The Black Arts Movement was one of the most revolutionary and influential art movements of the past century. Flourishing in the US in the 1960s and 1970s, this movement was quintessentially a movement of African-Americans who developed a new aesthetic in response to the Black Civil Rights Movement. But what is the history behind this movement? Where exactly did it form, and what did Black Arts Movement art look like? Who were the famous black arts movement artists? Find out the most essential about this movement here!
History Behind Black Arts Movement Art
The Black Arts Movement, an activist art movement led by African Americans, started in the 1960s and included Black artists from all areas of the cultural scene. It is considered the artistic side of the Black Power Movement, visualizing their belief in Black self-determination and black culture in the visual arts, poetry, theater, music, and literature. The Black experience of living in the US's discriminatory governmental and social structures is at the center of this movement, which sought to develop a Black Aesthetic informed by the African tradition and the contemporary reality of African Americans.
Even though slavery and its structures had been formally abolished in the US towards the end of the nineteenth century, racial segregation and discrimination were part of the life of every African American in the twentieth century, even until today. In the 1960s, the civil rights movement which had been gaining support continuously from Black communities all over the US, as thousands of African Americans embraced a strategy of non-violent protest against the wildly unjust conditions demanding equal rights. The Black Arts Movement operated against this historical backdrop.
Locations of The Movement
The Black Arts movement had two important centers: The California Bay Area and the Chicago-Detroit axis, where influential journals of the Black intellectual scene were published.
Timeline of The Activity
The Black Arts Movement lasted for a decade, from 1965 to 1975. LeRoi Jones, who later renamed himself, Amiri Baraka, is widely considered the founder of the Black Arts Movement and was a playwright and poet himself. In 1965 he established the Black Arts Repertory Theater in Harlem, New York, as a place where black artists could find new ways of black expression. Baraka was a role model for many black artists across the US who followed suit and established cultural institutions. However, somewhere only short-lived; others had a lasting influence on the cultural scene and the fight for black cultural liberation. The Black Arts Movement started to decline with the Black Civil Rights Movement.
Black Arts Renaissance
The Black Arts Movement was not the primary wave of African-American culture. In the 1920s and 30s, a social, cultural, and artistic movement of African American writers and painters formed in Harlem, New York, called the Harlem Renaissance (also called the "New Negro Movement"). Although the movement was initially confined primarily to New York City and the Harlem neighborhood, the sphere of influence of the cultural, political, and philosophical innovations quickly became highly significant worldwide. The most famous examples of this are the black writers and artists of the French language who settled in Paris and soon became deeply involved with the ideas and discussions from the United States.
The Harlem Renaissance heavily influenced the Black Arts Movement; some scholars even refer to the movement formed 50 years later as the Second Renaissance. Langston Hughes expressed in 1926 that black writers must reject any efforts to influence their art from external sources, and instead focus on embracing and expressing their blackness freely in order to achieve greatness as black artists. Even though the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement had this aim of artistic liberation, the former was not as politically radical as the latter.
BAM: Black Aesthetics
The term 'Black Aesthetics' was coined during the wake of the Black Arts Movement and described an aesthetic formed by African-Americans for African-Americans. In 1968 the theorist Larry Neal proclaimed famously defined Black Arts as the 'aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept', Neal encouraged young writers and artists to confront the contradictions arising from the African-American's experience of racism and marginalization in the West. However, one must be aware that 'Black Aesthetics' is not a clearly defined visual program. However, the core of this concept is that art should be used as a medium to galvanize the black masses to revolt against their white capitalist oppressors. This concept is closely linked to Black Nationalism, which argued for political, economic, and cultural autonomy in American society.
Kool-Aid Colours
In Chicago in the late 1960s, the two black artists Jeff Donaldson and Wadsworth Jarrell embarked on a journey to explore what the idea of a black aesthetic might entail. They create a manifesto that underlines where black art should stand out from the Western tradition. For example, they favor using so-called "Kool-Aid" colors - such as cherry, orange, and lime - and a clear, immediate message.
