Ducks Give '22

Oklahoma is a mixed-media work by Hung Liu based on one of Lange’s most famous subjects, Migrant Mother. In 2015, Liu began a series of paintings inspired by the Dust Bowl-era portraits by Lange. Liu faithfully rendered the haggard figure feeding her baby, but replaced the tattered tent of the original photo with a rustic building in a barren landscape.

This mixed-media work by Hung Liu is based on one of Lange’s most famous subjects, Migrant Mother—a Cherokee woman later identified as Florence Owens Thompson (1903-1983) that Lange met in 1936 in a farm workers camp in Nipomo, California, where she was struggling to support seven children. Liu faithfully rendered the haggard figure feeding her baby, but replaced the tattered tent of the original photo with a rustic building in a barren landscape. She also added a delicate long-tailed bird and one of her signature brushed circles, which in this case suggests a celestial body as well as connoting the passage of time. While the JSMA houses an impressive collection of Hung Liu’s mixed-media works, it does not own any of her most recent compositions inspired by Dorothea Lange.

Despite housing a large collection of Hung Liu’s mixed-media works, the JSMA does not own any of her most recent compositions inspired by Dorothea Lange. If you would like to see this wonderful piece become part of the museum’s permanent collection, please consider making a donation toward its purchase.

Chinese-born American artist Hung Liu (1948-2021) explores themes of history, memory, suffering, and social justice in her art. Characterized by layers of luminous color, drips, and gestural circles, Liu’s works impart dignity on the poor, the afflicted, and the displaced.

Art credit: 
Hung LIU (LIU Hung, Chinese-born American, 1948-2021)
Oklahoma, 2021
Mixed media, 60 x 60 inches

"The works of Hung Liu now on exhibit at the JSMA provide an especially rich tour experience.  They spark student discussion about the lives of the people depicted in Hung Liu’s portraits, many of whom are women and children who struggled in extreme poverty, endured forced labor, were displaced by famine or war, or sought a better life through migration… Plumbing the depths of a Hung Liu piece makes for a most satisfying and enlightening experience during a visit to the JSMA." --Dave Regnier, JSMA Exhibition Interpreter