"Peace March"
Object number2011.034.0048
Date1968 - 1985
ClassificationsArt
Artist
Bernadine Stetzel
ObjectArtwork
Credit LineBernadine Stetzel Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions60 x 44 in. (152.4 x 111.8 cm)
DescriptionOil painting on canvas by artist Bernadine Stetzel of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s march on Washington.
Artist Stetzel described this piece as follows: "The tireless efforts of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on behalf of civil rights for black Americans would culminate with a massive march on Washington, the largest demonstration of its kind in American history."
An enthusiastic supporter of John F. Kennedy, Stetzel was devastated by the assassination. Shortly after visiting the president’s gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery in 1968, she began work on a series of paintings that depicted the life of the late president. Between 1968 and 1985, with a long break in the middle, Bernadine Stetzel created 71 works that followed John F. Kennedy from his christening ceremony to the eternal flame at his gravesite.