Art: Book Review: African American Art: The Long Struggle

African American Art: The Long Struggle by Crystal A. Britton, Smithmark, New York, 1996.

This book is unique, as the artwork of the African Americans reflect the political situation in their lives.  Early art represented the African style, and then followed by neoclassical type work.  Edmonia Wildfire Lewis represented this style.  Lewis, a sculpture was the first African woman to achieve international success.  Her work, “Forever Free” is full of emotion.  Two freed slaves, she kneeling in prayer, and he with a hand raised showing a  broken chain.  Henry Ossawa Tanner, a post-Civil War painter provides a look into African culture.  “The Banjo Lesson” has an older kind gentleman teaching an enthusiastic boy on the banjo.  Religious themes abound and I really enjoy “The Burning Bush” by Beauford Delaney.  “The Flight Into Egypt” by James Lesesne Wells also presents this theme beautifully, using a myriad of colors.  From here the painting represents race relationships, with a nailed boot crushing and African American’s head to bloody riots.  More recently “The Struggle Continue” and other works based on this theme.

Art I like: America's Art

America’s Art: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Theresa J. Slowik, Abrams, New York in association with Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2005.

This book of art very much reads like a history text.  It covers very briefly the history of the United States, from early settlers, the land, the fight for liberty, early farming, Westward expansion, the Civil War, the Rise of Industry, the cities, The renaissance, the Southwest, the Great Depression, folk art, WWII, and then our current state of being with the technology revolution. 

This is also good for a looking at book, with many different types of art.  I think I enjoyed the folk art best.  This book included early photography, modern photography, sculpture, painting and other mediums. 

Some of the favorites are:

“The Girl I left Behind Me” by Eastman Johnson

“Orion in December” by Charles Burchfield

A painting and statues of Thomas Jefferson, a painting of George Washington, and a bust of Abraham Lincoln. 

“Aurora Borealis” by Frederic Edwin Church (to some represented the end of the Civil War and God’s pleasure with the Union victory.

“Plate” black on black by Julian and Maria Martinez