Kari Dusenbery

Meg Coulter

Art 207500

April 21, 2013

Black Arts- Literally just Literary Arts?

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In reviewing art history over the course of

fifteen plus years, I have noticed a general lack of

historical documentation of African American arts as it

pertains to the African American experience. What

constitutes this lack of documentation and exposure of

African American artists? Is the art created by these artist

irrelevant to the history of art, has African American Art

not had any influence on any notable artistic periods and or

movements? Can the issues of lack of documentation of

African American art derived from a white male driven

industry? While first contemplating the issue of lack of

representation, I also had to wonder if the art created was

in majority by female artist, and if that could be the

reason for the misrepresentation? One must also decide if

the lack of historical documentation of African American art

as it relates to the African American experience is related

at all to the self-segregation of black arts in an American

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white society. African American’s have been creating and

selling their art for hundreds of years, from folk art to

the arts of the Harlem Renaissance through the twenty first

century with modern art, so why is there not historical

reference to these periods in art history books? When

speaking of African American art, the focus is generally

centered on African American Literature, poetry, stories,

and song. All of which are all well known and documented,

but the “fine” arts of African Americana are left scarcely

documented in American history of the arts.

Artist Clementine Hunter created folk art of the

African American experience on plantations of the south. A

servant on a plantation, Hunter was a self taught artist and

painted on what ever she could1. Hunter’s paintings were

never afford the privilege of being painted and gracefully

framed as many other white American Artists of the era- her

paintings on window shades, glass, and bowls are kept in

private collections. Important to the history of the United

1 See Art from Heart and Arts and Letters, pg. 291 and or Creating their Own Images, pgs235-240, 243, 249 for biography of Clementine Hunter

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States, why do these paintings have so little bearing on the

history of American art, is it because of the perception of

folk art having little monetary value? Alternatively, does

the bigotry of a hundred and more years ago reign strong in

the American art world? Hunter sold her works for twenty-

five cents each in the beginning of her “career” as an

artist in the early 1920’s, as she became more “popular” in

the 1960’s and 70’s her works did sell for hundreds of

dollars and in the 1980’s began selling for thousands of

dollars. Untrained Hunter did eventually receive an honorary

doctorate of Fine Arts from Northwestern State University

though you will not find any reference to Clementine Hunter

in any art history books. Hunter is only one of many African

American artist that were creating works of art in varying

mediums in the 1900’s. Given the time period and the

enslavement of the African American people as a whole, I can

understand why history written in the period omitted any

significance of African American art, but history cannot

explain the reasoning for continuous omission of these works

in the twenty first century. Upon research I was able to

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find a small short historical reference to African American

art, published in 1930 the books cites “Negro” arts for

“those whom may be interested in the topic”2. Strange

enough, many African Americans are listed and referenced in

music, theater and literature, but artist of fine art are

omitted, there not any reference to Clementine Hunter,

rather the painter listed; Henry O. Tanner is a white male

painter that depicted African Americans. Even more

astonishing that the only painter listed in fact was a white

male, the single artist sculptor that was listed was in fact

female. Completely confused as to why a white male is listed

in a historical reference to “Negro” art, I am even more

astonished to see a female referenced as part of the history

in a time when women were deemed insignificant and

voiceless. As I began reading and developing a theory that

the African American was omitted form art history because of

the cultural heritage and the bias of the early twentieth

century, here is a woman listed as a “professional “ artist.

2 Brawley, Benjamin G. The Negro in Literature and Art, Duffield and CO, New York 1930 pg; 138-159

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Meta Warrick Fuller3 created works in the 1890’s, her works

were celebrated in some circle in the early 1900’s and she

was even displayed in the Salon 1903, Fuller is another name

that you will not find any historical reference to in any

art history text. A majority of Fuller’s works where

destroyed in fires set to her home and workshop, so one must

ask if this is the reason she has been omitted from art

history text? Perhaps there are no viable images of her work

to put in a textbook referencing art history? Looking at

early African American art, and the lack of historical

record kept of the art created is easily explained away by

the bigotry of the era it was created in. Who would expect

that the creations of a body of people that were enslaved

would grace the pages of white American art history, when

these people were not afforded general rights of the public

it is easy to explain the omission of their creative works-

then but not in the twenty first century. In the current

time of the United States, one has to wonder why these works

3 See Arts and Letters, pg.; 223 and or Creating their Own Image pg.; 4, 64-70, 71-73, 75,79,87,107 for Meta Warrick Fuller biography

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have not been added to currently published art historical

references. As a society are we not ready to face the images

of the horrors and life that our ancestors placed on the

African Americans, or can it be explained away by there not

being any physical evidence of these works? The later is

obviously untrue, as many in the south hold private

collections of these works of art4. Arts and Letters an A-Z

reference of Writers, Musicians, and Artists of the African

American Experience does have a paragraph on both the above

mention artists with many others, including multiple male

artists. The book is a collection of African American art,

both here in the states and in the motherland of Africa, but

unlike any art history book, there are no images or

pictorial references. Having both historical reference to

both male and female artists, I can assume then that the

lack of representation of African American arts as related

to the African American experience has not been omitted

based solely on male hypocrisy.

