SESSION THREE
Embedded Files
'The Wall of Respect', Chicago, Illinois, 1967.
'The Wall of Respect' had a short and contentious existence, but had an outsize influence and importance. In 1967, a group of African American artists formed the Organization for Black American Culture – OBAC, which sounds like the Yoruba word for chieftain. Inspired by ongoing civil rights struggles and the emergent Black Power movement, the Visual Arts Workshop of OBAC decided to collectively paint a mural celebrating African American heroes on the side of a building at 43rd Street and Langley Avenue, Chicago. (Photograph by Robert Sengstacke (1943 - 2017))
STUDY QUESTIONS
Do you see any similarity between the "Black Arts Movement" discussed here and the "New Negro" thinking of the Harlem Renaissance?
The "Wall of Respect" was a real breakthrough in outside community public murals 57 years ago. The "Wall of Respect", the first outdoor mural done for the community, was a response to the Black Arts Movement, giving people the "the right to use art publicly to portray themselves and to assert pride in their heritage".
How do you see outdoor murals being viewed today?
Why is William T. Walker, who came forth to develop outdoor murals not better known today ? (or is he?)
Are you familiar with any of the outdoor murals featured in one of our optional reads ( A Photo Guide to Boston's Growing Public Art Scene, The Boston Magazine) If so, your comments? Share a photo?
How would you evaluate (57 years later) this response of black artists in Chicago to " assert pride and distinctiveness through public murals"?
BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT (BAM), 1965 - 75
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ASSERTING PRIDE AND DISTINCTIVENESS THROUGH PUBLIC MURALS
ARTISTS OF NOTE: JEFF DONALDSON , WILLIAM T. WALKER
BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT (BAM), 1965 - 1975
Amiri Baraka (1934 - 2014 , born Everett Leroy Jones)
"Perhaps no writer of the 1960s and 1970s was more radical or polarising than the man formerly known as LeRoi Jones and no one did more to extend the political debates of the civil rights era to the world of the arts.
He inspired a generation of poets, playwrights and musicians and his immersion in spoken word traditions and raw street language anticipated rap, hip-hop and slam poetry. The FBI feared him to the point of flattery, identifying Baraka as "the person who will probably emerge as the leader of the pan-African movement in the United States." (The Guardian, Jan. 9, 2014.)
Part One - BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT (BAM), 1965 - 1975
Black Arts Movement - What Does It Mean?
From the Brooklyn Museum, 'We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85', April 2017 - Sept. 2017
By the mid-1960s, as the Civil Rights Movement gave way to the Black Power Movement, new political strategies and cultural agendas developed. A loose confederation of artists, writers, musicians, and dancers who celebrated black history and culture became known as the Black Arts Movement. Members focused on developing a more popular audience for their work, rather than seeking to influence elite cultural communities as had some earlier generations of black artists.
Emerging in New York City, the Black Arts Movement quickly spread to other urban centers, putting down strong roots in Chicago, where related groups, including AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), grew. Committed to a socially responsible and community-oriented art, they promoted black pride by developing an identifiable aesthetic inspired by African cultures.
Part One - BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT (BAM), 1965 - 1975, cont.
Black Arts Movement - What Does It Mean?
The Black Arts Movement (1965 -1975) , contributed by Hannah Foster, BlackPast, March 21, 2014
An excerpt:
"The Black Arts Movement was the name given to a group of politically motivated black poets, artists, dramatists, musicians, and writers who emerged in the wake of the Black Power Movement. The poet Imamu Amiri Baraka is widely considered to be the father of the Black Arts Movement, which began in 1965 and ended in 1975.
After Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, those who embraced the Black Power movement often fell into one of two camps: the Revolutionary Nationalists, who were best represented by the Black Panther Party, and the Cultural Nationalists. The latter group called for the creation of poetry, novels, visual arts, and theater to reflect pride in black history and culture. This new emphasis was an affirmation of the autonomy of black artists to create black art for black people as a means to awaken black consciousness and achieve liberation."
Part One - BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT (BAM), 1965 - 1975. cont.
The History of the Black Arts Movement (Art History) by Patina Lee, WideWalls, September 7, 2016
The introduction
" In the light of the recent emergence (or rather, enactment) of a novel social contract called “post-identity”, seen as a way of recognizing the value and potential of cultural diversity, we are going to talk about The Black Arts Movement, one of the most influential art groups from the 20th century.
As part of a greater ideological movement called the Black Power, the African-American artists, poets, speakers, musicians and activists were joined in the wish to define the identity of Black people in America, and to resurge the Black Aesthetic, equally informed by the African tradition and the more recently established ideology influenced by the then-contemporary American life."
See the Guardian article and also illustrations below.
