Renee Cox, An African American Woman And Artist

In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry argues that the over-sexualized, unattainable bodies of black women in popular culture will lead to the breakdown of feminism and the positive body image of the everyday black

A review of the world’s great artists conjures familiar images: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel; Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night; Pablo Picasso’s The Tragedy. There are many more, of course: Monet, Moya, Warhol, Rembrandt, Kandinsky. What is immediately noticeable, however, upon any brief study of art, is the significant absence of women as heralded artists—not only in our ancient pasts, but even today, amongst valiant efforts for gender equality.

The Black Arts movement refers to a period of “furious flowering” of African American creativity beginning in the mid-1960’s and continuing through much of the 1970’s (Perceptions of Black). Linked both chronologically and ideologically with the Black Power Movement, The BAM recognized the idea of two cultural Americas: one black and one white. The BAM pressed for the creation of a distinctive Black Aesthetic in which black artists created for black audiences. The movement saw artistic production as the key to revising Black American’s perceptions of themselves, thus the Black Aesthetic was believed to be an integral component of the economic, political, and cultural empowerment of the Black

Postmodern American artist’s Cindy Sherman and Kara Walker critique and question grand narratives of gender, race and class through their work and art practice. Cindy Sherman, born 1954, is well renowned for her conceptual portraits of female characters and personas that question the representation of women, gender identity and the true (or untrue) nature of photography (Hattenstone 2011). Kara Walker, born 1969, is known for her black silhouettes that dance across gallery walls and most recently her sugar sphinx, A Subtlety, address America’s racist slavery past (Berry 2003). These practitioners differ in their practical application of different mediums, Sherman constructs characters and scenes of stereotypical female personas in her photographs where she operates as the actress, director, wardrobe assistant, set designer and cameraman (Machester 2001). Simone Hatenstone, writer for The Guardian, states “She 's a Hitchcock heroine, a busty Monroe, an abuse victim, a terrified centrefold, a corpse, a Caravaggio, a Botticelli, a mutilated hermaphrodite sex doll, a man in a balaclava, a surgically-enhanced Hamptons type, a cowgirl, a desperate clown, and we 've barely started.” (Hattenstone 2011).Whereas, Walker creates paper silhouettes that are installed into a gallery space, as writer Ian Berry describes,

Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes are both African American poets that have made tremendously positive names for themselves in the literature department. Their significant signature in the poetic community has been made by their passion and commitment to produce poetry that speaks to the emotions the public faces on a daily basis. Maya Angelou was brought into this world on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas (Maya Angelou Biography 1). Sadly, Ms. Angelou left the earth on May 28, 2014 (Maya Angelou Biography 1), but still made sure that her works would be adequate enough for the public to enjoy her works past her time. She was not just a poet, as she wrote books, memoirs, taught, produced, acted, made films, and was an activist in the civil rights movement. (19 1). Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri (Langston Hughes 1). Langston was able to make himself known in the public eye during the Harlem Renaissance.

The intersection of social movements and Art is one that can be observed throughout the civil right movements of America in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The sixties in America saw a substantial cultural and social change through activism against the Vietnam war, women’s right and against the segregation of the African - American communities. Art became a prominent method of activism to advocate the civil rights movement. It was a way to express self-identity as well as the struggle that people went through and by means of visual imagery a way to show political ideals and forms of resistance. To examine how a specific movement can have a profound effects on the visual art, this essay will focus on the black art movement of the 1960s and

Henrietta Lacks was an African American women that was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. Henrietta Lacks was born unto Eliza and Johnny Pleasant. At some point in time she changed her name from Loretta to Henrietta but her family is uncertain into how. Her mother died while giving birth to her tenth child in 1924. After the passing of his late wife, Henrietta’s father felt unable to handle the children, so he took them all to Clover, Virginia. In Clover, Virginia is where her father gave the children to relatives. At the age of 4, Henrietta was sent to live with her grandfather, Tommy Lacks, in a log cabin. This log cabin that she was sent to live in with her grandfather had been the slave quarters of a white ancestor’s plantation. At this time Henrietta Lacks shared a room with her 9 year-old first cousin, David Lacks.