4 Historical documentation of these works does exist in manyAfrican American art texts, see works cited for a list of texts

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As the United States grew as a nation, so did the

African American experience. Jumping ahead a few decades

brings the Harlem Renaissance5, a remarkable time for the

United States and the African Americans that were creating

art. A huge impact on the history of the United States,

numerous African American Artists emerged, though none are

referenced in any art history texts? The Harlem Renaissance

is vastly written about, poetry, lyrics, and performance,

but is rarely even defined by the art that also took place

during the period. Born through the civil rights movement,

multitudes of artists emerged creating and depicting the

African American experience. Hallmarks of the Harlem

Renaissance included social and political engagement, a view

that art had the ability to encourage change and the ideal

of separatism- self-contained “ black aesthetic”. From this

view point of a separate “black aesthetic” and the “esthetic

pleasure of blackness focused on reception by black

5 Harlem Renaissance, see Art: African American, Black Arts West and or L.A. Object and David Hammons body

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audiences”6, may be the reason that African American artist

remained unlisted and documented by the larger majority

white male art world. Romare Bearden7 created multiple works

that depicted not only the African American experience but

also that of the African American jazz movement and multiple

images for children’s books. Married to Nanette Rohan a

female African American artist, the two were active in

numerous arts organizations in Harlem. Bearden received a

multitude of accolades during his artistic career, a

commission by the Supreme Court, multiple publications and

public collections at the Metropolitan, Whitney,

Philadelphia and Boston Museums of art. Receiving honors

from Pratt and Carnegie Mellon University among a long list

of others, still you will not find Romare Bearden in any

historical text beyond a dedication to African American art.

Charles White, John Otterbridge and Ed Bereal were all

creating masterpieces of art depicting the African American

experience during and post Harlem Renaissance, their works

6 Widener, David Black Arts West7 See http://www.beardenfoundation.org/ for Romare Beardon biography

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both evoke a feeling of despair, and triumph of the African

American story throughout history. In researching each and

all theses artist you will find them referenced s the “most

influential” of their time. Others are noted as being the

groundbreakers of a period of art unlike any previous to the

Harlem Renaissance, but you will still find not a single

reference to any of the Harlem Renaissance artist in art

history texts. Finding artist of the Harlem Renaissance

outside the musical and literal genre is beyond difficult.

Referenced L.A object and Black Arts West, you will not find any

Harlem Renaissance artist listed of referenced in

traditional art history text outside a dedicated forum to

African American Arts. With so many creators of such

historically viable art-, how does it get lost in

translation? These artist gathered inspiration from the same

influences through art history, the art of African Americans

seems to follow the same path of movements and periods of

the history books from classical to impressionism to cubism

and modern, but they have been completely omitted? In the

biographies of theses artist you will find recognizable

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names like Joan Miro and others, so obviously they were not

segregated from other “main stream” artist, they congregated

in the same circles- but remain as pages in only African

American referenced art history books? The African American

Experience edited by Kai Wright, a text on Black History and

Culture completely omits any regards to any African American

art as it relates to the African American experience. If

Wright an African American has completely disregarded any

art created by African Americans, how then does the theory

of the omission of African American art in historical text

by white male Americans hold true? I am still left to ponder

Why the art by these artist of an expanse of hundreds of

years not qualify of historical importance to any art

history text, subjugated outside of African American art?

As the twenty first century brought forth modern art,

African American art continued into modernism as well, and

for the first time an African American artist is named and

celebrated in modern art across cultural barriers;

Basquiat8. Immediately I question his success by the success

8 See http://www.basquiat.com for biography and works

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of his peers. Having been befriended by the famed Andy

