Black (art)history month & why I paint "black people"

​In honor of Black History month someone on Facebook posted a video showing what life would be like without the inventions of creative African-Americans and it wasn't just about the cotton gin and peanuts. I was impressed and started thinking about black artists who have influenced my life. This is a short list, but they are the people who popped into my mind. Although I took 4 semesters of art history in college, I don't think any black artists were covered. Luckily my life has taken me to places where these artists are known and appreciated so when I facilitated an art appreciation program in PA for elementary school children I made a point to include three of the following artists in our discussions with the children. 

Ezra Jack Keats wrote The Snowy Day in 1962. It was the first book Keats both authored and illustrated, and was a milestone for featuring the first African-American character in a full-color picture book. When I was a child, little Peter fascinated me as he explored the first snow in New York City. At the time I had no idea it was a book that broke boundaries. 

Clementine Hunter 1886-1988
She lived on Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana most of her life. I learned about her when I lived in Shreveport, Louisiana. She started painting when she was 50 and had no training. Jackie Kennedy put one of her paintings in the White House. I love her quote. Painting is tough.

"Painting is a lot harder than pickin' cotton. Cotton's right there for you to pull off the stalk, but to paint,
​you got to sweat your mind."
​
-Clementine Hunter-

Romare Bearden, 1911-1988, was born in NC and spent time in NY City, Paris and Pittsburgh which is where I first heard of him. The collage on the left is called Pittsburgh Memories and the smoke stacks were a prominent part of the skyline back then. His early work focused on unity and cooperation within the African-American community and later he explored the struggle for civil rights as an artist. 

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Faith Ringgold, born in 1930, is a visual storyteller. Her narrative quilts are fascinating and have been photographed and turned into children's books. The quilt in the photo is called Tar Beach and it depicts her life growing up in Harlem. During the hot summer months her family would live on the roof which became their tar beach. She was influenced by the Harlem Renaissance and lived around the corner from the poet Langston Hughes. I was fortunate to have heard Maya Angelou read one of his poems called Harlem Sweeties which was written in 1921. Here is a bit of the poem about black skin color.

"​Let me repeat:
Caramel, brown sugar,   
A chocolate treat.   
Molasses taffy,
Coffee and cream,   
Licorice, clove, cinnamon   
To a honey-brown dream.   
Ginger, wine-gold,   
Persimmon, blackberry,
All through the spectrum
Harlem girls vary--
So if you want to know beauty’s   
Rainbow-sweet thrill,
Stroll down luscious,
Delicious, fine Sugar Hill."

His description of skin color is amazing and empowering for young African-American women of any generation. Apparently even art can be divided down racial lines. Recently I was asked, "But why do you paint black people?" I wish I could have recited Harlem Sweeties with the finesse of Maya Angelou. It would've knocked them over.