mary does laugh
Artist
Corita Kent
(American, 1918 - 1986)
Date1964
Mediumscreenprint
DimensionsSheet: 29 3/4 × 39 3/16 in. (75.5 × 99.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Robert Cugno and Robert Logan
CultureAmerican
Inscribed"mary does laugh" BL in pencil
Catalogue raisonnéCAC 64-11
Object numberPC2017.11.44
ClassificationsPrint Collection
DescriptionThe center of the image, printed large, "Mar Bas" (cutoff "Market Basket") in bright orange, framed by fragmented words printed in green and black. Across the letters "Mar" are two horizontal, orange stripes that contain a quote by Marcia Petty: "Mary does laugh; and she sings and runs." Interpretations Mary’s Day and the Market Basket Corita began directing the Immaculate Heart College’s celebration of Mary’s Day in 1964, transforming the event into a joyous pageant and a platform for her and her students to take their experiments with colors, typography, and signage to the streets. The event was also a means of calling attention to hunger as a pressing social concern. This focus on food became an important inspiration for Corita’s art; her prints from this period consistently reference iconic food brands such as Wonder Bread, Del Monte’s, Sunkist, and General Mills as well as the major supermarket chains, Safeway and the Market Basket. Indeed, it was the Market Basket, which opened a branch across the street from the College in 1964, that provided much of the visual inspiration for the Mary’s Day event and Corita’s serigraphs. Not only did Corita use the color graphics of food packaging in her work, but the store's own logo, halved, is used in this print. -Erin Maynes, Hoehn Curatorial Fellow for Prints, 2014-17
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