4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2020.

Saturday Night Special (I Seen it on T.V.)

Artist Robert Colescott (American, 1925-2009)

CultureAmerican

DateMay 1988

MediumAcrylic on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 84 x 72 in. (213.4 x 182.9 cm)

InscribedSigned in the lower right corner on the face: R. Colescott 88; On the verso it is signed: Saturday Night Special (I Seen it on TV) c Robert Colescott/ May 1988/ acrylic.;

Credit LineGift of the family of Joel B. Cooper, in memory of Mary and Dudley Cooper

Object number2002.26.5

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an acrylic on canvas painting. It depicts an evening interior scene: in the middle ground a blindfolded Caucasian woman, drinking out of a soda bottle, and boy are sitting on a yellow couch watching a television program, with their backs to the viewer. The television program shows an African American woman being held up by a white gunman. A second story occurs in the foreground. A scantily-clothed African American woman hides a gun behind her back as she confronts her husband with a white woman sitting on his lap. In the upper left, directly above the husband's head, the artist reveals the man's thoughts by adding two skeletons mimicing the husband and mistress with bullet holes through their heads, and two graves in the background.

Label TextRobert Colescott American, 1925–2009 Saturday Night Special (I Seen it on T.V.), May 1988 Acrylic on canvas In his cartoonish style, Robert Colescott painted two related scenes. In the upper scene, a woman and boy sit on a couch watching a show in which a gunman holds a nearly naked woman at gunpoint. The woman on the sofa is blindfolded and drinking, oblivious to the sex and violence the boy is watching. Both of them, however, are unaware of the violence taking place behind them. A naked woman hiding a gun enters the scene, where she confronts a man with another woman on his lap. The skeletons, both with bullet holes in their skulls, tell us what happens next. The satirical painting offers a pointed commentary about violence and society: what’s playing out in the fantasyland of T.V. might be taking place right behind you. Gift of the family of Joel B. Cooper, in memory of Mary and Dudley Cooper 2002.26.5 ProvenancePhyllis Kind Gallery, New York, Ny., 1989; Joel B. Cooper, Norfolk, Va., 1989-2002; Gift in memory of Mary and Dudley Cooper from the family of Joel B. Cooper to Chrysler Museum of Art, 2002. Exhibition History"Robert Colescott: Recent Paintings," Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, Ny., February 11- March 9, 1989. "The Bold 1980s: A Collector's Vision," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., March 19 - October, 2003.