Volume 3 | Issue 2
Article 6
4-1-1976
Black Women in the Visual Arts: A Comparative
Study
Lois Jones Peirre-Noel
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Recommended Citation
12
A Comparative Study
ByLois Jones Pierre-Noel
The strength and position of the Black
womanartist has existed as an important
contribution from theearlyhistory of Black
Americanartists.Women artistsemerged
from a most discouraging beginning in
this countryto attain remarkable achieve
-ments.For tobe both"Black" and"wom
-an" was to express one's creativity in
"frustrating obscurity." Then, too, art
history books failed to mention Black
women artists beforethe middle of the
19th Century.
From the mid-1800s to the 20th Cen
-tury,the more significant contr.ibutions of
Blackwomen artists were made bythose
who traveled abroad for the recognition
the American society was not willing to give. Outstanding in this group was
Edmonia Lewis,one of the most vibrant personalities of her time. Bornin New York
in 1845, Lewis became the first Black
womansculptor.Liberalabolitionists were
responsible for hereducation at Oberl in
College (1859-1863), followed by s
pe-cialized work insculpture in thestudio of
EdmondBrackett,in Boston.
She first attracted attention in 1865
when she exhibited in Boston a bust of
RobertGould Shaw.That sarneyear she was sent by patrons toRome,where she perfected herwork in thefashionable neo-classical style of the day untiIher death
in 1890.
Henry Tuckerman,aleading American
art historian of the late 19th Century,
referred to Edmonia Lewis as "the most
exotic and interesting of all the young
American artists in Rome."Among her
most noted creations is "Forever Free,"
whichsheexecutedin marble inRome in
1867 as a tribute to the Ernancipation
Proclamation. Itis now inthe permanent collectionof theHowardUniversityGallery
of Art. Other important works of rnarble
are:"Hagar,"1875;"Madonnaand Child,"
1867, and "The Marriage of Hiawatha,"
1865.
"Forever Free," byEdmoniaLewis
PHOTOGRAPHY BYP.P ANGLADE
1
On returning totheStates,sheexecuted
-mostly in plaster-a number ofportrait
bust commissions, amongthem Charles
Sumner,Wendell Phillips, HarrietHomer,
Charlotte Cushman, and Henry Wads
-worth Longfellow-which is now in the
Harvard University College Library.
Ranked along with Edmonia Lewis is
Meta VauxWarri.ckFuller,whom Iknew
when Iwasastudent in Boston.She was
indeed a great inspiration to me.After
five yearsofstudy at the Schoolof
Indus-trial Art in Philadelphia, she went toParis
in 1899 to study at the Academie Colorosi,
where she attracted the attention of
Auguste Rodin,the greatFrench sculptor.
In1903she exhibited, in theParisSalon,
a group entitled "The Wretched," which
were considered her masterpieces.After
three years in Paris,she returned tothe
States.
Most of Fuller's early workswere
de-stroyed in a studio fire in Philadelphia in
1910.Among the remaining are"Ethiopian
Awakening," (now in the 135th Street
Public Library in Harlem) "The Talking
Skull," "The Exodus," and "Richard B.
Harrison."
In an effort to gainrecoqnition as artists,
LewisandFullerchose to liveoutsidethe
Black community,asdid RobertD
uncan-son and Henry O.Tanner.Theirwish was
to be regarded as"artists,"withoutregard
to race. Consequently, with a few excep
-tions,they avoided subjects relating
en-tirelytotheBlackexperience.
Unlike Fuller, May Howard Jackson,
also a sculptor, had nodesire to study
abroad and confined her study to the
Pennsylvania Academy ofFineArts.Her
resultant works wereexcellent examples
ofcalculated modeling in thetradition of
American pictorial sculpture.
Incontrast to Jackson,sculptor Nancy
EIizabeth Prophet,of Warwick,RI.,chose
to study at the Ecole des BeauxArts in
Paris, after completing her work at the
RhodeIslandSchoolofDesign.There she
resided from 1922to 1935and attracted
much attention by her strongIyfeatured
portraits of Black characters in wood. "Congolaise" was oneofhermajor works to bepurchased bythe WhitneyMuseum
in New Yorkfor itspermanentcollection.
Augusta Savage decided earlyinlifeto
succeed inthefield ofsculpture. Itwas
not an easy road forher but,possessing
great genius and strong ambition, she left herhome inGreenCove Spring, Fla.,
for New York to furtherher education.She
was a scholarship student for threeyears
atCooper Union and, in 1923,applied for
and was grantedascholarship to study at FontainbleauinFrance.ButSavage never real izedthe benefits fromthis scholarship
because,onlearning that she wasBlack,
the American Scholarship Committee
withdrew the scholarship. She did,
how-ever, later receive a Rosenwald
scholar-ship for a two-year study in Paris.Her
sculpture,"Gamin," a study of theheadof
aBlack boy wasresponsible for the great
recognition she received-along withthe
expressive headof W. E.B.Dubois- now
in the 135thStreetNew YorkPublicLibrary.
