Believing in Divinity (Faith)
Henry Ossawa Tanner shouldered his share of criticism for favoring Christian subjects that did little to further the
uplift of African America during a time when those fortunate enough to have a voice were expected to use it to promote
equality. That was squarely on the mind of artists that came after him like Allan Crite who used traditional aesthetic
modes to create a very untraditional black Holy Family in the late 1930s; a choice which was particularly inspirational
as the Black Power Movement took hold of artists like Walter Williams, whose Madonna is not simply black, but rendered as a
hybrid of the canonical Western art Madonna and African maternity carvings. The stability of religion as subject over
generations emphasizes how historically important believing in divinity is to American life.
Wilmer Jennings reminds us that the Bible offers guidance for living; Gwendolyn Bennett imagines the lovely, pristine origins of man and woman; William H. Johnson and James Wells recall stories that witness divine intervention, and Warren Marr over two generations ago recognized how different beliefs have to exist peacefully within one society.
The churches themselves, portraits of buildings made of bricks or boards, represent an unwavering national belief in divinity. And the rituals surrounding time set aside for spiritual, social and physical shelter in church appear in renderings as diverse as Ellis Wilson's Haitian funeral march and John Biggers' determined matrons dressed in their Sunday best. There are angels and devils and kings and queens that all participate in an ever-changing visual narrative that does not lose its standing as moving subject matter for African American artists. Each in their own way step inside their stories of the divine, perhaps not as literally as William H. Johnson when he appears as Jesus in his Temptation of Christ, and African American artists find truth by seeing with candor themselves and their communities as part of humanity's grand design.
Key Works:
Tanner, Henry Ossawa
Flight From Jerusalem, c.1900
oil on canvas, 13x9 in
ADC 149
Pajaud, William
Church Sister, c. 1994
Pastel on paper, 32x26 in
Wilmer Jennings reminds us that the Bible offers guidance for living; Gwendolyn Bennett imagines the lovely, pristine origins of man and woman; William H. Johnson and James Wells recall stories that witness divine intervention, and Warren Marr over two generations ago recognized how different beliefs have to exist peacefully within one society.
The churches themselves, portraits of buildings made of bricks or boards, represent an unwavering national belief in divinity. And the rituals surrounding time set aside for spiritual, social and physical shelter in church appear in renderings as diverse as Ellis Wilson's Haitian funeral march and John Biggers' determined matrons dressed in their Sunday best. There are angels and devils and kings and queens that all participate in an ever-changing visual narrative that does not lose its standing as moving subject matter for African American artists. Each in their own way step inside their stories of the divine, perhaps not as literally as William H. Johnson when he appears as Jesus in his Temptation of Christ, and African American artists find truth by seeing with candor themselves and their communities as part of humanity's grand design.
Key Works:
Tanner, Henry Ossawa
Flight From Jerusalem, c.1900
oil on canvas, 13x9 in
ADC 149
Pajaud, William
Church Sister, c. 1994
Pastel on paper, 32x26 in