Disney's Song of the South (1946), featuring stories told by the central character Uncle Remus, depicting and idealizing racial relations from the late 19th century
"Song of the South: the difficult legacy of Disney's most shocking movie" by Scott Tobias, The Guardian, Nov. 19, 2019
An excerpt;
The word “slavery” never gets uttered, but surely Uncle Remus (James Baskett), the avuncular black man at the film’s center, was once the property of the plantation he calls home. The creation of folklorist Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus is known for his Br’er Rabbit stories, and he becomes a father figure and friend to seven-year-old Johnny (Bobby Driscoll), a white boy who’s visiting his grandmother’s plantation as his parents grapple with some untold problem in their marriage. Remus’s sensitivity to Johnny far exceeds his parents’ coldness and neglect, but that warmth comes with the implication that men like Remus – and the housekeeper Aunt Tempy, played by Hattie McDaniel – are human only insofar as they serve the needs and destinies of the white characters. That notion persists in films deep into the 21st century, too.
Black Power Rally (1966) (from the Civil Rights Collection)
Notable Black Artists Who Propagated Black Art (excerpts from the above article):
"All set out to collaboratively establish something referred to as a Black aesthetic, a notion that was inscribed within all artistic forms , recognizable in every art."
Widely perceived as the father of the Black Arts Movement, Imamu Amiri Baraka, the eminent African American poet, was one of the most pertinent figures of the 20th century poetry and drama.
Jeff Donaldson, considered the most prolific visual artist in Black Arts. Movement.
Betye Saar's 'Liberation of Aunt Jemima,' 1972, became known as one of the most important Black Arts work.
Through her art, Faith Ringgold eventually developed a style of her own that rarely includes classical approach.
Part One -BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT (BAM), 1965, cont.
"The art of Black Power then and now, in 'Soul of a Nation'"by Queen Esther, Brooklyn Based, Sept. 19, 2018, updated Sept. 20, 2018.
Click on the image on the right to learn more about the influence of Stokely Carmichael (now Kwame Ture) on Black Power.
An excerpt:
"In his 1968 book Black Power: The Politics of Liberation, Mr. Ture defines Black Power as “a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community—it is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations.” His ideas echoed that of pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, a proponent of black self-reliance. Impatient for immediate change in the wake of sweeping civil rights advances as injustice and institutionalized racism flourished, a younger generation embraced this phrase. It also took flight internationally with African revolutionaries and the separatist movement that ignited the African diaspora in the early 20th century was reborn. Black self-reliance was a key element that allowed for survival within an inherently racist system and literally, to paraphrase some old Southern black folk I know, made a way out of no way.
Mr. Ture’s impassioned call for Black Power gave way to the Black Arts Movement (1965 – 1975), a collective of politically driven black playwrights, visual artists, poets and musicians originated by poet, playwright and essayist Imamu Amiri Baraka."
See below two works of this time.
"Faith Ringgold’s “United States of Attica,” part of Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition “Soul of a Nation.” The poster is a map of American violence, in the green, black and red colors that reference Marcus Garvey’s Black Nationalist Flag. Image courtesy Brooklyn Museum."
Faith Ringgold’s “American People Series #18: The Flag is Bleeding”(1967), wherein a white woman stands between a black and a white man—arms linked and all of them wounded and bloody—with a bleeding American flag as a backdrop. How curious that a black woman isn’t included in this tableau."
“Blood (Donald Formey)” by Barkley L. Hendricks.
"Even when trends in the art world of the late 1960s shifted towards conceptual art and away from figurative painting, a work like Barkley Hendricks Blood (1975), with his black male subject’s steady unwavering gaze at the viewer—a deadly move for a black person in all too many instances in America—proves that although portraiture was considered too Eurocentric by his peers, placing the black body and black subject matter in figurative painting was in and of itself a revolutionary act."
What You Didn’t Know About Barkley L. Hendricks By Arthur Lubow, NY Times, published May 14, 2021, updated May 15, 2021
The less celebrated side of the artist’s career, his photographs, receive deserved attention in a new book.
Click on the image on the right below to learn more about Barkley L. Hendricks.
Hendricks took “Self-Portrait With Black Hat” at his studio in New London, Conn., in 1980.
3 What You Didn’t Know About Barkley L. Hendricks - The New York Times.pdfPart Two - ASSERTING PRIDE AND DISTINCTIVENESS THROUGH PUBLIC MURALS. (Chicago)
The Wall of Respect, Chicago
Click the image on the right to hear several artists who worked on the Wall of Respect speak about their project (YouTube, 1 min.)
In 1967 a group of African American artists, including the noted muralist William Walker, joined together to create the Wall of Respect, a montage of more than 50 African American heroes and leaders.
Located on Chicago’s South Side on land marked for redevelopment, the Wall was conceived as a celebration of African American contributions to American culture. While the “guerrilla-style” mural was short-lived, razed by the city in 1971, the Wall inspired a movement that portrayed the politics of the era in vivid colors on walls across Chicago and beyond.
