{"id":7943,"date":"2020-08-24T21:53:50","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T21:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=7943"},"modified":"2020-08-24T21:57:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T21:57:19","slug":"the-aesthetics-of-the-black-arts-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=7943","title":{"rendered":"The Aesthetics of the Black Arts Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Aesthetics of the Black Arts Movement<\/strong><\/h3>\n
By Shantay Robinson<\/pre>\n
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All Praises Due by Nelson Stevens, acrylic on canvas. Private collection<\/p><\/div>\n
Though the Black Arts Movement was not the first time Black people mobilized their art for empowerment, this movement was tied directly to the politics of the people and considered the sister of the Black Power Movement.\u00a0 In a 1968\u00a0article titled, \u201cThe Black Arts Movement\u201d, preeminent movement scholar, Larry Neal, writes, \u201cThis movement is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept.\u00a0 As such, it envisions an art that speaks directly to the needs and aspirations of Black America.\u201d While the attitude and style produced during the nexus of the Black Arts Movement can be found in the art of contemporary Black artists, there hasn\u2019t been a lot of scholarship produced on the Black Arts Movement and many of the publications produced at that time are out of print. But what remains is the soul of the movement. In Damon Powell\u2019s article, \u201cThe Aesthetics of Blackness: Theology, Aesthetics & Blackness in the Black Arts Movement Western Aesthetics and Blackness,\u201d he identifies soul as, \u201c\u2026the penultimate form of recognition, affirmation and homage to the life, work, attitude, and artistry of the entire Black Arts and Black Power Movement.\u201d \u00a0C. Eric Lincoln defines soul as \u201c\u2026the essence of Blackness.\u00a0 It is the creative genius of the liberated man and woman who have come to terms with themselves and with their heritage. If Black is beautiful, it is soul that makes it so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But how to do we account for the soul in the art of the Black Arts Movement?\u00a0 How does soul factor into aesthetic principles? David Lionel Smith questions what the Black Aesthetic is.\u00a0 Smith cites Addison Gayle stating, \u201cThe Black Aesthetic, then, as conceived by this writer, is a corrective \u2013 a means of helping Black people out of the polluted mainstream of Americanism, and offering logical, reasoned arguments as to why he should not desire to join the ranks of a Norman Mailer or a William Styron.\u201d According to several scholars, the Black aesthetic rejects Western aesthetics and is more concerned with uplifting Black people.\u00a0 Smith considers the differences between \u201cBlack Aesthetics\u201d and \u201cthe Black Aesthetic.\u201d He states the former leaves itself open to multiple possibilities, but the latter is speaking specifically of something that the art of the Black Arts Movement must do.\u00a0 Neal states, \u201cA main tenet of Black Power is the necessity for Black people to define the world in their own terms. \u00a0The Black artist has made the same point in the context of aesthetics\u2026The Black artist takes this to mean that his primary duty is to speak to the spiritual and cultural needs of Black people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an article titled, \u201cThe Social Background of the Black Arts Movement,\u201d Neal states, \u201cThe Black Arts Theater came up to Harlem the spring after Malcolm\u2019s assassination.\u201d The Black Arts Theater was the birthchild of Amiri Baraka.\u00a0 The history of the Black Arts Movement is contentious in that, according to Kim McMillon in her article, \u201cBlack Feminism, The Ancestors Speak and the Women of the Black Arts Movement,\u201d some see the movement as a natural extension of the Harlem Renaissance. Most see the movement forming with Amiri Baraka\u2019s (LeRoi Jones) exodus from Downtown to Harlem. She writes, \u201cIn March 1965 following the 21 February assassination of Malcolm X, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) moved from Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side, uptown to Harlem, an exodus considered the symbolic birth of the Black Arts movement.\u201d McMillon challenges the symbolic move with a feminist reading that could possibly look at the Black Art Movement starting with Lorraine Hansberry\u2019s\u00a0A Raisin in the Sun<\/em>\u00a0in 1959.\u00a0 Though the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s was predominantly led by men, women like Sonia Sanchez and Baraka\u2019s wife, Amina Baraka, were women voices that played pivotal roles in shaping the soul of the movement.<\/p>\n
Neal states, \u201cThe Black Arts and Black Power concepts both relate broadly to the Afro-American\u2019s desire for self-determination and nationhood.\u00a0 Both concepts are nationalistic. One is concerned with the relationship between art and politics; the other with the art of politics.\u201d Because the mission of the Black Arts Movement is Black liberation, the artists of the movement made their work accessible to the people through the creation of broadsides, chapbooks and posters that people could afford.\u00a0 Art is often exclusive to monied populations, but the Black Arts Movement made art available to those commonly unable to afford high priced art.\u00a0 This strategy widened the audience for the work and essentially empowered more people with their messages of Black liberation.\u00a0 Not only was the work made for common folk, it was\u00a0about<\/em>\u00a0common folk.\u00a0 Artists, at the time, stayed abreast of what was happening on the ground and with the people, to relate to them. Smith writes, \u201c\u2026it demands that the critic be familiar with the common experiences of Black people \u2013 or more precisely, that the critic share the kind of knowledge that such an audience would likely possess.\u201d The artists of the movement knew they could not achieve Black liberation without the whole nation, so they kept their ears to the streets.\u00a0 They used the language, the rhythms, and appealed to the soul of the people.\u00a0 Neal writes the question was always, \u201cWhere are the people, Brother?\u201d The people, at the time, were into James Brown, so the movement got into James Brown.<\/p>\n
