But it is not only the leading practitioners of this trade who have taken advantage of this vehicle for self-promotion, as the National Portrait Gallery shows in its current exhibition titled Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today (November 2, 2018 -August 18, 2019). The exhibition features more than 75 works from the museum's vast collection of of self-portraits.
I have excerpted from this exhibition previously when I posted on the self-portraits of friends/associates of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. In this post I dip into the exhibition once again, this time to highlight African-American artists on display therein.
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| James A. Porter Oil on canvas, 1957 |
Of the paintings covered in this post, this is one of the two that are oil on canvas. Both paintings utilize those characteristics to present brightly colored self-portraits and/or surrounds.
James A. Porter, according to the museum notes, created the foundation for the field of African-American art history. Porter graduated from Howard University in 1927 and then spent the next 10 years studying art and art history in Paris and New York, eventually earning an MA from New York University in 1936. He returned to Howard to teach art, eventually rising to become head of its Art Department and Director of its Gallery.
Porter championed African American artists, including those from the Caribbean. His influential book Modern Negro Art (1943) was the first to place the contribution of African American artists in the context of the history of modernism.Porter's own art was exhibited at major institutions to include the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.
In the painting, Porter is shown in his studio in front of an image of Howard Hall, one of the oldest buildings on the Howard campus. The painting shows a small-boned man -- bright-eyed and with the hint of a smile -- staring directly at the viewer. Color is applied liberally with a somewhat impressionistic feel on the sweater and vest and more robustness on the trousers.
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| Lee Simonson Oil on canvas, c. 1912 |
Lee Simonson graduated from Harvard in 1909 and traveled to Paris shortly thereafter to pursue his dream of becoming a muralist. He spent three years in the City of Lights, forming friendships with other American expatriates such as the writer Gertrude Stein and the painter Stanton MacDonald-Wright.
This self-portrait may have been painted while he was still in Paris. It shows a handsome, nattily attired young man with Kahloesque eyebrows, a pencil-thin mustache, and prominent eyes and ears. He looks out of the scene confident, unsmiling, and determined. He stands off-center to afford a view of the brightly colored still life, flowers and backdrop. According to the Museum notes, "The painting shows his mastery of patterns and composition and the areas of pure, bright color reveal his interest in Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and the French contemporary painters known as the Fauvists."
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| Aaron Douglas Red Conte crayon on paper, 1925 |
Aaron Douglas became one of the leading figures in the flowering of modernist African-American culture in the early 20th century. This self-portrait was drawn months after he had left his job teaching high school art in Kansas City, Missouri to live in Harlem.
The work shows an angular face, topped by wavy hair, with an interrupted mustache and light reflecting off the chin, cheekbones, and forehead. The subject is unsmiling, staring off into the distance over the viewers left shoulder. It is as though by averting his gaze, he prevents the viewer from capturing the full essence of his soul.
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| Ralph Ellison Graphite on paper, 1941 |
This was one was a surprise for me as I never thought of Ralph Ellison within the context of the non-literary art world. It was PTSD-like in some sense because I have stubbed my toe massively on his 1952 book Invisible Man. A few years ago I had seen a list of the 100 Essential Books and had begun reading from the top down, beginning with, of course, War and Peace. Mr. Ellison's book was #8 on the list and when its turn came around I bought it and settled in for another notch on my belt. I found the book difficult to read. I am a duty-bound reader; that is, if I start a book, I will finish it. I deserted my principles on this one. I will revisit it at some future date to see if the passage of time has been agreeable to both of us.
Ellison created this self-portrait 11 years before publishing Invisible Man, "a semi-autobiographical story about a young black man's frustrating attempts to find his own identity, both in the segregated South and during a volatile era in Harlem." He gave this image to Burt Britton -- a collector who worked in a bookstore and requested self-portraits from the famous personalities with whom he came in contact --in 1971.
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| John Wilson Lithographic crayon on paper, 1944 |
John Wilson was initially taught to draw at the local boys' club, after which he enrolled in the school of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. He graduated with highest honors and received a prestigious travel grant which enabled him to study modernism with Fernand Léger in Paris.
The artist stares out of the scene directly at the viewer, unsmiling, and with a hint of sadness in the lower part of the face. Restrained application on the forehead and on the left side of the face gives the impression of illumination. Even though still a young man, there is an implication of thinning hair just above a prominent forehead. There is an unexplained small white object on his right eyebrow. I love the architected strokes associated with the shirt.
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| Hayward Oubre Etching, 1948 |
Hayward Oubre earned an MFA from the University of Iowa in 1948. While in attendance there he lived in segregated housing because, even though he was light enough to pass as white, he proudly refused to do so. His career revolved around teaching until he began making wire sculptures in the 1960s, sculptures which have recently begun to gain attention.
The subject looks away from the viewer with somewhat-hooded eyes His hairline is recessive and his caricatured head rests upon an elongated neck.
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| Jacob Lawrence Ink and gouache over charcoal on paper, c. 1945 |
Lawrence began this self-portrait in 1965, by which time his reputation had been firmly established by his epic series The Migration of the Negro. Lawrence finalized the portrait in 1996 "... adding bands of black around the face and changing its contours to a single sweeping curve." The face is framed by the bands of black and convey senses of age and anxiety.
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This exhibition is both interesting and instructive and lends itself to being sliced and diced by the viewer according to his/her interests. I have excerpted tranches bounded by Frida Kahlo linkages and African-American origins and other views are probably lurking in plain sight. I am not very familiar with African-American artists but this subset of the exhibition provided some bread crumbs that I intend to follow.
©EverythingElse238
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