In addition, I will examine the differences between male and female sexuality and how each tended to be perceived and treated by society. Then, I will look at prominent female artists and their personal experiences and beliefs on feminism and the female in their art focusing on how it tended to be received along how male artists responded to it. Mainly, I will be analyzing the clash of sexualized images in art, focusing on the differences not only between male made art versus female art, but the differences in the women’s art community, as well. What are the reasons and goals for women to use a “sexualized image” of women in their art versus

Personal and cultural history are considered some of the main driving elements in artists and people in everyday life, they help the individual learn values, customs, history, and the way that ancestors interpreted and felt about life in their time. It involves how we communicate with others and the manner in which we communicate, with the diversity of languages and cultures we have today it allows for everyone to have their own form of interpreting culture allowing for personal and cultural history to intertwine and become one. Artist Kara Walker is an African American woman who grew up reading and learning about the history of the African Americans during the times of slavery and colonization in America, and as a result her work depicts the historical events of the time. Her connections are represented in her work by her ability to build narratives of past events she’s learned of and at times making her own stories based on her feelings and opinions on the subjects. Her shadow artwork is made to represent people, emotions,

The artist, Destiny Frasqueri, explores what it means to be young and brown in today’s America through her spoken word poem “Brown Girl Blues.” Frasqueri informs listeners of the hardship and oppression on the black community and the racial divide the government keeps on society. This argument makes sense. With the pandemonium that appears on the news and the riots that happen daily it’s obvious the reasons behind Frasqueri perspective. Though Frasqueri is talking on such deep and demanding material she stills keeps an optimistic disposition on the topic. Destiny Frasqueri has spent her whole artistic career writing about the injustice of minorities. Many of her other pieces have a more dark and isolated tone, but not “Brown Girl Blues”. The jazzy and soulful instrumental integrated with a video of young, black, powerful females gives a unique and hopeful vibe to

The paintings and sculptures that first appear as a general and social commentary on the depiction of African Americans in the 18th and 19th century art canon, painted by contemporary artist Titus Kaphar, have given a voice to Black figures in the historical and artistic context. In The Preacher 's Wife (2010), a painting part of the ‘Classical Disruption’ exhibition, Kaphar seeks to explore the role of black women and their misrepresentation in the 18th and 19th art historical trajectories. Recreating paintings by great American artists such as Copley and Eakins, Kaphar reconstructs social and historical narratives (Berzon). While maintaining a common denominator throughout his works, Kaphar’s art has been recognized for inserting African Americans in paintings and telling the narrative of their absence and exclusion from the art historical canon. A graduate of Yale Art School, Kaphar also credits the contemporary style of his art to his studies at De Anza College in Cupertino where he took an African American Literature class that introduced to the art of the Harlem Renaissance with Omonike Weusi Puryear. Yale and De Anza College, collectively, contributed to the way Kaphar gives form and authority not only to black men, but also to the women who have been objectified or erased altogether from the art historical canon (Frank).

African Americans are no stranger to discrimination. Children across American are taught about the horrific times of slavery. Following slavery, we learn about the discrimination African Americans face in the light of their bittersweet freedom. Due to this unstability, many amazing young African American artist emerged with breathtaking stories to reveal; the stories weren’t easy to expose because publishing companies and the alike were very

Richard Hunt is a sculptor whose work largely draws on abstraction, crafting organic shapes with industrial materials. His approach to his art is one that is based on compulsion, as he combines various curvilinear and angular forms to form an ambiguous hybrid that captures the African American experience. By crafting an unconventional layering of different shapes, Hunt is able to create a conceptual piece that is open to interpretation. Similarly, Betye Saar aims to promote thought-provoking reflection. By carefully utilizing racial stereotypes into her artistic vision, Saar is able to manipulate racist devices into a more positive message. Her exaggeration of certain caricatures of African American life served as a new symbol for

Although embracement or celebrations of this stereotypically black feature may empower these women who reverse or redirect the hegemonic gaze that had been centered on their backsides for so long, these Eurocentric derived presumptions and idealizations of female blackness, nevertheless, remain. However, attempts to redefine these social constructions, while accentuating this feature Beyoncé refers to as “bootylicious,” has transformed beauty industries and ideas of sexual desirability which “subverts social hierarchies and normalcy” (Hobson 88). These redefinitions of beauty, more specifically, black beauty, from the “grotesque, carnivalesque body,” (Hobson 88) seeks “a healthier body image than their white counterparts” who are exclusively depicted as slender and petite (Durham 36-37). Thus, black women begin to visualize their own bodies and other black women bodies in ways that lead to non-sexualized, non-deviant conclusions. Challenging these “controlling images,” as Patricia Hill Collins identifies in Hobson’s article, only “unmirrors” black femininity and its history, a term Hobson cited from black artist and theorist, Lorraine O’Grady, because in order to “name ourselves rather than be named we must first see ourselves” (89). She later adds

The various visual elements display through Renee Cox and Kara Walker have a common theme of exploited black women. Their art is often conversion and viewed differently about the audience. Their art has a common feel as if you're into the scene or have a great sense of depth within the art. The similarities and differences will be based on stereotypes, illusions of past events and the meanings behind the art.