Expectations

Expectations (1974) presents R.C. Gorman’s haunting vision of two Navajo women rendered as silhouettes wrapped in dark blankets, their heads replaced by decorated Acoma pottery vessels rendered in tan and black geometric patterns. The composition is set against a luminous gradient sky transitioning from cerulean blue to peachy-rose tones at the horizon, with abstracted purple mesas visible in the distance. This surreal, symbolic image merges the human and ceramic traditions, suggesting identity, cultural continuity, and the woman’s role as keeper of ancestral arts. The poetic conceit challenges viewers to contemplate the relationship between body, culture, and artistic tradition. A remarkable work for serious collectors of conceptual Southwest art and Gorman’s most innovative lithographs.