Man of Sorrows

<p>Carved directly from a marble block, <em>Man of Sorrows</em> depicts a black Christ wearing a crown of thorns, with his eyes closed tightly and lips pursed in intense, contained agony. Chicagoan Marion Perkins was a leading figure at the South Side Community Art Center as a playwright and social activist as well as an artist. When asked to comment on <em>Man of Sorrows</em> while exhibiting it at the Art Institute in 1951, he left little ambiguity about his intentions for the work: “The reflection of the suffering of the Negro people in this head of Christ is an acid test of American democracy.&quot;</p>