Mummers Cycle 1969 - 1970

Following a solo show at the Marlborough Gallery in London, in early 1969, which showcased works from the Dante Cycle alongside portraits, Bill started a new series of works drawing on his identity, politics and upbringing in South Philadelphia.

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The works in the Mummers Cycle depict the annual New Year's Day Parade, which was traditionally held by immigrant communities and the working class and makes its way through the centre of Philadelphia and past the City Hall. This series deals overtly with Bill's antipathy towards the, then newly in office, US President Richard Nixon, as well as his Bill's own increasing despair at the Vietnam War.

The use of blackface in the Mummer's Parade had been made illegal in 1964 so is historically anachronistic when seen alongside "Nixon" banners, as in "Dance of Death", 1969, the inclusion of it in some of the Mummer's paintings is a deliberate response to some of the more regressive and unpleasant aspects of being identified as "an American" as Bill felt it, at the time.