Image

Front view of a vibrant, carved wooden sculpture depicting a serene face wearing a cloth draped around its head. The bust features smooth contours and a crack alongside its nose.
Three quarter front view of a vibrant, carved wood sculpture depicting a serene face wearing a cloth around its head and neck. The bust features smooth contours and a polished finish.
Profile view of a vibrant, carved wood sculpture depicting a serene face wearing a draped cloth around its head. It is smooth, besides a vertical crack alongside its nose.
Back view of a carved wood sculpture depicting a head and neck. It is smooth, besides the bottom, where the wood is left uncarved and features cracks. The signature “Elizabeth Prophet” is thinly carved into the neck.
Three quarter front view of a vibrant, carved wood sculpture depicting a serene face wearing a draped cloth around its head. It is smooth, besides a vertical crack alongside its nose.
Three quarter back view of a carved wood sculpture depicting the back of a head and neck. Part of a cheekbone and brownbone are visible towards the front. The signature “Elizabeth Prophet” is thinly carved into the neck.
Profile view of a vibrant, carved wood sculpture depicting a face wearing a draped cloth around its head and neck. The bust features smooth contours and a polished finish.
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Nancy Elizabeth Prophet

Discontent

Description

Maker

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (American, 1890-1960), (RISD 1918)

Title

Discontent

Year

1929

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

wood

Dimensions

35.6 x 19.7 x 25.4 cm (14 x 7 3/4 x 10 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed: Elizabeth Prophet

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Miss Eleanor Green and Miss Ellen D. Sharpe

Object Number

30.019

Type

Projects & Publications

Publications

Pub_ID 199 Nancy Elizabeth Prophet I Will Not Bend an Inch v_01.jpg
  • Books

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend an Inch

Through original essays, catalogue entries on Nancy Elizabeth Prophet’s major works, and an illustrated chronology of her remarkable life, this book reframes Prophet’s powerful work and legacy. Contributors trace the artist’s transatlantic career, from Parisian ateliers to Spelman College, and consider topics such as the art institutions Prophet navigated, the stylistic connections between her figurative sculpture and the work of her modernist contemporaries, her Afro-Indigenous heritage, and how she resisted predetermined conceptions of her cultural identity. Continuing to inspire a new generation of artists and viewers today, Prophet offers a model of fearless devotion to her work.

Edited by Sarah Ganz Blythe, Dominic Molon, and Kajette Solomon, with contributions by Amalia K. Amaki, Simone Leigh, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Lorén M. Spears, and others. 

$45, hardcover, 184 pages. Copublished 2024 by Yale University Press and the RISD Museum. Proceeds from RISD Museum publications support the work of the museum.

Read Online ›

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet
I Will Not Bend An Inch
Feb 17, 2024 – Aug 04, 2024

Label copy

This sculpture’s determined expression, fabric wrapped tightly around the head and neck, may be the very representation of discontent, or dissatisfaction with one’s own circumstances. Prophet stated that this piece was “the result of a long emotional experience of restlessness, of gnawing hunger for the way of attainment.” This yearning still plagues Black and Indigenous women in a world that systematically oppresses and erases them, making it difficult for them to reach success on their own terms. 

–Kajette Solomon, social equity and inclusion specialist

One Voice, Many Visions
Work By African American Artists
Feb 20, 1998 – Jun 14, 1998
African-American Art from the Permanent Collection
Nov 18, 1994 – Feb 19, 1995

Related Publications

Related Publications

Pub_ID 199 Nancy Elizabeth Prophet I Will Not Bend an Inch v_01.jpg
  • Books

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend an Inch

Through original essays, catalogue entries on Nancy Elizabeth Prophet’s major works, and an illustrated chronology of her remarkable life, this book reframes Prophet’s powerful work and legacy. Contributors trace the artist’s transatlantic career, from Parisian ateliers to Spelman College, and consider topics such as the art institutions Prophet navigated, the stylistic connections between her figurative sculpture and the work of her modernist contemporaries, her Afro-Indigenous heritage, and how she resisted predetermined conceptions of her cultural identity. Continuing to inspire a new generation of artists and viewers today, Prophet offers a model of fearless devotion to her work.

Edited by Sarah Ganz Blythe, Dominic Molon, and Kajette Solomon, with contributions by Amalia K. Amaki, Simone Leigh, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Lorén M. Spears, and others. 

$45, hardcover, 184 pages. Copublished 2024 by Yale University Press and the RISD Museum. Proceeds from RISD Museum publications support the work of the museum.

Read Online ›

Use & Feedback

Image use

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This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (American, 1890-1960)
Discontent, 1929
Magnolia wood with stain
35.6 x 19.7 x 25.4 cm (14 x 7 3/4 x 10 inches)
Gift of Miss Eleanor Green and Miss Ellen D. Sharpe 30.019

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