African American art: history, culture, and contemporary practice

African-American Art

The art of African-Americans became a powerful medium for social and self-expression. Visual arts including sculpture carried with it political implications related to colonialism, oppression, and liberation. Along with other forms of creative expression, African-American visual arts particularly flourished during the Harlem Renaissance. Three exemplary pieces of art that represent the character, tone, and tenor of African-American art during the Harlem Renaissance include Meta Warrick Fuller's "Ethiopia Awakening," Palmer Hayden's "Fetiche et Fleurs," and Richmond Barthe's "Feral Benga." Each of these works of art conveys liberation from oppression and a subversion of the dominant culture.

In Meta Warrick Fuller's bronze sculpture "Ethiopia Awakening," a woman embodies two distinct themes: of bondage and of liberation. The lower portion of the figure is rendered as would be an Egyptian mummy: legs and feet fully bound, wrapped tightly in cloth bearing a classical Egyptian palm-like motif. Egypt is the bastion of civilization in ancient Africa; the awakening of a unique black identity among African-Americans depends on drawing connections to the ancient history of black people everywhere. Egypt is particularly important to the black consciousness because it serves as a cultural bridge: inhabited by a group of people as diverse as African-Americans. Yet Egyptian antiquities have been appropriated by the European academic establishment in a type of intellectual colonization. In other words, whites have assumed responsibility for black cultural narratives like those of ancient Egypt.

Moreover, mummification represents death, but it also represents eternal life and rebirth in a splendid afterlife. Fuller could have chosen to render the figure in an Egyptian statuary style without using a form common to mummies. For example, Egyptian statuary often depicts one foot stepping forward on the plane rather than being bound together like a mummy. Therefore, the artist chose the Egyptian symbolism of the mummy purposefully.

The upper half of the statue is completely different from the bottom, representing the "double consciousness" of African-Americans that W.E.B DuBois referred to in his writing. In Fuller's statue, the woman is breaking free from the bonds that hold her down. She does so peacefully and with grace. Furthermore, the woman has completely divested herself of any Egyptian identity. Unlike traditional Egyptian statuary, her arms are not sitting stiff by her sides and she glances to the right in a pose totally unlike the rigid poses of ancient Egyptian art. The woman's hands are unbound, and the drapery surrounding her form flows freely. She also appears sensual, with her hand on her bosom as if caught in mid-gasp. Sensuality is quite the opposite of stiff intellectualism. Fuller celebrates the triumph of the heart over the head.

There are several layers of political subversion in Meta Warrick Fuller's "Ethiopia Awakening." First, she represents liberation from the bondage of centuries of slavery. Second, she represents the liberation of the arts in a culture dominated by rigid European-style intellectualism. Third, Fuller makes a strong political statement against colonialism and imperialism. Patton (1998) points out that the title of the piece and the association with Ethiopia is due to Ethiopia being celebrated as the only country that repelled the European colonialists after the partitioning of Africa. This was a time during which the continent was divided up like a pie, for the European powers to devour, as they will.

Ethiopia represented a triumph over Western hegemony. Moreover, there was a pan-African movement called "Ethiopianism," which was related to a Coptic Biblical prophecy. Ethiopianism was based on a co-option of Christianity so that it could suit African needs and African tastes. Fuller's "Ethiopia Awakening" is African-Americans self-liberation, and reclamation of lost identities.

Palmer Hayden's "Fetiche et Fleurs" is also politically subversive. Rendered entirely in earth tones, the painting turns a typical European-style still life on its head. Hayden juxtaposes "primitive" African statuary with "sophisticated" European fine art. "Fetiche et Fleurs" presents the question of why European art might be held to higher standards than the art of Africa. Hayden also seems to be asking what constitutes "primitive" versus "highbrow" art. Using a French title also enhances the pretense of sophistication that Hayden satirizes. Yet "Fetiche et Fleurs" is not a satirical piece; the artist fuses African folk art with European fine art to prove that African-American art effectively blends multiple traditions in order to become its own thing. Like Fuller's statue, Hayden's painting paved the way for waves of African-American artists since to retain a unique cultural identity while still training with formal European-style masters and techniques.

Like Hayden's "Fetiche et Fleurs," Richmond Barthe's "Fera Benga" subverts European aesthetic norms. The "Fera Benga" small bronze statue is full of raw male potency. A naked man dances with a scimitar, a weapon that seems far more phallic than dangerous here. In addition to being filled with energy and motion, the statue also subverts European norms of male perfection and beauty. The "Fera Benga" does not need to be compared with Rodin, as Patton (1998) does, to be appreciated. This statue hearkens to every three-dimensional representation of the human form, from prehistoric art to Rodin. The "Fera Benga" is the idealized male form: no different from the Greek kouros. Only Hayden's form happens to be African. His pose also happens to be far different from Greek male forms, even athletic ones. Fera Benga's form is curvaceous, as if he is writhing with sexual energy in the middle of a dance.

Augusta Savage's "The Harp" is a sixteen-foot monumental sculpture rendered in plaster. Its sheer size is part of Savage's message: this is a piece that is larger than life. Savage painted the plaster black: an effect that lends the mass its gravity and also its symbolic color related to racial identity. The harp is composed of human forms: black spiritual singers. Savage captures the primary importance of music to African-American identity. The ultimate form of the sculpture is that of a musical instrument, on a larger-than-life scale. As if the harp was not enough to convey music, the artist also shows how black identity is inseparable from black music. The harp is the people; the people are the harp.

In front of the harp, a man kneels with a bar of musical notes. The gesture is clearly one of making an offering to the gods. Savage suggests two things by the male figure out front: one, that music is a genuine spiritual outpouring of love for God; and two, that African-Americans in particular use music as a means of creating and sustaining a spiritual community. The sculpture shows how closely African-American music is also linked with African-American spirituality. All the singers that comprise the harp are wearing choir robes, and they extend into the harp as if to infinity. The effect is one of the passage of generations, showing how music is one of the main ways African-American culture and tradition is disseminated from one generation to the next. Savage's "The Harp" shows that religion and music come together to create cultural cohesion in the African-American community.