Eighty-five percent of all artists in major American art museums today are white. While there have always been black artists, they have not always had the visibility or recognition that they deserve. In 1977, the Brooklyn Museum held an exhibition titled, "Two Centuries of Black American Art," which was the first time that the contribution of black artists to American art history was made public with more than 200 works ranging from anonymous slaves to known artists of the 20th century (Pollard, Sam, Director. Black Art: In the Absence of Light. HBO, 2021). Almost fifty years later, black artists are still creating relevant, innovative work regardless of the amount of recognition they receive from the art establishment spotlight.
It is important to build an appreciation and understanding of perspectives that are different from our own to broaden our cultural understandings and worldview. Culture informs how students communicate, think, learn, and interact. Studying the work from artists of color is essential to developing a growth mindset for awareness and appreciation throughout the year, including Black History Month.
Kehinde Wiley, “Charles I”, 2018; oil on linen; 96 x 72 in.
There is also much to be learned from the practice of Art Criticism for students to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate what they see. Learning to analyze the artwork of successful artists with a critical eye can better equip students to more effectively evaluate their own artwork with a fresh mindset and more confidently contribute to their classmates' work in class critiques.
During an e-learning day on Zoom last week, I chose to put the focus on art history with a lesson on the work of a famous painter, Kehinde Wiley, to sharpen my students' art criticism skills through group dialogue. Wiley is known for reimagining classical portraits with a contemporary look at black men and women. As an art student at the age of 11, Wiley started visiting museums in Southern California to study the great masters' paintings as artifacts of history. What struck him was that the gilded portraits displaying symbols of glory, power, and prestige were reserved for only white subjects. Black people had seemed to be erased from history with little to no representation in the museum galleries. (Kehinde Wiley Studio, kehindewiley.com/about).
It wasn't until several years later when Wiley was in art school that he shifted his technical skills to themes of identity with race, class, and gender by reimagining the classical portraits of 18th Century French and British paintings. Kehinde Wiley paints people of color in everyday clothing posing as recreated compositions from the master paintings. The only limitation in Wiley's artistic process is his imagination so he chooses to celebrate history with both humor and sincerity to change his viewers' perspectives of classical portraiture.
Jacques-Louis David, "Monsieur Seriziat," 1795. Kehinde Wiley, "Monsieur Seriziat," 2012.
After an introduction to Kehinde Wiley's background and process, I circled the topic back to critiquing his artwork side-by-side with the original master paintings. To improve the depth of dialogue, I asked students to study each painting for clues by noticing the minute details in the pose, expression, clothing, use of color, pattern, and overall composition that the artist painted for us to interpret. We could also compare and contrast the reimagined painting with its original inspiration to analyze the intended meaning. Since some students are not often comfortable with being put on the spot to critique an artwork and share with the rest of the class, I gave them three strategies to focus their critical thinking- I see, I think, I wonder.
When simplified to those three words, students were more willing to make observations, ask questions, and offer their own interpretations of the artwork. Students liked commenting on of the use of colorful patterns and almost photo-realistic renderings that gave a 21st Century flair to Wiley's paintings. We questioned whether a change in the artworks' titles, the models' clothing, or the colorful backgrounds would have changed the overall mood, meaning, or opinions of his artwork.
One student noticed that the vivid colors in the background complemented the skin tone of Wiley's subjects better than if he had painted them with more neutral backgrounds. We also looked at each set of paintings to contemplate why Kehinde Wiley had chosen to recreate the same poses as the original paintings. The beauty of an art critique is that there is no one right answer and that everyone's observations bring us to a closer understanding of the artwork by spending time in our own thoughts and together in group discussion.
To conclude the art history lesson on Kehinde Wiley, students were asked to respond in written reflection with their honest thoughts and opinions relating to their experiences from the class critique. I feel that it is best to quote my students than to paraphrase their reflections. As the artist Kehinde Wiley himself said, "I guess art is in the eye of the beholder." Art is meant to be viewed, analyzed, discussed, and interpreted within each of us and among each other.
Kehinde Wiley didn’t see himself represented in art museums' historical portraits. How do you think that felt?
"I think he felt kind of alienated. He just kind of felt like he didn't fit in." -8th Grade Student
"I think he felt let down by his own history." - 9th Grade Student
Why do you think Kehinde Wiley chooses to represent people of color in powerful poses in his paintings?
"To help bring more confidence, power, and a voice for people of color since white people have always had the spotlight for so long." -12th Grade Student
"This is to give them power and status in a world where society doesn't automatically grant them this." -10th Grade Student
"For me, I feel like we still have a very long way to go because we are often looked down upon. But if we get more artists like him that represent the power black people have always had in a captivating way and shine a light on it, I think we can do it." -12th Grade Student
If Wiley's artwork was the start of a conversation with you, what would you say back to the artist?
"How long does it take for you to finish one painting?" -7th Grade Student
"Who was the greatest inspiration for your art?" -8th Grade Student
"I would say that his work is very motivational; as it allows you to see people of color in a whole new way and a whole new light. The art makes the people seem more important and powerful as if they were the hidden figures in the shadows saving the world one step at a time." -12th Grade Student
Final thoughts: What is your "take-away" from this lesson? What is something you learned or thought about that you will remember?
"Something I will remember from this is how unique his style of art was and how it really reflects our life today." -7th Grade Student
"I will remember that just by changing certain aspects of an art piece that it can make it more or less powerful and change the meaning completely." -10th Grade Student
"People of color have always been just as an important as anyone else in the past hundreds of years. They just never really got representation or public recognition." -9th Grade Student
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