WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Emma Amos

Emma Amos

American, 1937

WA-00025968

Painting

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ5372719 ULAN500124746

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Committed to Print

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988

Field Verification (3 fields)

3 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
Birth yearArtsy· 85%✓
NationalityArtsy· 85%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/153
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Emma Amos was an American painter and printmaker whose figurative works combined abstraction with portraiture, often centering Black women and the complexities of identity in postwar America. Working primarily in oils, acrylics, and etching, her compositions layered gestural mark-making with representational elements, creating a visual tension between the personal and the universal. Her practice engaged with color and form as instruments of psychological and social inquiry.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

—

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York Cleveland Museum of Art Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (18)

Femfolio

2009 · Portfolio of nineteen digital prints (twelve with lithograph, one with pochoir, one with hand coloring, and one with gold dusting) and one lithograph

dimensions vary

Museum of Modern Art

Identity from Femfolio

2006 · Digital print with lithograph from a portfolio of nineteen digital prints (twelve with lithograph, one with pochoir, one with hand coloring, and one with gold dusting) and one lithograph

composition (irreg.): 10 1/16 x 9 3/4" (25.5 x 24.7 cm); sheet: 12 x 12" (30.5 x 30.5 cm)

Sheet: 67 x 50.8 cm (26 3/8 x 20 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

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Joan Semmel

1990 · watercolor

Sheet: 66 x 50.8 cm (26 x 20 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

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Jeri Zempel

1990 · watercolor

Sheet: 66 x 50.5 cm (26 x 19 7/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

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Carol Byard

1990 · watercolor

Sheet: 66 x 50.8 cm (26 x 20 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

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Camille Billops

1990 · watercolor

Sheet: 66.7 x 50.8 cm (26 1/4 x 20 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

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Claire Khalil

1990 · watercolor

Sheet: 65.9 x 50.5 cm (25 15/16 x 19 7/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Take One

1985 · Stencil on torn-and-pasted paper

composition (irreg.): 40 13/16 x 29 1/4" (103.7 x 74.3 cm); sheet (mount): 41 5/16 x 29 1/2" (105 x 74.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Black Dog Blues

1983 · Acrylic on canvas with hand-woven fabric

132.1 × 193 cm (52 × 76 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

American Girl from Impressions: Our World, Volume I

1974 · Etching and aquatint from a portfolio of seven etchings (five with aquatint, two with embossing)

plate: 15 13/16 × 19 13/16" (40.1 × 50.4 cm); sheet: 22 3/8 × 30" (56.8 × 76.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

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Sandy and Her Husband

1973 · oil on canvas

112.4 x 127.6 cm (44 1/4 x 50 1/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressions: Our World, Volume I

1973 · Portfolio of seven etchings (five with aquatint, two with embossing)

composition (see child records): dimensions vary; sheet (orientation varies, each approx.): 30 × 22 1/4" (76.2 × 56.5 cm) or 22 1/4 × 30" (56.5 × 76.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

3 Ladies

1970 · Color etching, aquatint and screenprint on four sheets of off-white wove paper, and color screenprint on metal foil on polyester, joined

160 × 100.3 cm (63 × 39 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

3 Ladies

1970 · Screenprint and relief-printed etching in five parts

composition (irreg.): 59 7/16 × 36 13/16" (151 × 93.5 cm); sheet (overall): 62 1/2 × 39 3/8" (158.8 × 100 cm)

Overall: 45 × 50 1/8 in. (114.3 × 127.3 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

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Without Feather Boa

1965 · Etching and aquatint

Sheet: 28 1/2 × 22 in. (72.4 × 55.9 cm) Plate: 23 3/4 × 18 1/2 in. (60.3 × 47 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Without Feather Boa

1965 · Etching and aquatint

sheet: 30 3/16 × 22 7/16" (76.7 × 57 cm); composition [irreg.]: 19 11/16 × 15 3/4" (50 × 40 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 18 artworks →

Artwork sources (4)

18 published of 23 catalogued · 14 with image

MoMA
7 publishedof 12 catalogued12 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
7 published
Art Institute Chicago
2 published2 img
Whitney
2 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 7)

7 entries · 1 sources

Carol Byard
1990 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Rose Viggiano
1990 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Joan Semmel
1990 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Jeri Zempel
1990 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Camille Billops
1990 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Claire Khalil
1990 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Sandy and Her Husband
1973 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Collections4

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern Art Cleveland Museum of Art Whitney Museum of American Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Committed to Print

New York · 1988