Another of Savage's achievements was
her creation of the sculpture: "The Harp"
[inspired by the Black national anthem
"Lift Every Voice and Sing"] which she
was commissioned to do in 1939for the
New YorkWorld's Fair.Many American
galleries exhibited her work,among them
the Anderson Galleries,the ArgentGallery and the Architectural League of New York.
Itwas during this period in the 1920s
that the Black artist began to gain s
elr-definition throughthe expression ofgroup consciousness in the "Negro R enais-sance" or the "New Negro Movement."
Alain Locke, editor of the New Negro
Anthology, was indeed responsible for
reawakening Black Americans to their
African past and the richness of their
heritage. This movement centered in
Harlem,towhere a largenumberofBlack peasants and laborers fled to escape a
bitter life of poverty in the South after
World War I. In art,this action of
self-expression took place in music, drama,
dance, Iiteratureand the visual arts.The
great personalitiesoftheperiod included,
Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong in 13
music; Claude McKay,LangstonHughes
and James Weldon Johnson in literature;
May Howard Jackson, Augusta Savage andLaura WheelerWaring in art.Waring,
a proficient painterwho taughtat Cheney
StateTeachers College in Pennsylvania,
wascommissioned by theHarmon Fou
n-dation to do [along with Betsy Graves
Reyneau] aseriesofportraitsof outstand
-ing Americans of African descent.
The Harmon Foundation of New York
was greatly instrumental in provid ing
Black artists with exposure and rewards
fortheir work.So wasthecollector Arthur
A.Schomburg,then curator of theD
epart-ment of Negro Literature, History and
Prints at the 135th StreetBranchof the
New YorkPublicLibrary.Hislarge collec
-tion of art, which resulted from his
promotionofpublic exhibits and lectures,
was donated tothelibrary.
Other agencies and institutionswhich
paved theway forBlack artists to develop
their skills and display their art include,
the Bernett Aden Gallery, founded by Alonzo Aden andJamesV.Herring (then
headof theHoward UniversityArt Depa
rt-ment), and the Atlanta University Art
Award Shows,under the sponsorship of HaleWoodruff.
Some of the women artists who f
lour-ished during this era include, Elizabeth
Catlett, sculptor and print-maker, who
now lives in Mexico, and Selma Burke,
alsoasculptor residing in BucksCounty,
New Hope, Pa. Catlett, a graduate of
HowardUniversity,wontop award for her
sculpture, "Mother and Child," at the
NegroExposition in Chicago in 1940.She
worksmainly in wood-cedar and walnut.
Her themes are politically designed in
keeping with her statement that "art is
importantonly tothe extentthat it helpsin
the Ijberation of our people." She is due
to retire soon fromher position as profes
-sor ofsculpture and department head at
the National School of FineArts of the
NationalUniversity ofMexico.
Selma Burke was born at Mooreville,
N.C.,whereat an early ageshe began to
14 fashion nursery rhymesubjects fromlocal
clay which was used as a wash for farm
buildings. Herformaleducation includes
studies at St.Augustine's College,Cooper
Union and Columbia University. Later,
she went to Europeon a fellowship.
Burke has won numerousawards and
has fulfilled several important commis
-sions for the federal govemment. The
reliefportrait headof President Roosevelt
on the 1a-centcoin isherwork.Sheis the
founder of the half-million dollar Selma
BurkeArtCenter atBucks Country,Pitts
-burgh,Pa.
Samella Lewis, professor of Oriental
Art Historyat Scripps College,Claremont, Cal., and co-author with Ruth Waddy of Volumes I and IIofBlack Artists onArt, is
founder-editorof the ContemporaryCrafts
Publishing Company in Los Angeles.
Another artist of note is Margaret Bur
-roughs,ilIustrator/printmakerandfounder
-director of the DuSable Museum in
Chicago.
Evangeline Montgomery specializes in
metal craft, photography and weaving,
and serves asethnicartconsultanttothe
Oakland Museum.Sheis alsoactiveas a
consultant and selects and organizes
Black art exhibits and researchmaterial.
A New Era
With thecomingof the"BlackRevolution" of the late 1960s came the "Black Art Movement." It is significant to notethata
few yearsagoitwould havebeen unthink
-able tosegregate thework of Black artists
andexhibit themoutofcontextwithother
contemporary works. Buttoday,Black art
shows are presented nationwide in an
effort to rectify what has long been a
serious social injustice.
