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Does Black Art Matter?

  • Writer: Theartist Henley
    Theartist Henley
  • Jan 19, 2022
  • 3 min read

Updated: Mar 22, 2023


Head Of A Sleeping Woman by Pablo Picasso, 1907

February approaches, bringing with it the requisite lovers anticipating Valentine's Day, weather forecasting groundhogs, and of course black history month. With some thoughts turning to black history month activities, my own thoughts have churned up a question I've been grappling with ever since I began to get serious as an artist: 'Does black art matter?' and perhaps even more pertinent; 'does black art matter to black people?'


We know for sure that it matters to some; individuals like Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee, a Swiss-German 20th century artist are said to have been influenced by 'primitive' African art, masks, and the like to some degree. Just look at the painting by Picasso above , and this watercolor attributed to Paul Klee and compare to the African art work below.













Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/amaefule-6006888/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=2543403">Gladys Amaefule</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=2543403">Pixabay</a>
Image by Gladys Amaefule from Pixabay



So clearly, Black art does indeed matter to some, insofar as borrowing from it helped them to be successful in producing their own art. But as a people, does it matter to us? Evidently, it does matter to some of us; I recently learned that P. Diddy purchased at auction a piece by African American artist Kerry James Marshall for a whopping $21 million. P. Diddy clearly has it to spend. Realistically, most artists won't enjoy that kind of payday. Art isn't a career like engineering where most can achieve a six-figure income, but most artists don't do it for the money anyway; they, like myself, do it out of passion for their craft.

For black art to matter, it first must matter to black people. Admittedly, I don't know as much of African American art as I should; in school, in art club and such, much of my education in fine arts consisted of learning about the great classical European 'masters' like Rembrandt, da Vinci, and Michelangelo. There's nothing wrong about learning of these guys; they were truly great artists, and as such their work and methods should be studied. But it's unfortunate that they (modern art education curriculums) only give black art a cursory mention.



Image by ellenconnelly74 from Pixabay


Nearly every art history class begins with a brief glace at Paleolithic art, followed by an only slightly less brief mention of 'primitive' African, Aboriginal art, and Egyptian hieroglyphs before delving into an intensive, in-depth look at the masters of the European Renaissance.

I recently read an article from six years ago, touting the power of black art to spark activism in our current social climate

Yet another poses a different view; that black art shouldn't be labeled as 'black' or 'African'(which some see as giving a negative connotation). Rather, it should be regarded simply as 'American' or merely referred to as art in general. After all at the end of the day, it's still just...art.

Maybe saying that something is 'just art' is part of the problem. We don't need art like we need clothes, food, or shelter. And for entertainment, rather than hang a piece of art or visit a museum, many would rather spend time on social media, Netflix and chill, or play the latest video games. And let's take those video games for example. Without art, or more precisely, without the creatives who produce them, modern gaming would still resemble Pong.



Without art, your gaming experience goes from looking like this...
























...to this!











I know this post has probably raised many more questions than it answered. But that was kind of the point - to get you thinking about these things. To point out that these issues exist, and thinking about them puts us a step closer to dealing with them in a way that is proper.

So as you go about your activities this February, even as Punxsutawney Phil evades his shadow, I invite you to consider why art -particularly in this instance - black art, matters.


See you in the next one.



Ever alert, Phil is on the lookout for his shadow this February. Photo by Oleg Mikhailenko from Pexels





















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