Click on the image on the right to hear several artists who worked on the Wall of Respect speak about their project (YouTube, 1 min.)
Part Two -ASSERTING PRIDE AND DISTINCTIVENESS THROUGH PUBLIC MURALS, (Chicago), cont.
Wall of Respect , ART AND DESIGN IN CHICAGO, wttw
Click on the image on the right to learn more about the "Wall of Respect"
An excerpt:
"While the exact genesis of the idea is debated, seasoned muralist William Walker seems to have suggested the location, while Illinois Institute of Technology student Sylvia Abernathy designed the general scheme. The mural would feature more than 50 portraits and be divided into seven sections that followed the building’s architectural features: Statesmen (such as Malcolm X), Athletes (Muhammad Ali), Rhythm and Blues (Aretha Franklin), Religion (Nat Turner), Literature (Gwendolyn Brooks), Theater (Cicely Tyson), and Jazz (Miles Davis). Different artists worked on each section in his or her own style."
See the photo below of the "Wall of Respect'.
The Wall of Respect. Photo by Robert A. Sengstacke
" It sparked the community-based outdoor mural movement that has provided thousands of neighborhoods of virtually every ethnicity and economic level with a language and format for asserting their pride and distinctiveness." (From the Chicago Tribune, July 29, 2017)
Part Two -ASSERTING PRIDE AND DISTINCTIVENESS THROUGH PUBLIC MURALS,(Chicago), cont.
OPTIONAL READING The Wall of Respect : Vestiges, Shards, and the Legacy of Black Power, Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art, Fall 2017 .
Click on the image on the right for an in-depth view of the history of the Wall of Respect.
An excerpt:
"However, the Wall was more than the sum of its parts. While the Black Arts Movement in Chicago has largely been credited with building enduring institutions, including the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and Third World Press, the Wall of Respect was instead an ephemeral and unsanctioned object-turned-event that galvanized so much support and attention that city officials and police understood (or, more appropriately, feared) it to be a flashpoint for Black Power politics in Chicago2 During the brief but powerful existence of the mural (the building caught fire and was later demolished in 1972), the artists, along with community members and other cultural producers allied to OBAC, activated the corner of Forty-Third Street and Langley Avenue with painting, musical and theatrical performances, poetry readings, Black Power rallies, and spontaneous gatherings that reflected the rich street life of the South Side."
Part Two -ASSERTING PRIDE AND DISTINCTIVENESS THROUGH PUBLIC MURALS, (Chicago),cont
"A Wall to Call Home; Justine DeVan and Black Women Emerging", ART AND DESIGN in Chicago, wttw
Justine DeVan's "Black Women Emerging" mural. Photo by Daniel Andres
Click on the image on the right to learn about how Justin DeVan became a leader as well as an advisor for murals in Chicago and the counry.
An excerpt:
"But one mural holds a special place in DeVan’s heart: Black Women Emerging, located on a residential stretch of South Cottage Grove Avenue between East 41st Street and Bowen Avenue.
“That,” she emphasized during a phone interview, “is my favorite mural, in terms of community involvement.”
Completed in 1977, the mural forms a thematic triptych, according to the artist: the first section represents Mother Africa and the contributions of female revolutionaries during the postwar decolonization of Africa; the second spotlights black women’s educational and professional achievement; and the third depicts black feminist liberation."
Part Two -ASSERTING PRIDE AND DISTINCTIVENESS THROUGH PUBLIC MURALS , (Harlem), cont.
Smokehouse, 1968 - 1970, Eric Booker, Studio Museum, Harlem
Click on the image below to read about this collective and the public artworks its members helped to create.
Neighborhood children posing with completed mural at E 123 St, New York.
OPTIONAL READ Part Two -ASSERTING PRIDE AND DISTINCTIVENESS THROUGH PUBLIC MURALS (Harlem and Lower Manhattan), cont.
The 'Black Lives Matter' Street Art That Contains Multitudes, New York Times, July 16, 2020.
Click on the right to learn more about the design of this street art in Harlem and Lower Manhattan.
Excerpt:
"The first word, Black, was designed by Tijay Mohammed, a Ghanaian-born artist, and used vibrant Kente fabric design and Adinkra symbols, which represent concepts like royalty, unity and legacy.
Sophia Dawson, a Brooklyn-based visual artist, took the second word, lives. The “L” contains the faces of the mothers who have lost their children to police killings. The “I” uses imagery inspired by Emory Douglas, an artist for the Black Panther Party; the “V” highlights the culture of the African diaspora; the “E” contains faces of Black Panther Party members who are currently in prison; and the “S” carries a passage from the Bible."
View below three scenes of this street art.
