Saturday, April 28, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Don't Talk About Racism
Picture by Vectorportal
There are times when I will ask my mother’s opinion on the way an outfit may look if I am feeling uncertain about whether or not I like it or if looks nice. Or sometimes I will seek for her advice on a particular issue like an argument that I may be experiencing amongst my friends; but if her sentiments don’t agree with mine, I will sometimes dismiss them. Similarly, when Fortune Magazine and Edith Halpert commissioned Jacob Lawrence to generate paintings pertaining to the South, they edited the expletive pieces that were demonstrative of the evident racial segregation in the South. They silenced his artistic voice and interpretation of the conditions he witnessed in his visits to the southern states. For example, of the several paintings that Lawrence produced in New Orleans, “Halpert [merely] included The Green Table and Catholic New Orleans in her show [and] she showed Rampart Street in a group exhibition of watercolors in January 1942. She did not include Bar and Grill, with its scene of racial segregation.” In In the Heart of the Black Belt: Jacob Lawrence’s Commission From Fortune to Paint the South, Patricia Hill argues that as Lawrence’s awareness of the predicament of blacks in the South increased and he produced art that epitomized their struggle, his sponsors were more apprehensive about publishing his work.
Foremost, the greatest appreciation for Jacob Lawrence’s work occurred when his series of paintings on The Great Migration of that era were published. When Lawrence commenced painting these works, though they were to be a depiction of black’s emigration from the South, Lawrence had not visited the South to formulate an informed and respective interpretation of the subject. He merely “relied instead on stories told by relatives and neighbors and on his own library research on the migration of African Americans from the South to the North in search of job opportunities and better living conditions during and following World War 1. His Harlem perspective drove the narrative; many of the scenes focused on the collective experiences of African Americans recently arrived in northern cities.” Ironically, however, the Migration series is what launched his career, almost as if people preferred the ignorant bliss with which he painted rather than delving into the horrors that initially prompted the migration. Consequently, Fortune Magazine reproduced 26 of the paintings in color in its November issue in 1941, and Halpert put this entire display on exhibit in December of 1941. Also, half of the paintings were purchased for the Museum of Modern Art and the other half for the Phillips Memorial Gallery in D.C, all of which culminated in a national tour.
However, it was after his sojourns to South that Lawrence’s work acquired a more provocative nature, exposing what he saw to be the truths of the South, which curators began to censor. For example, before being commissioned by Fortune to generate another series of paintings that would become a picture essay depicting the South post World War II, Lawrence had already made three trips to the South: Louisiana, Virginia, and North Carolina. Of the ten paintings that he produced, Fortune only used three because their virulent racism countered their agenda to present the South as a place where industry could flourish. Likewise, when Halpert summoned Lawrence to create paintings for her exhibition American Negro Art: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, as previously mentioned, she neglected to incorporate Bar and Grill. This painting displays the distinction between the furnishings in a “separate but equal” bar, but in the bar set aside for blacks, there is no ceiling fans, bartender, plates, or even straws in contrast to the lively “white” bar. There are many other paintings that Lawrence produced that endured similar treatment due to their relentless honestly and realism that opposed popular thought like Starvation, Bus, and Killing the Incurable and Aged, all of which Hill includes in her article. “Instead, the venues for Lawrence's imagery that comment on racial issues were the left liberal magazines of the late 1940s, such as New Republic and Masses and Mainstream, as well as Langston Hughes's book of poetry One-Way Ticket (1948), and those published images were invariably drawings, not paintings.” One might argue that maybe those paintings were just not where the patron’s interests lied, but even when they did publish some of his more controversial works, they would amend the titles/captions to be more befitting for business purposes.
In the Heart of the Black Belt: Jacob Lawrence’s Commission From Fortune to Paint the South, like a historian, presents Lawrence’s paintings and drawings as progressively forthcoming of the predicament in the South. “The more compelling of [Jacob Lawrence’s] southern images were more than on-the- spot views of southern scenes; they expressed the shock and moral outrage that he - a northern African American - felt as a personal witness to southern racism.” However, during his time, a time characterized by discrimination, and prejudice, his candid paintings were not as valued as they are today. Rather than capturing the raw essence and nature of the South, institutions like Fortune Magazine and persons like Edith Halpert, wanted to skate over the moral dilemma of segregation in the South. Nevertheless, “he perceived the problems clearly, even if his patrons suppressed them,” and would continue to do so throughout his career.
