Talk:African-American art

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 August 2020 and 18 December 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Kdelsimh.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 16:57, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 1 April 2019 and 5 June 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jbeeks11.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 13:33, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled

I'm pretty disappointed about the number of red links here. Almost all of them I've heard of and thought they were quite famous. Since my major is Fine Arts I'm probably more familiar than most, but I wouldn't consider African American art history something I know too much about as a whole other than one class.

Still this is just a start based on one source. I just tried to google a good single reference to get the article into existance so hopefully others will make it actually good. I'm kind of concentrated on the Composers Wikiproject though. Hopefully I and others will fill out the red links and better organize and write the information as the wikipedia process takes its course. --Sketchee 13:04, Jan 25, 2005 (UTC)

William Harmon

The link to William Harmon goes to another person by the same name. Should this be disambiguated somehow? The philanthropist William E. Harmon is referenced in the article, rather than the poet who is linked to.

It looks like someone has already done what I was going to do to help this -- link instead to the William E. Harmon Foundation page, as somewhat better anyway. William E. Harmon himself does not have a page. I don't know enough about him to even begin one, but if someone wants to do that and doesn't know how to do the wikipedia part, I'll try to help. Since I'm at best a journeyman there, I might have to refer you elsewhere, but I'm willing to be a place to start if one is needed.

Incidentally the link I posted just below goes to photographs of 740 items in the man's art collection, so material would seem to be available. I did not notice before making the post that he is so prominently mentioned. Shows how much I know. Hope that helps. Elinruby (talk) 08:51, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Category

I have nominated the child category for this article for renaming/merging. If anyone has suggestions to make it more clear that this category is for "African American art" artists, please suggest them: [1]. Bulldog123 17:41, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

The National Archives Project has a huge number of images on this topic

I just wanted to point them out, in case people have not yet noticed them. A lot still need categorization especially here. I took a stab at some of them but I know very little about this topic and can't really get past "African American Art". I am sure someone reading this could do better. Or, if you don't want to help sort them, perhaps you can identify some of the many photos labelled "unknown artist", or use one of images in this or another article. Please ask a question on my talk page if you are interested but not sure how to proceed. Thanks :) Elinruby (talk) 08:36, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Words as Tradition in African American Art

Words are utilized as a common formal element in the work of many African American artists such as Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, and the artists involved with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Language was used by conceptual artist in the 1960s to emphasize ideas over visual forms. The use of language signaled a shift in visual art: visual art was no longer solely for aesthetic pleasure, and increasingly as an intellectual activity to be read. The use of words by black artists holds two purposes: as a continuation of African American writing traditions, and as a supplement to root African American art in a specific Black American experience.

Erwin Panofsky’s levels of analysis in Iconography and Iconology functions as a hegemonic form of art historical analysis. Iconography is the conventional subject matter involved in the history of types, and iconology is the intrinsic meaning or content involved in cultural symptoms or symbols. The distinct levels by Panofsky discount the cultural implications of Iconography and Iconology, and that based on the relationship between the cultural context of the viewer and the author, iconography and iconology can align or misalign. Panofsky presents a paradigm that can functions according to dominant modes of history, which equals an ignorance of the African American culture in relation to African American art. James Marshall, Walker, Weems, and others conduct an Afrofuturist act by using words to define and imagine Black American version of history, in order to imagine a black American future.

For many years, African Americans were ostracized from the world of fine art in roles as both spectators and artists. The circulation of the Black American experience from the bayous of Louisiana to the jazz clubs of Chicago, were through literature and songs, such as jazz and gospel. These two genres used words as a way to express the African American struggle in a concrete and explicit way, verses an abstract medium that can signal both white and black experiences in America. African American literature talked of Jim Crow, discrimination, the African future, and the African past through the use of words. The exploitation of Black American arts was and remains a common problem in America. Many cultural phenomena rooted in an African American experience have been ripped from their origin in order to appeal to white viewers. The use of words allows a referent to subvert cultural appropriation. The social condition of words as mimetic disrupts the ability of white America to control the past, present, and future of African American art. Rather, words function as an Afrofuturist tool to reclaim the past and present, in order to portray a visual future outside of exploitation by Western dominant narratives.

Carrie Mae Weems employs words to point to the historical discrimination and stereotypes involved with the subject of her photos. Weems used spoken word in her performance Grace Notes about racism in America. She also uses words in her Kitchen Table photo series, such as:

"She'd been pickin em up and layin em down, moving to the next town for a while, needing a rest, some moss under her feet, plus a solid man who enjoyed a good fight with a brave woman. She needed a man who didn't mind her bodacious manner, varied talents, hard laughter, multiple opinions, and her hopes were getting slender.”

Kara Walker uses words to signal her black silhouettes as racial. Though Walker is most well known for her wall installations, Walker also adapted her work to books and wrote the language for the books, such as in Freedom a Fable (1997).

James Marshall utilizes words to define the location or objects of his work. He utilizes words in the posters and signs in his paintings School of Beauty, School of Culture, and Watts (1995). Though School of Beauty, School of Culture is rooted in words to highlight commercial elements of black culture, Watts utilizes a sign to point to the location of Marshall’s painting as a public housing complex.

Jolaidowu (talk)Jola Idowu —Preceding undated comment added 21:46, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

References

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