Ring Bargain

In this mixed media collage, Douglas Bourgeois presents a tribute to the American musician, singer, and songwriter Robert Johnson (1911–1938). For aficionados of early blues and jazz music, Johnson looms large in the pantheon of legendary Delta bluesmen. Though he recorded only 29 songs and died at the age of 27, his outsized status resulted from his incomparable prowess with the guitar and his oft repeated claim of having learned to play from the Devil himself. The story—known as the “legend of the crossroads”—tells of Johnson meeting the Devil while thumbing a ride at a dark and lonely crossroads in rural Mississippi. Feeling despondent, he bargains with the Devil and offers to trade his soul for mastery of the guitar. The tale is retold in Johnson’s renowned blues standard Crossroads.