Works Cited-
Hill, Patricia. "In the Heart of the Black Belt: Jacob Lawrence’s Commission From Fortune to Paint
the South." Internation Review of African American Art 19.1 (2003): 29-36. Print.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Life of Frida Kahlo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baggis/2249422753/
Some people might recognize this talented dynamic artist by her bold unibrown and mustache but for most people it is her ability to portray her direct transcription of life into her artwork. Frida Kahlo has always being considered a controversial artist throughout her whole career. However it was her ability to reinvent herself in the public’s eye that made her memorable even after her death. Throughout her whole life she has had to deal with many obstacles such as polio diagnosis at a young child that had an effect on the way she conducted herself as well as her art pieces. This led her to become a familiar face in real life as well as fictional life.
Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyocoan Mexico. Growing up, she lived with her father Wilhem, a German immigrant and artist, her mother and two older sisters. At the age of six years old, she contracted polio, which left her bedridden for a period of nine months. Although she fully recovered from this illness, the polio permanently damaged her right leg and foot causing her to limp. At the age of 18, she suffered a fractured spine and pelvis due to a terrible bus accident. This caused her to suffer chronic pain throughout the rest of her life. However, in the mist of her pain, her love of painting flourished. She married famed muralist Diego Rivera in 1929 and together they traveled to the United States, staying in Detroit and New York City in the early 1930s. She showcased her paintings in major cities such as New York City and Paris. During the 1940s, she became more of an international artist and recognition of her colorful at times gruesome paintings rose. In 1954, Frida Kahlo passed away at the age of 47 due to her lifelong struggle with her health. (Frida Kahlo biography)
Frida Kahlo legacy still lived on long after her death. Her life was dramatized in seven works of fiction that appeared between 2000 and 2003. In these portrayals of Kahlo the emotional nature of the female artist is intensified even further by the conjoining of physical suffering with other forms of emotional excess, most notably an intense love of, and engagement with life (Lent). It all started with Hayden Herrera’s depiction of Frida’s life titled "Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo". This became the most influential fiction work of Frida’s life because it determined the narrative structure, dominant thematic, and factual information about Frida’s life for all future work to follow (Lent). Herrera’s piece of work portrays Frida’s life in flashbacks from her physical decline to her death. This established Frida’s personal suffering as the motivating force behind her presentation of self in her real life and paintings.
Herrera biography work on Frida takes on an art historical monograph approach. The monograph posits that an artist's life and art explain each other, creating a feedback loop where the artwork can be explained only through biography, which simultaneously provides evidence for the veracity of that narrative (Lent). Monographs for women artists like Frida conform to a generic pattern of interpreting artwork through life events. A creative female artist is exceptional among woman but deficient among men. However, in order to become a famous artist, she must have a compelling life story and/or an attachment to a male artist or genius. If one were to judge Frida’s success solely on those criteria listed, then she would be considered a famous artist because she lived a fascinating life and was very attached to her husband and father who were both artist.
Frida became a popular contemporary choice for fictionalized biography because she combines multicultural background with celebrity credential that can be embedded onto an established monographic literature that already merged her art and her suffering (Lent). She follows a traditional male artist stereotype because of interpretations that portray her as self-taught, intuitive, rebellious and exceptional. However, she also follows a traditional female artist stereotype because of interpretations that portray her art career being significantly influenced by older male mentor such as her father and husband. Her life story is inspiring due to all the suffering caused by her marriage, divorce, and remarriage to Rivera and on the physical suffering caused by polio, a trolley accident, and numerous surgeries (including abortions) throughout her life (Lent).
Other fictional works inspired by Frida include fashion spreads such as the “Frida-look” in Elle, and billboard advertisements for a Metropolitan Museum of Art blockbuster exhibition that mainly feature Frida’s face. In addition, two main films were produced based on Frida’s life. One, titled “Fridamania”, which starred Madonna as the lead role made Frida a familiar face. The other film titled “Frida” by Taymor also increased Frida’s popularity as well as raised awareness of her life story.
Work Cited
"Biography.com." Frida Kahlo biography. N.p., 14 May 2008. Web. 25 Apr 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/frida-kahlo-9359496?page=3>.
Lent, Tina. Life as Art/Art as Life Dramatizing the Life and Work of Frida Kahlo. N.p., 23 March 2007. Web. 23 Apr 2012. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=103&sid=65aeebcb-05a3- 48ac-979a- eaa37db4ce70@sessionmgr112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZ T1zaXRl
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Monday, April 23, 2012
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