, 1985 (curated by Ruth Ann Appelhof).