Warhol, or is his success in the American art culture and

world more so to the content of his work. Basquiat created

images of the African American experiences and his cultural

background, the abstraction of his works left much to be

defined. Unlike the works of many Harlem Renaissance artist

and those that preceded him, their realist works clearly

depicted a hard and true reality. Basquiat’s paintings

referenced African American heritage, TV, and street art in

eloquence new to the current art perspective. Basquiat

referenced African American heroes and music but was far

from creating and depicting the same imagery that other

African American artist were painting and drawing, showing

the heartache and triumphs of a minority people in the

United States. The young artist denounces his fame and dies

at a young age of a drug overdose. For many the world had

lost an influential budding artist, for the African American

art world, it was a short lived breath of prosperity and

fame in the name of many who created works as powerful and

meaningful that would never see the lime light and

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popularity that the young Basquiat saw. His fame can be

perhaps, the beginning of African American art in the

mainstream, the break through that African American artists

of the twenty first century needed to become exposed and

documented. While Basquiat lime lighted as Samo, Faith

Ringgold9 was creating art and tapestries that directly

reflected the African American experience. A Harlem native,

Ringgold referenced not only the African American experience

but also the plight of women in a twenty first century

world. Telling narratives in her work much like Barbra

Kruger, her signature is that of combining words and images

to depict personal effigy with politics. Ringgold’s works

complex in the relationship between the African American and

their Anglo counterparts are sometimes graphic and clearly

stated. I have to assume that though Ringgold’s works are

beginning to make an appearance in art history text, her

imagery defining of the African American experience has kept

her from reaching the same publicly viewed success that

9 See Creating their Own Image, pg. 134-145,147,149-157, 167-169 and or Art through the Ages pg.; 945,946 for Faith Ringgold biography

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Basquiat had lived for such a short period of time. Melvin

Edwards’s10 metaphorical series of the struggles of African

Americans “ Lynch Fragments” is another publicly celebrated

collection of works by an African American artist, but he

like Ringgold failed to receive the recognition among

history text as Basquiat, why? I have to again assume that

the context of the bodies of works presented is far beyond

the realm of “artistic qualities” that are presumed

necessary to achieve notoriety in art history text in a

white male driven institution. Is it the art that on a

social level points an obvious finger at those who write the

text that omits the African Artists from being published in

art history books? Betye Saar11 is another artist that has

reached the ranks of fame and notoriety in the United States

and in other countries, though she is seldom found in any

art history text. Saar’s works display imagery of the

African American experience through he eyes of an African

American female, known for her “Aunt Jemima” and “Uncle Tom”10 See Art through the Ages, pg.; 947 and or Arts and Letters pg.; 190 for Melvin Edwards biography11 See Creating their Own Image pg.; 148, 162-167, 229, 264-266 for Betye Saar biography

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collages, Saar was a part of the black arts movement of the

1970’s her work wildly know for the challenging the myths

and negative ideas of African Americans.

Lorna Simpson12 and Carrie Mae Weems, two other African

American artist are also among the large group of African

American artist that remain undocumented in historical

reference in the realm of Art. Both are more readily

identified with being female feminist artists before being

identified as African American artists. Simpson born in

1960, Brooklyn New York was a pioneer of conceptual

photography, her works helped to “incite a significant shift

in the view of the photographic arts transience an

malleability”. Her large format photographic works challenge

and confront narrow views of gender, history and culture. A

recipient of the International Center of Photographic

Infinity Award, still she is unaccounted for in the text of

many art history references. Weems13 also a photographer has

had uncountable accounts of accomplishments and public

accolades, public showings and multiple books and press- yet12 See http://lsimpsonstudio.com for biography13 See Creating their Own Image pg.; 212, 214-217 for biography

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she is still unknown to the likes of an art history text.

Elizabeth Catlett14, an American born Mexican sculptor and

painter is a famed artist around the world, known for her

black expressionistic works produced during the 1960’s and

1970’s and her battles with the U.S as an “alien”. Catlett

an African American created many politically charged

paintings reflecting the African American experiences before

moving to Mexico and become a resident. Catlett was the

first student to receive a M.F.A in sculpture at the

University of Iowa and won first prize at the American Negro

Exposition in Chicago 1940. Catlett’s “Homage to My Young

Black Sisters” fetched an astonishing $ 288k in 1968. After

becoming a Mexican resident she was unable to return to the

United States, deemed a “undesirable alien” in part due to

her controversial art works, Catlett is another artist of

African American heritage that has also never been

referenced in the subjectivity of art reference outside of

African American art history.

14 See Creating their Own Image pg.; 118-134, 142,143,150 for biography

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Hundreds of artists, omitted from historical reference

in the genre of art. An entire culture of people and history

irrelevant to the history of art, I find it hard to believe.

Not every artist receives the gratification of being

published and permanently marked, as an individual of

importance in time, as in art there are so many artists who

have created so many different works of art. Pieces that

embody the history of the culture, the history and politics

of the artists’ surroundings, all of these are included in

the history of art except the African American experience.

In art history you will find depictions by Goya and the

struggles of the Spanish, Thomas Heart Benton, Jose

Clemente, Diego Rivera, have all depicted the struggles of

their people with public accolades and notoriety. Many

artist of the past have graced the pages of art history

books despite the graphic and confrontational subjectivity

of their works, Goya, Picasso and Hoch, all presented images

that were against the main ideals of the artistic society.