3The ‘Black Lives Matter’ Street Art That Contains Multitudes - The New York Times.pdf
An aerial shot of Foley Square. “I wanted the design to embody our experience as a whole as a Black community and what we strive for,” said Patrice Payne, one of the artists involved.
The “S” of the word Lives, designed by Sophia Dawson at Foley Square, carries a passage from the Bible, Isaiah 54.
LeRone Wilson, the curator, also designed the first two letters. The “L” includes the names of 24 Black people killed by the police.
OPTIONAL READ A Photo Guide to Boston's Growing Public Art Scene, The Boston Magazine
"Intricate murals and graffiti, of course, aren’t new to Boston: Talented artists such as Gibbs have been expressing themselves on the city’s brick, concrete, and steel structures for decades. What is new? The recognition, visibility, and funding they’re now receiving as their work spreads across the city like a rainbow, showcased alongside outdoor pieces from internationally recognized contemporary artists such as Nick Cave and Oscar Tuazon for anyone to view at any time, sans admission fees."
ARTISTS OF NOTE : JEFF DONALDSON, WILLIAM T. WALKER
# 1. ARTIST OF NOTE - JEFF DONALDSON (1932 - 2004, born in Pine Bluff, AR.)
JEFF DONALDSON
News from the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern Univ. 5/2/2017
Click on the image on the right to read an interesting section about Jeff Donaldson"s views on black cultural production.
An excerpt:
"The exhibition We Are Revolutionaries: The Wall of Respect and Chicago’s Mural Movement runs April 21 – June 18, 2017. In conjunction with the exhibition the Block Museum is pleased to announce an important acquisition for the museum’s permanent collection. The museum has purchased a 1967 study portrait of trumpet player and band leader Miles Davis by artist Jeff Donaldson (1932-2004). The work is one of the rare remaining sketches for the Wall of Respect and provides valuable documentation of Donaldson’s process in thinking about his portion of the mural. In the final version of the Wall, Donaldson included his portrait of Miles Davis among other portraits of African America musicians, including John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins. The painting also has significance for Northwestern University, as Donaldson earned a Ph.D. in Art History from Northwestern in 1974, the first African American to do so."
#2. ARTIST OF NOTE: WILLIAM T. WALKER (1927 - 2011, born in Chicago)
Fifty years ago, there was no such thing as a community street mural movement," says Olivia Gude, an art education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Now we take it for granted. It's hard to understand what Bill Walker — and the great Chicano artists of that era — created. They created a new art form."
WILLIAM T. WALKER '
'Who Was Bill Walker? Chicago's Revolutionary Muralist' by Jacqueline Serrato, South Side Weekly, March 3, 2020.
Click on the right to gain an overview of the work of Bill Walker,
An excerpt:
"He's been called the forefather of the community mural movement in Chicago, and art historians often compare him to Mexico’s Diego Rivera. Birmingham, Alabama-born artist William “Bill” Walker was the first to engage city neighborhoods in the creation of public artworks that were accessible, that mirrored the people’s pride and plights, and that were spatially and politically transformative."
WILLIAM T. WALKER cont.
The Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art - William Walker ( 1927 - 2011)
Click on the right to read about William Walker and view some of his work.
Excerpt:
The Wall of Respect started a nationwide movement of "people's art". From there, Walker cofounded the Chicago Mural Group (now known as the Chicago Public Art Group) with John Pitman Weber and Eugene Eda, while continuing to paint murals in Chicago. Walker painted murals to make the community more aware of the racial strife going on in America at that time and to spur individuals to get more involved in solving racial problems
Other work by William T. Walker
William Walker, Alley Cat Club, c.1950
William Walker, Faces (Clowns), 1955,cc.
William Walker, "The El", 1955
William Walker, "Tennessee Page Hall", c.1955
William Walker, "Faces (Black and White)", 1955
William Walker, "Three Deacons", 1955.
WILLIAM T. WALKER , cont.
"The Man Behind the Wall". Thirty years ago Bill Walker helped start an art revolution. Why are some people trying to paint him out of the picture? by Jeff Huebner, August 28, 1997. The Reader, Chicago's alternative nonprofit newsroom.
Click on the right to read a full description of the work of William T. Walker.
An excerpt:
"A mural about the black American experience was not exactly a novelty. Murals had been executed for universities, libraries, and other public buildings during and after the New Deal era by such black artists as Aaron Douglas, Hale Woodruff, Charles Alston, Charles White, Jacob Lawrence, John Biggers, and Samella Lewis. But these works were indoor commissions done by individual artists. Wall of Respect was the first outdoor mural done for the community—for everyone. Like most revolutions, its creation was rooted in a subversive notion: the right of people to use art publicly to portray themselves and to assert pride in their heritage. “This Wall,” stated its inscription, “was created to Honor our Black Heroes, and to Beautify our Community.”
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