In this slideshow, we look at the portraiture by and of African Americans, asking questions about where the meaning resides in different art works.

1. Thinking about form in portraiture
WHERE DOES CONTENT
COME FROM?

2. Joshua Johnson
 Born c.1765 and died 1830
in Baltimore, MD
 “a self-taught
genius, deriving from
nature and industry his
knowledge of the Art; and
having experienced many
insuperable obstacles in
the pursuit of his studies”
 Sarah Ogden Gustin, c.
1805, National Gallery of
Art

3. Portrait of a Gentleman, c. 1805-1810

4. The Westwood Children, c. 1807

5. Questions
 How much does the background
or life story of the artist matter?
 How much autonomy does the
artist have in communicating?

6. Form versus Content
Form
 The materials, techniques, and style used in
an artwork; how something is shaped or
made
Content
 What is being said or expressed in an artwork;
the meaning or substance

7. Form changes subject
Constantin Brancusi, The Auguste Rodin, The Kiss, 1889
Kiss, 1916

8. Context changes form

9. How do we determine meaning?
 How an object is placed or situated (the
context) directs or gives clues to
understanding
 Includes when/where/how/who of its making and
placement
 The style or method of an object’s making (its
form)
 Line, texture, material, color, value, weight

10. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Memorial, Washington, D.C.

11. Other King statues
University of Texas Annapolis, Maryland

12. How do statues convey?
Omaha, Nebraska Albany, New York

13. What makes a work controversial?
• This statue, by
Ed Rose, was in
Denver for two
decades
• Controversy
pushed it to
storage until it
was moved to a
King museum
in
Pueblo, Colora
do

14. Beginning the Memorial idea
 Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, of which King was
a member, proposed a national memorial in
1984 and Congress authorized it in 1996
 Foundation put out international design
competition that received over 900 entries
from 52 countries
 San Francisco architecture team was chosen
because of their design that referenced “out
of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope”

15. Selecting an artist
 Foundation chose Lei
Yixin, a Chinese
artist, to carve the
stone because of his
experience carving
stone on a
monumental scale

16. Controversy
 Gilbert Young, an African
American artist famous
for He Ain’t
Heavy, quickly led a
protest of the choice of
Lei Yixin
 "I would think that they'd
have had enough
sensitivity to understand
that what we really
wanted was fairness and
the opportunity for us, as
the people, to show our
artistic gifts."

17. More controversies
 Made by unpaid Chinese workers
 Looks like totalitarian art
 Quotes selections are edited or misattributed
 Pink marble makes King look white

18. The Finished Memorial
 Dedicated on October
16, 2011 on the
anniversary of the 1995
Million Man March on
Washington
 First memorial to an
African American on
the National Mall

19. Happy Birthday,
Dr. King!