Why then has an entire culture of people and their vast body

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of creative works been subject to deletion in the subject of

art history?

Multiple theories seem to present themselves; and I

have been unable to decipher that one in particular has lead

to the omission of African American art in the text and

subjectivity of art. Many artist of African American art

were and are of both sexes, male and female, it is hard to

rule the omission due to a lack of respect and

acknowledgement because of the sexuality of the artist. As

far back in history as the early 1900’s Mary Edmonia Lewis15

followed by Meta Warwick Fuller was one of the first

recorded female sculptors in African American history,

though you would never know that from research through an

art history text. While African American's continued

creating creative arts throughout history, many reached fame

and stardom in the public eye. During the Harlem

Renaissance, though driven by the civil right movement and

often synonymous with black rights the works created were

for “black aesthetic” and the enjoyment of the black15 See Creating their Own Image, pg.; 4, 53-65, 72,75,174 for biography and works

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perspective, I can not find true actual reference that the

artist segregated themselves or their art from the rest of

the Anglo population. As historical records show many images

of the works by early into present day African American

artists, I have concluded that it can not be from a lack of

surviving materials that these artist have not received any

notoriety in the text of art history outside cultural

specific study. Lisa E Farrington’s “Creating their Own Image”

is a complete collection of African American arts dating

back before the 1900’s and is complete with text and images

as you would find an art history reference.

One can postulate that one specific reason that African

American art has be neglected to be discussed in art history

is based on the genera of the early work being “Folk” art.

Folk art16 as defined is the art produced from an indigenous

culture, peasants or other laboring tradespeople, unschooled

artists. Art history of the relevant time frame for African

American artist in the United States is based upon

“Classical art”, at a time when realism and European16 See http://www.thefreedictionary.com, definition of folk art

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influence was at a high, scholarly influence in the writing

of art history would delineate from referencing art created

outside the classical influence. Though some of the art

dating back to the early 1900’s, African American art

reflected the theories and styling of classicism, it was

still produced by an enslaved people, giving recognition and

accolades to such artist would have been tierney. Mary

Edmonia Lewis was reveled and admired in her day, but as an

African American, she will never receive the accreditation

owed to her as a Professional artist.

What does keep present African American artists from

filling the pages of art history books and text? I can only

surmise that the contexts of the bodies of work presented

are still far to advance for a white society to swallow. The

context of the images, confrontational and “grotesque” for

some are with held from history until the American

population can come to terms with the idea that perhaps the

African American society of artist is as creative and

influential as that of a white European society. As Lisa E.

Farrington suggest in “Creating their own image”, African American

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arts have been grossly under documented and historically

recorded because of the commandeering and regulation of the

arts by Anglo Americans. Farrington has only brushed the tip

of the iceberg of African American arts, as she has vastly

explored the female African American artist but not the

works of their male counterparts. Until both sexes are

represented and researched in entirety the next generations

of art students and pupils will continue to be subjected to

art as it is viewed through a predominantly Anglo male

populated and governed society and the arts of the African

American experience will continue to be a privilege to only

those who choose to research it.

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Work Cited

Appiah Kwame A., Gates Henry L. “Arts and Letters” An A-to –Z

reference of Writers, Musicians, and Artists of the African

American Experience. Running Press. Philadelphia

Pennsylvania. 2004

Brawley, Benjamin. “The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States”.

Duffield & Company. New York. 1930

Farrington, Lisa E. “Creating Their Own Image, The History of African

American Women Artists”. Oxford University Press. Oxford New

York. 2005

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Hoban, Phoebe. “Basquiat, A quick killing in Art”. Penguin Books. New

York, New York. 2004

Lewis, Samella. “Art: African American”. Harcourt Brace

Jovanovich Inc. New York, New York. 1978

Murray, Albert. “The Blue Devil of Nada”. Pantheon Books. New

York, New York. 1996

Kleiner, Fred S. “Gardner’s Art through the Ages”. 14 ed. Wadsworth

Cengage Learning. Boston, Massachusetts. 2013

Sayre, Henry M. “A world of Art”. 6th ed. Prentice Hall. Upper

Saddle River, New Jersey. 2010

Tilton Connie Rogers, L.A Object and David Hammons body, ISBN 978-

1427613745

Whitehead Kathy, Evans Shane W. “Art from her Heart, folk artist

Clementine Hunter”. G.P Putnam’s Sons. New York, New York. 2008

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Widener, David Black Arts West, ISBN 978082234

Wright Kai, “The African American Experience, Black History and Culture”.

Black dog and Leventhal. New York, New York. 2009

http://www.beardenfoundation.org/

http://www.basquiat.com

http://lsimpsonstudio.com

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