Someoftheseexhibitions center around such themes as:"Afro-American Women
in Art: Their Achievements in Sculpture
and Painting," recorded at the Whitney
Museum in 1972;"A New Vitalityin Art:
TheBlackWoman," which was presented
at Mt. Holyoke College in1972.Thefol
-lowing year,Morgan StateCollege[nowa
university] in Baltimore featured four
women,Laura WheelerWaring,Elizabeth
Catlett,Alma Thomas,and this writer, in
an exhibition entitled, "Black Matr
i-Images," organized by Professor James E.Lewis.
Anorganization of Black womenartists
in New York called "Where We At"
-headed by Kay Brown-exhibited at the
Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corpora
-tion in Brooklyn, andat Gallery 1199,the
show: "The Black Woman:Genesis of a
NewNation."Oneof the1975shows,"In
New York,"at the Women'sInterart Center,
inMay,markedthefirstattempt to indicate
certain specific directions and trends in
theartof Black women.FaithRinggold, a strong leaderfor therights ofBlack artists, served ascuratorfor the show.Ringgold
isrecogn ized for her earlybutoutstanding
canvases geared to portraythe injustices,
hypocrisies, and indignities endured by theBlack manin this country.
Among theBlackwomenartistswhose
works have been exhibited widely are
Betye Saar and Alma Thomas, both of
whom had solo shows at the Whitney Museum in New York,andEllenBanks,a
member of the Boston Museum School
faculty, whose paintings and construc -tions are abstract in style;Delilah Pierce andMalkia(Lucille Roberts),ofWashing
-ton, whose travels to Africa havegreatly
influenced their style and direction of
work; Tex Nash, also of Washington,
whoserecentexhibition of strong,pictur
-esque portrayals of Black women and
woven tapestries at the HolstonGallery in
Washington was a great success.
Also,Georgia Jessup,GeorgettePowell and Star Bullock,thelatterwho exhibited three of hernewestpieces in"TheA meri-can Painters in Paris" exhibition at the
Palais desCongnes,from December 15,
1965to February 16,1976;Vivian Brown,
andBettyBlayton,founder-director ofthe
Children's Art Carnival in Harlem, who
are highly esteemed in New York,and Valerie Maynard,atalented sculptor who
last year took athree-yeartraveling ex
-hibition of her works to Sweden, and
Carole Byard,who works out ofa studio
in New York's Greenwich Village, and
whosework is included in the pres
enta-tion of "Paintings by Five Black Women
Artists," attheHowardUniversity Gallery ofArt inJanuary,1976.
Geraldine McCullough, a Chicago
sculptor, createdthecontroversial
monu-ment of Dr.MartinLuther King.Thiswork
inbronze,which stands seven-and-a-half
feet, bears the face of Dr. King, but is
typical ofBenin [West African] sculpture
inthe form ofa king clad inceremonial
dress. It stands infront oftheDr.Martin
Luther King Plazaapartment building in
Chicago.
Among a group of 10 Chicago artists
organized by Jeff Donaldson (present chairman of the Department of Art at Howard University) called "Africobra,"
meaning:African Commune of BadRele
-vant Artists,are twowomen ofdistinction:
Barbara Jones,whoteaches atMalcolm X
College,andCarolyn Lawrence. Theirart
may be classified as "Propaganda Art"
and truly "Black Art" aimed toreflect the
Black experience and to preserve the
African heritage.
Other nationally acclaimed artists in
-clude, Yvone Carter, who is on the Art
faculty of Federal City College, Martia
Lloyd, Yvonne Olf, Harriet Kennedyand
Suzanne Jackson,who is primarily "sel f-taught," and whose watercolorsdealwith reality versus fantasy expressed in a
mood bordering onsurrealism. Someof
herwork can be found in the Hirshhorn
Collection and in other galleries and col
-lections inthe WestCoast,especially in
LosAngeles.
Youngertalentswhobearwatching are
RoseAuld, WendyWilson and Adrienne
Hoard.
Itisgratifying towitness theincreasing numberofBlack womenartiststhroughout
the United States whose works show a
wide variety of styles and directions
which signify their ability to cope with
the bestof world art.
0
Professor LoisJones Pierre-Noel teaches design
and watercolor painting a/Howard University.
Edmonia Lewis Selma Burke with"Mother andChild"
15
Meta Warrick Fuller PHOTOGRAPHY BY D.J. GIRO PHOTOGRAPHY BYFRED P KENDERSON
4
16
"Black Unity," byElizabeth Catlett
"Ms. Brown & Children," by Faith Ringgold
17
"Plain Woman," by Augusta Savage
"Richard Berry Harrison," by Meta Warrick Fuller PHOTOGRAPHY BY P P.ANGLADE
18
"Dawn on the Niger,"by Delilah Pierce PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN TEMPLETON-JIMWELLS PHOTOGRAPHERS
"Labotomy I,"byCarole Byard 19
20
