Week 10 Discussion

 
Discuss Topics Week 10 Twentieth Century African-American Artists & Postmodern Architecture
Please respond to the following, using on line sites and your text as the basis for your post.

Choose two (2) works by two of the following late 20th century African-American artists, and compare and contrast their art: Bearden, Lawrence, Basquiat, or Colescott. Describe 3-4 specific elements that show the multiplicity of the African-American experience. 
Be original in your comments and explain which artist’s work you would put in your own home and why.  Here are two websites to use.   If you find another site that you like, post that as part of your initial post.  

Jacob Lawrence, New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3418
Romare Bearden video, San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art at http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/
Here are two pictures and some comments to get you started as well as a link to an article that discusses how much a Japanese millionaire just paid for a Basquiat:

Basquiat:
History of Black People: This painting compresses together the relationship of Egypt to Africa with references to African-American music and southern culture, such as Memphis, TN. Basquiat depicts a yellow Egyptian boat being guided down the Nile River by the god Osiris. This painting is a reconstruction of his own ancestors’ arrival on the American continent.

Bearden:
Blue Lady: This painting is of a substantial female figure that is seated alone. In order to make the female figure stand out, Bearden creates flatter planes of blue color and applied black outlines to solidify the form. The blues was an African-American musical creation, and there were many prominent female blues singers, such as Billie Holiday, during the postwar era. The year 1955 also saw the deaths of blues greats such as Ruth Brown and Sara Martin. The attention to Bearden’s art came as a reinvestigation of African-American art.

Class, I really like the recent work that has been featured in the MOMA by Basquiat.   Here is a link to an article that discusses this:  
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-basquiat-jean-michel-artworks.htm#pnt_2