The Art of the Negro

Tittle: The Art of the Negro

Artist: Hale Woodruff

Date: 1950/1951

Medium Oil on Canvas

Location of the Artwork: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery

Image

1.      Iconography

The Art of the Negro by Hale Woodruff is a representation of the cultural past of the African American Population in the United States (Locke, 14). In the painting, various images of people from Black community are represented. The intention of the artist is to depict the African American struggle for freedom and to prove their equality to the white people. Other symbolic representations include the squared ruler, the cross and an olive branch.

2.      Medium and Technique

The artist used and canvas to construct the work. His intention was to ensure the durability of the piece of art for display to the future generation of students at the Atlanta University which has a long history as a study center for blacks. The construction of the painting involved the oil blocks in the major areas of the image. Thereafter, the artist added details to the image by lightening or darkening specific areas as per the oil color. This technique portrayed the artist’s ingenuity in attaching emotions to the image to captivate the viewer’s attention.

3.      Formal Elements

The artist is keen on the use of lines. He inscribed a circle to represent the unity of the blacks in their course to attaining equality and success. He also used lines to inscribe a white Greek architectural design of a building, which was viewed at the time as a beacon of civilization. Hale Woodruff struggled to strike a balance in the size and scale of the angelic beings at the roof and the proportional size of adult images of the black people. The peak of his ingenuity is the rhythmic repetition of the dimensions of a white structural image.

4.      Content

The image represented a dawn of a new era, where black Americans have a right to acquire a formal education like other races. At the time when the image was painted, the abolition of slavery was decades-old. Still, the African Americans were struggling to fit in to the society after years of oppression.  As such, the artist intended to depict the struggles and the ultimate success of the blacks to embrace a new religion and a new life in America--the land of opportunities for all (Stoelting, 42).

Work Cited

Locke, A. L. (Ed.). (1968). The Negro in art: A pictorial record of the Negro artist and of the Negro theme in art. Hacker art books: 12-36.

Stoelting, W. L. (1978). Hale Woodruff, artist and teacher: through the Atlanta years: 28-56.