Collection

Rafael Ferrer, Portrait of Charles Darwin as a Fuegian Ceremonial Mask, 1972

Images of Rafael Ferrer, Portrait of Charles Darwin as a Fuegian Ceremonial Mask

Rafael Ferrer, American, b. Puerto Rico, 1933
Portrait of Charles Darwin as a Fuegian Ceremonial Mask, 1972
Oil and enamel on drum with fur, bronze, twine, leather, plastic-coated wire, metal wire, and pin
26 ¼ × 15 ½ × 6 ¼ in. (66.7 × 39.4 × 15.9 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of Earl and Betsy Millard, 1991.32.a-b
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
of

Related content

Exhibitions

Blog

Collection

  • On viewRafael Ferrer, A Flag for the Straits of Magellan, 1972
    A roughly equilateral fabric triangle hangs on a gallery wall with one of its points touching the floor. The black triangle has many splotches of rich blue and is affixed with what appear to be crumpled strips of brown cardboard.
  • Rafael Ferrer, Estudio Tropical (Tropical Study), 1985
    Colorful painting of a sandy beach covered with palm trees and a body of water and sky in the background
  • Rafael Ferrer, Elegia para un Amigo I, 1983
    In this colorful drawing with a green ground and pink, yellow, and orange background, a woman wearing glasses, blue sandals, and a blue and purple collared dress walks with her eyes closed, carrying flowers.
  • Rafael Ferrer, Elegia para un Amigo II, 1983
  • Rafael Ferrer, Elegia para un Amigo III, 1983
  • Rafael Ferrer, Since then I am looking for you to tell you, 1983
  • Rafael Ferrer, Amaranta, 1982
    Painting of a woman standing over a green table set with candles and a proportionally smaller turbaned man lying on a gray fabric and holding a piece of paper with blood gushing from his wrists
  • Rafael Ferrer, Cien Años de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude), 1982
    Installation view of a grid of thirteen colorful paintings with varied subject matter
  • Rafael Ferrer, Coronacion y Masacre de la Reina de Madagascar (Coronation and Massacre of the Queen of Madagascar), 1982
    Vivid painting with densely packed images including a palm tree labeled "Madagascar," a large clock framed by simple face masks, broad leafed plants, and abstracted naked human figures
  • Rafael Ferrer, Ejecucion de José Arcadio Segundo (Execution of José Arcadio Segundo), 1982
    In this colorful painting, a man stands defiantly in front of a wall, looming over a firing squad aiming rifles at him. Bloody bodies lie in the foreground and a bright sun sets on the horizon.
  • Rafael Ferrer, El Cuarto del Coronel Aureliano Buendia (The Room of the Colonel Aureliano Buendia), 1982
    This colorful painting shows a room with two chairs, a yellow table with a red knife, lamp, and gun, and a wall covered with text and drawings. In the rear a black sillhouette of a person opens a red door.
  • Rafael Ferrer, El Fin (The End), 1982
    Painted portrait of a person in a green shirt with large black hair and beard framing a grimacing face on a yellow-brown background with black scribbled human body parts
  • Rafael Ferrer, José Arcadio Buendia, 1982
    Vivid painting of a bearded man in yellow pants tied to a tree, a retreating line of three houses, and four black birds and a man flying in the sky
  • Rafael Ferrer, José Arcadio Segundo, 1982
    Painting of a nude man on a floating pedestal surrounded by colorful outlines of two nude women, and floating male and female genitalia against a white background
  • Rafael Ferrer, Joven Melquíades (Young Melquíades), 1982
    Painted portrait of a waving shirtless man with black hair, beard, and chest hair against a yellow background
  • Rafael Ferrer, La Muerte del Coronel Aureliano Buendia (The Death of the Colonel Aureliano Buendia), 1982
    Vividly painted landscape with an elephant, camel, house, and people: one carrying a drum, another cartwheeling, and six more balancing in a formation
  • Rafael Ferrer, Los Diecisiete Aurelianos (The Seventeen Aurelianos), 1982
    Colorfully painted four-by-four grid of men's portraits, each with a small cross on the forehead
  • Rafael Ferrer, Los Trenes de la Muerto (Train of Death), 1982
    Painting of a black, red, and yellow train densely zigzagging across a green background
  • Rafael Ferrer, Pilar Ternera Mirando (Pilar Ternera Watching), 1982
    Colorful painting of a large gray-haired woman standing next to a yellow bed with two nude tangled bodies and a large gray heart hung on a blue wall
  • Rafael Ferrer, Remedios, 1982
    Painting of a bald, naked woman emerging from an amorphous gray form as a face with black hair watches through from the top of the work
  • Rafael Ferrer, El Club, 1981
    Colorful painting of a nude woman on stage under a spotlight surrounded by people peering in from the perimeter
  • Rafael Ferrer, El Cantante 2, 1980
    Drawn portrait of a bald man opening his mouth wide open and wearing blue glasses and a black-and-white shirt against a yellow and red horizontally striped background
  • Rafael Ferrer, La Mujer I, 1980
    In this colorfully drawn portrait in profile, a blue-faced person wears a babushka and extends an arm across the foreground, hand holding a smoking cigarette.
  • Rafael Ferrer, The Dreamer, 1980
    Oval wire frame enclosing an abstracted human form made of wire, painted canvas, and small objects
  • Rafael Ferrer, Traitor Series #4, 1979
    This colorful drawing is divided into four equal sections, each containing either a floating human head wearing a hat and bow tie or a sail boat on choppy waters.
  • Rafael Ferrer, Untitled, 1979
    In this painting, a face with red eyes, nose, and mouth and divided into sections of vivid white, lime green, and yellow, floats against a half blue, half black background
  • Rafael Ferrer, Untitled, 1979
    Blocky human face painted in broad strokes of green, yellow, red, and black
  • Rafael Ferrer, First Fetish Construction, 1978
    Long narrow sculpture made of rope, leather, enamled wood, and metal
  • Rafael Ferrer, Ciclon en el Mar de la China, 1977
    A sculpture with various components including a bent grid-like pattern hangs from a ceiling. Each of the components is splattered with multiple bright splotches of colored paint.
  • Rafael Ferrer, El Caribe II, 4 de julio, 1977
    Colorful drawn grid of geometric shapes layered with amorphous shapes and a white rectangular border
  • Rafael Ferrer, Untitled (Paddle), 1977
    A long oar hung paddle-end up, painted in swirling colors of purple, cream, blue, and brown and with bright red lips and black eyes rimmed with red
  • Rafael Ferrer, Bituki Bakilin Bin Bin, 1974
  • Rafael Ferrer, Untitled, 1974
    Colorful drawing on a paper bag of an abstract human face with striped eyes, lopsided mouth, and pointy teeth
  • Rafael Ferrer, Title unknown, 1973
  • Rafael Ferrer, Title unknown, 1973
    An abstract face resembling an animal appears to be rendered with yellow, orange, and blue oil pastels. It has wild green and white eyes.
  • Rafael Ferrer, Kayak #2:Norte, 1972
    A sculpture in the form of a small canoe is mounted to the gallery wall.
  • Rafael Ferrer, New Mexico, Date unknown
    Colorful human face drawn on a paper bag