The idea that art can be a service to people- most importantly a service to poor and disenfranchised people is one that may be disputed by some. However, Elizabeth Catlett and other artists at the taller de Graffica Popular have proved that art could be made to service the poor. Catlett in particular is someone who has always used her art to advocate for the poor and fight injustices. While her activism and political views were very impactful, they were also very controversial. Catlett`s art and activism influenced African American and Latin American art by changing the narratives of Black and Brown working class women. In their books titled Gumbo Ya Ya, The Art of Elizabeth Catlett, African American Art: The Long Struggle, and Elizabeth Catlett: Works on Paper authors Leslie King-Hammond, Samella S. Lewis, Crystal Britton, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jeanne Zeidler speak of the work of Catlett. In a paper titled -----, ---- also speaks of the work of Elizabeth Catlett and her legacy as an activist. Elizabeth Catlett`s art documents history, but particularly the experiences of the black and brown working class women.. She combined what she has learned of African art, African American art, and …show more content…
Catlett and her husband were deeply involved in activism and politics. In her article titled----, Herzog writes that “ The Taller de Grafica Popular, was known to progressive artists here as well. Like the paintings of the Mexican muralist, the work of the Taller had its ideological roots in the expressions of indiginism and national cultural identity known as Mexicanidad , or ‘Mexicanness’. ” Because one of their goals was to produce a national identity, their art was made for everyone, including poor people. At the taller, they did linoleum print because the linoleum print was an inexpensive medium and thus was perfect for public art. In addition, most of Catlett`s work focused on portraying women of
In the eighteenth Century, Colonial European and Mexican artists were fascinated with the emergence of racial blending within the Spaniard bloodline. Works of art began displaying pieces that portrayed three major groups that inhabited the colony— Indians, Spaniards, Africans and other ethnicities. This new genre of painting was known as Casta painting and portrayed colonial representations of racial intermarriage and their offspring. Traditionally Casta paintings were a pictorial genre that was often commissioned by Spaniards as souvenirs upon their arrival from New Spain (Mexico). And yet, why would such works have so much fascination despite its suggestive theme? It is clear that Casta paintings display interracial groups and couples, but they seem to have a deeper function when it comes to analyzing these works. These paintings demonstrate that casta paintings were created to display racial hierarchies within the era. They depict the domestic life of interracial marriages and systematically categorized through a complete series of individual paintings. It is clear that the fascination of these works reflected the categorizing of new bloodline that have been emerging and displays these characters in a manner that demonstrates the social stereotypes of these people by linking them with their domestic activities and the items that surround them as well. Despite the numerous racial stereotypes that are illustrated in these works, casta paintings construct racial identities through visual representations.
*Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. "African American Women's History and the Metalanguage of Race" in Feminism and History, ed. Joan Wallach Scott (NY: Oxford University Press, 1996), 201.
Ernie Barnes was and still is one of the most popular and well-respected black artists today. Born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, in 1938, during the time the south as segregated, Ernie Barnes was not expected to become a famous artist. However, as a young boy, Barnes would, “often [accompany] his mother to the home of the prominent attorney, Frank Fuller, Jr., where she worked as a [housekeeper]” (Artist Vitae, The Company of Art, 1999). Fuller was able to spark Barnes’ interest in art when he was only seven years old. Fuller told him about the various schools of art, his favorite painters, and the museums he visited (Barnes, 1995, p. 7). Fuller further introduced Barnes to the works of such artists as, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Correggio, which later influenced Barnes’ mannerist style of painting.
Did you know that in 1960, Betye Saar collected pictures of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, and Little Black Sambo including other African American figures in areas that are also invalid with folk culture and advertising? Since, Saar collected pictures from the folk cultures and advertising she also makes many collages including assemblages, changing these into social protest statements. When her great-aunt passed away, Saar started assembling and collecting memorabilia from her family and created her personal assemblages which she gathered from nostalgic mementos of her great aunt’s life.