While the Black Arts Movement is known primarily for its literature, the visual arts also were shaped in ways that gave power to Black people.\u00a0 Established in 1967 on the Southside of Chicago by\u00a0Jeff Donaldson, Wadsworth Jarrell, Jae Jarrell, Barbara Jones-Hogu, and Gerald Williams,\u00a0AfriCOBRA\u00a0created one of the most celebrated murals of Black culture titled,\u00a0The Wall of Respect<\/em>.\u00a0 The collective was concerned with developing a Black aesthetic by traveling to Africa and studying African art. \u00a0AfriCOBRA\u00a0aimed to represent Black pride, Black self-determination, and support Black people of the African Diaspora. These artists upheld the visual arts of the movement and its work for Black liberation.<\/p>\n
Though the movement is more than 50 years old, some of these artists are still working today. Carolyn Lawrence, Dindga McCannon, Lev T. Mills, Jae Jarrell, and Wadsworth Jarrell all created art that would educate the people and give them power during this period. Carolyn Lawrence\u2019s work\u00a0Uphold Your Men (1971)<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Black Children Keep Your Spirits Free (1972)<\/em>\u00a0is representative of the role of women in the age of Black power. \u00a0Uphold Your Men<\/em>\u00a0is a screen print, a medium used at the time to promote accessibility of the art.\u00a0 The work was featured in\u00a0We Wanted a Revolution: Radical Black Women 1965-85<\/em>\u00a0at the Brooklyn Museum. Dindga McCannon created warrior women she could look to since there weren\u2019t many she knew of in the 1960s and 70s. Her mixed-media construction,\u00a0Revolutionary Sister,<\/em>\u00a0inspired by the statue of liberty, utilizes Black liberation colors red, green, and Black as it represents freedom for African American people. \u00a0This piece was also featured in the\u00a0We Wanted a Revolution\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection\u00a0<\/em>at the Brooklyn Museum. Lev T. Mills, who designed the seal for the Coretta Scott King book award, was featured in\u00a0Soul of a Nation<\/em>, an exhibition about the art of the Black Power Movement that travelled the world.\u00a0 His work,\u00a0Le Roi\u2026?,\u00a0<\/em>is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Jae Jarrell, one of the founders of AfriCOBRA, focuses on fashion design that inspires pride, power, and respect to African Americans. Wadsworth Jarrell is a painter, sculptor, printmaker, and a founding member of AfriCOBRA. After leaving a teaching post at Howard University, Jarrell became an Assistant Professor at University of Georgia. Both Jae Jarrell and Wadsworth Jarrell\u2019s art were featured at the 2019 Venice Biennale for AfriCOBRA\u2019s exhibition,\u00a0Nation Time.<\/em><\/p>\n
In recent years, there has been an interest in the work of the visual artists of the Black Power Movement.\u00a0 Not only did AfriCOBRA exhibit at the Venice Biennale,\u00a0Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-83<\/em>, traveled to several museums around the world.\u00a0 While the dates of inclusion ranged from 1963-1983, several artists from the Black Arts Movement era were included.\u00a0 The exhibition, organized by the Tate Modern in the UK, traveled to the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, The Broad in Los Angeles, the Museum of Fine Art Houston, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, and the Brooklyn Museum. The Tate explicates:<\/p>\n
Artists responded to these times by provoking, confronting, and confounding expectations. Their momentum makes for an electrifying visual journey. Vibrant paintings, powerful murals, collage, photography, revolutionary clothing designs and sculptures made with Black hair, melted records, and tights \u2013 the variety of artworks reflects the many viewpoints of artists and collectives at work during these explosive\u00a0times.<\/p>\n
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Soul Sista by Kevin Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n
Though the Black Arts Movement is dated as 1965-1975, the impact the artists of this period have on the contemporary moment is significant.\u00a0 Using art as a tool for liberation was the main operative of the movement. And today we see so many artists making their living by being artists in a way that was unthought of in 1965.<\/p>\n
Because of them, we can.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Shantay Robinson has participated in Burnaway<\/i>\u2019s\u00a0Art Writers Mentorship Program, Duke University\u2019s\u00a0The New New South\u00a0<\/i>Editorial Fellowship, and CUE Art Foundation\u2019s Art Critic Mentoring Program. She has written for\u00a0Burnaway, ArtsATL, ARTS.BLACK, AFROPUNK, Number, Inc.\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Washington City Paper<\/i>. While \u00a0receiving an MFA in Writing from Savannah College of Art and Design, she served as a docent at the High Museum of Art. She is currently working on a PhD in Writing and Rhetoric at George Mason University.<\/p>\n
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