Skip to main content
Head VII
Head VII
Head VII

Head VII

Maker (American, 1922 - 2004)
Date1957
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions27 3/16 x 17 1/16 in. (69 x 43.3 cm)
Framed: 31 1/4 × 21 1/4 in. (79.4 × 54 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. Bergman
Object number1982.1
Object TypePaintings
On View
Not on view
Leon Golub was a leading figure of the Monster Roster, a group of artists working in Chicago during the 1950s. Like his contemporaries, Golub was interested in creating psychologically charged figurative works as evidence in Head VII. The paintings in this series, which were stylistically informed by Roman portrait heads, evoked the deep post-war anxiety felt by many of the Monster Roster artists. Of his work, he explained,

“I am simply a reporter. I report on these monsters because these monsters actually exist. This is not make believe; this is not fantasy; this is not symbolism. It is but it isn’t. These situations which call these forces into existence actually exist.”
Prodigal Son
Leon Golub
1956
Head (II)
Leon Golub
1969
Untitled (Two Heads in Profile)
Leon Golub
Probably 1949 - 50
3 Heads
Leon Golub
1949 - 1950 (plate, edition 1987 - 1988)
Killed Youth
Leon Golub
circa 1967
Fighter
Leon Golub
circa 1965
Sphinx and Victim
Leon Golub
1953
letter
Leon Golub
November 12, 1981
Pygmalion and Galatea
Jean-Léon Gérôme
circa 1890