After reviewing Jacob Lawrence’s direct and dramatic paintings, it was clear that his painting helped him express himself. The painting was and still is a product of the economic and cultural self-determination that African-American dealt in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, during the migration and still evident in society today. The visual qualities in Jacob Lawrence artwork that is appealing are the vibrant colors and his clever way of self-expressing the time he was so familiar. In final analysis, his artwork expressed how he felt about his environment and what his perspective were during that time. And, how restrained his painting were, for instance, Street Scene – Restaurant, even though African- Americans had access to restaurants in the neighboring area but, he still place patriot outside the restaurant waiti...
Since she could not own, much less lose a realm, the speaker seems to be
Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society 3rd ed. (NY: Thames & Hudson world of art, 2002), 153-160.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York: Prentice Hall Inc. and Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1995.
Georgia O’Keeffe is an artist known for her paints of flowers, skyscrapers, and landscapes from New York. She is recognized as the mother of American modernism. Georgia O’Keeffe has always been a name I remember from my art classes in middle school. We had to talk about a piece of art in class each week and I kept finding myself doing her paintings. The way she uses color and the detail of her flowers is so perfect. The reason I chose to do Georgia O’Keeffe is she is a well-known artist and when think of art, I think of her. I have always thought of Georgia as interesting artist. Not being much of an art guy, something about her paintings makes me interested in her work. I like that she is so simply with her work and she paints very beautiful pieces of work, I’m excited to look more into her work, and get to learn a little more about art. I feel like I hear this quote a lot connected with art, O’Keeffe says many times through out her life “ I found that I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say in any other way----things I had no words for.”
Another form of expression and bringing awareness was through the way of art. The style of art and representation solely raised from the Chicano movement. Murals played a big part in the activism and progression people wanted to see. Most, if not all murals represented native Mexicans and their struggles of being oppressed. All murals told a story whether it was Mexico’s poverty or the farming industry. Many popular symbols and images were used again in the Chica...
This investigation will examine a few key works by the anonymous female artist group know in popular culture as the Guerrilla Girls. In this essay it will reveal several prominent themes within the groups works that uncover the racial and gender inequalities in politics, art and pop culture with the use of humor. These collaborating artists work and operate with a variety of mediums, their works display a strong message concerned with activism connected by humor allowing the Guerrilla Girls to communicate and resonate a more powerful message to the viewer. The ways in which this collaborating group has employed many questions and facts against the hierarchy and historical ideologies which have exploited women and their roles in art. This investigation will allow the reader to identify three areas in which the Guerrilla Girls apply a certain forms of humor to transform society’s view on the prominent issue of gender in the art world. These specific ploys that are performed by the Guerrilla Girls are in the way they dress, the masks they wear, pseudonymous names of dead women artists and the witty factual evidence in their works. These are all examples to evoke audiences in challenging not only the art society which dictates the value and worth of women in art but also to confront yourself and your own beliefs in a way that makes audiences rethink these growing issues.
Their way of coping with a political as well as social issues can be seen through their expressive pieces of art. Particularly Eve Drewlove seemed to have an expressive way of transferring her feelings onto the canvas. Ann Jones also had a very interesting way of conveying the struggles women faced onto paper. She used women and lots of text to provide obvious and clear messages about daily struggles of being a housewife, oppressed by society, chores and trying to be a part of the American lifestyle. Art is a very useful and insightful way for historians to connect with the world in which the artists lived in. Every single artist has his or her own way of expression however most artists and particularly in this exhibition there were a lot of personal connections and feelings that were expressed. Art is a deep and conceptual way for historians to be able to understand more about people and their feelings during those particular times. It is a personal piece of evidence that can provide lots of information to
The painting starts a conversation; it sheds light on an important issue. It’s an endeavor to capture and understand the grief of a downtrodden community. However unwieldy or indelicate its execution, it does not appear to have been done with malice; Indian Widow instead offers a chance to start a meaningful discourse on subjugation and oppression. In the same way, my attempts to contribute to the progress black women are making will be flawed, but that doesn’t foreclose the need for me to make them. So although I may feel torn between the desire to do right by my sisters and the fear of saying the wrong thing, at least I’m trying. And I have to try, if for no one else, for
the first group of Afro- American writers to believe that art could radically transform the artist and
Neal, Larry. “The Black Arts Movement.” The Black Aesthetic. Ed. Addison Gayle, Jr.New York: Doubleday &Company, Inc., 1971. 272 - 290.