Whitley points to a vibrant black arts movement artwork by Carolyn Lawrence that illustrates this very aspect: "If you want to express 'Black children keep your spirits free,' you would also paint that exact phrase into the painting - repeatedly."
Notable Painters
The Black Arts Movement had many distinguished and notable painters that contributed to the aesthetics of this time. However, only in recent years have those artists received public attention in the form of exhibitions and publications in connection with the 'Black lives matter movement. Artists responded to the politically charged times of the 60s and 70s by provoking, confronting, and confounding the viewer's expectations. The momentum of the works makes for an electrifying visual journey. The diverse perspectives of artists and groups during the chaotic era are reflected in the wide array of artistic expressions of the Black Arts Movement, ranging from vivid oil paintings, impactful murals, and collages to photography, innovative clothing designs, and sculptures made from black hair, melted records, and tights.
Here are some of the best-known black arts movement artists:
Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold has been an overlooked artist for many decades. Only recently, she had her first large retrospective in the New Museum in New York, showcasing her powerful paintings and multimedia artworks, which denounce racial segregation and break with the tradition of art history postulated by white men. As a black woman artist, she has been treated as a social outcast for many years, and now her work is finally receiving the attention it deserves.
Her black arts movement artwork 'American People Series #20: Die', painted in 1967, is a powerful testament to the turbulent times she witnessed. In the early 1960s, the violence exercised by the police in African-American neighborhoods triggered the "Watts Riot" - 34 people died. Faith Ringgold's bloody depiction of the riots includes a symbol of hope for the future: two children - one white and one black - hold on to each other amid the chaos.
Betye Saar
Since the 1960s, Saar has been collecting images of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, Little Black Sambo, and other stereotypical representations of African American folk figures in everyday life and advertising during the so-called Jim Crow years in the USA. She used these images to express political and social protest in her assemblages. 'The Liberation of Aunt Jemima' is one of the most remarkable works of this period.
In the early 1970s, Betye Saar's works revolved around the role of ritual and the "connection to ancestors." She also identifies connections between cultural and belief systems of black communities, such as African and Caribbean. Her art is diverse - she uses painted leather and complex window-like structures decorated with animal bones and fur, among other things.
Kay Brown
Kay Brown was a printmaker specializing in visualizing Black narratives she had witnessed personally. Her primary medium was large-format collages to help express her agenda. One of her most famous works is 'The Black Soldier', created in 1969. This work was inspired by the large numbers of Black men being drafted and volunteering in the Vietnam War from 1955 to 1975. Images of Martin Luther King Jr. form the center of the composition, surrounded by images of young Black soldiers. She states that this work intends to convey that the war's reasoning was unknown to its participants and recognize that Black soldiers were just mass casualties and of no value. To support this message, she places the image of a man representing the Black Panther Party in the lower right-hand corner to emphasize America's lack of protection for the Black community and the need for militant self-protection.
Carolyn Lawrence
Lawrence was fundamental in defining the colorful aesthetics of the Black Arts Movement. She was working in Chicago when she joined the OBAC (Organization of Black American Culture) there. Together with other members of the OBAC, created 'The Wall of Respect.' This large-scale mural shows portraits of African American heroes located on the South Side of Chicago - one of the masterpieces of this movement. In 1968 she joined the art collective AfriCOBRA, which had been founded only recently. The aim of this collective was to bring together artists who worked in a large variety of media and to promote education and political action.
Conclusion
The art of the Black Arts Movement is as diverse as its members and was one of the most revolutionary art movements of the past century. Closely entwined with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and 70s, the Black Arts Movement gave African Americans the demand for self-determination as a visual language and developed a 'Black Aesthetic.' Replica stores, such as 1st Art Gallery, offer a wide range of masterpieces of Black Art.