{
"data": {
"id": 173998,
"accession_number": "2017.128",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Tea for Two (The Collector), 1980. Robert Colescott (American, 1925\u20132009). Acrylic on canvas; overall: 215.5 x 185 x 5 cm (84 13/16 x 72 13/16 x 1 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Agnes Gund given in honor of Darren Walker, 2017.128. \u00a9 Robert H. Colescott Separate Property Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)",
"current_location": "229A Contemporary",
"title": "Tea for Two (The Collector)",
"creation_date": "1980",
"creation_date_earliest": 1975,
"creation_date_latest": 1985,
"artists_tags": [
"Black American Artists",
"male"
],
"culture": [
"America"
],
"technique": "acrylic on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Contemporary Art",
"collection": "CONTEMP - Painting",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Overall: 215.5 x 185 x 5 cm (84 13/16 x 72 13/16 x 1 15/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 2.155,
"height_inch": 84,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"width": 1.85,
"width_inch": 72,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"depth": 0.05,
"depth_inch": 1,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.9375
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": "\u00a9 Robert H. Colescott Separate Property Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)",
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Signed and dated in the upper left: \u201cR. Colescott/80\u201d",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 219059,
"title": "From Then to Now: Masterworks of Contemporary African American Art",
"description": "From Then to Now: Masterworks of Contemporary African American Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-May 9, 2010).",
"opening_date": "2010-01-29T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 309783,
"title": "Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott",
"description": "Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott. Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (September 20, 2019-January 12, 2020); Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (February 15-December 13, 2020).",
"opening_date": "2019-09-20T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 393229,
"title": "Contemporary Installation",
"description": "Contemporary Installation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).",
"opening_date": "2021-04-12T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Robert Colescott: Another Judgement. Knight Gallery, Spirit Square Arts Center, Charlotte, NC (February 13-April 7, 1985).",
"opening_date": "1985-02-13T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Robert Colescott: A Retrospective, 1975-1986. San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA (organizer) (April 5-May 31, 1987); Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (September 11-November 7, 1987); The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (January 12-February 28, 1988); Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (March 18-May 8, 1988); Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH (June 18-August 14, 1988); Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (September 10-November 5, 1988); Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (December 3, 1988-January 28, 1989); The New Museum, New York (February 25-April 22, 1989); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (May 20-July 15, 1989).",
"opening_date": "1987-04-05T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Collection of the artist",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Private Collection, New York",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2017\u2013",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Tea for Two features representations of artworks by Roy Lichtenstein, Barnett Newman, David Smith, and Frank Stella, among other artists.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Robert Colescott is known for his figurative paintings that critique contemporary American culture. Using bright colors, expressive gestures, and visual puns, he debunks racial and gender stereotypes deeply ingrained in American culture and society. Tea for Two depicts a wealthy Black art collector surrounded by his collection that suggest artworks by Roy Lichtenstein, David Smith, Frank Stella, and other elite white artists whose work fetches high prices.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60482792"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Richard, Paul. \u201cRobert Colescott\u2019s Perspectives on Black and White.\u201d The Washington Post (January 20, 1988).",
"page_number": "mentioned",
"url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/01/20/robert-colescotts-perspectives-on-black-and-white/029378fe-b793-40aa-83b9-d6d92a706a2b/?utm_term=.39c49b974c79"
},
{
"citation": "Th\u00fcring, Reto and Liebert, Emily. \u201cAcquisition Highlights: Contemporary Art.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58, no. 2 (March/April 2018): 24-25.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 24",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2018-02/page/n11/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Sims, Lowery Stokes, Robert Colescott, and Mitchell Douglas Kahan. Robert Colescott, a Retrospective, 1975-1986. San Jose, Calif: The Museum, 1987.",
"page_number": "Reproduced p. 25, Fig. 30; mentioned p. 26.",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Colescott, Robert, Ann Shengold, and Terry Maxon Miller, eds. Robert Colescott: Another Judgement. Exh. Cat. Charlotte, NC: Knight Gallery, Spirit Square Arts Center, 1985.",
"page_number": "Reproduced p. 17.",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Kahan, Mitchell. \u201cRobert Colescott: Pride and Prejudice.\u201d Art Papers 9, no. 3 (May/June 1985): 22-23",
"page_number": "Mentioned p. 23",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Platow, Raphaela, et al. Art and race matters: the career of Robert Colescott. New York, New York : Rizzoli Electa ; Cincinnati, Ohio : In association with Contempoary Arts Center, 2019.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 129-130, fig. 30",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "\u201cNew Take on the New: A comprehensive reinstallation of the galleries of contemporary art offers fresh viewpoints on the art of our time.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 2 (Spring 2021): cover, 4-9.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: Cover; Mentioned: P. 4.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 2 (Spring 2021): Cover.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: Cover; Mentioned: P. 4.",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2017.128",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Gift of Agnes Gund given in honor of Darren Walker",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": "Toby's Gallery for Contemporary Art",
"athena_id": 173998,
"creators": [
{
"id": 10422,
"description": "Robert Colescott (American, 1925\u20132009)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1925",
"death_year": "2009",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2017-09-11T00:00:00-04:00",
"sortable_date": 1975,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1980",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-06 11:45:07.659000"
}
}