preliminary research:
10 facts about the artist
-Charles White (1918-1979)’s work mainly focuses on the history, culture and lives of african americans. https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/2663/charles-white-a-retrospective
-He decided to fight for a social change from the african american rights by painting to bring awareness to the public. “Paint is the only weapon I have with which to fight what I resent.” https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/2663/charles-white-a-retrospective
-White strongly believes that art stands a big influence to change people’s idea just like an propaganda. He stated that “ art must be an integral part of the struggle. It can’t be simply mirror what’s taking place. It must adapt itself to human needs.” https://www.moma.org/artists/6339
-Charles have stayed in places like, Chicago, New York, and finally, Los Angeles for his art practices that he became one of the most influential artist among the community in each of the cities. https://www.moma.org/artists/6339
-His work was so powerful, rigorous and socially committed that a lot of his students and younger generation got influenced and continued his style of art making. One of his students expressed that “Under Charles White’s influence I always knew that I wanted to make work that was about something: history culture, politics, social issues. … It was just a matter of mastering the skills to actually do it.”https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3930
– His works were forgotten by the public after nearly 40 years of his death. MoMa opened his first major exhibition that is dedicated to him, called “A Retrospective”, that they tried to “undo erasure of the artist’s legacy.” https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xw9j4q/moma-exhibition-black-artist-charles-white
-He became a founding member of the Committee of the Arts to Free Angela Davis in 1970.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/arts/design/charles-white-a-retrospective-review-moma.html
-After his death, White’s fame faded because his figurative art was overshadowed by more abstract or conceptual artist. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/t-magazine/art/charles-white-moma-retrospective.html
-While White was still a teenager, he was already the staff artist of the Chicago-based National Negro Congress that fought for the liberation of the blacks.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/t-magazine/art/charles-white-moma-retrospective.html
-He pertain this interest toward human bodies, that he chooses to represent the social issues and rights from the figure itself instead of conceptual and abstract process. He found himself having more freedom and clarity in representative art. https://www.vnews.com/Charles-White-who-made-some-of-this-country-s-greatest-art-transcends-labels-21084483
10 facts about the artwork/ technique/style
-White mastered his printmaking skills, known as the Taller de Grafica Popular white he was in Mexico city with his wife Elizabeth Catlett in 1941.
.https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/2663/charles-white-a-retrospective
-He lean towards more printmaking and drawing works when he moved to Southern California in 1956, that he pushed his limits one step further to accomplish his goal of fighting for civil rights and equality of African American. https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/2663/charles-white-a-retrospective
-Charles developed different style, medium and approach throughout his career to point out different topics and concerns in different time periods and audiences. https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3930
– During 1940s and 50s, his work was more focused in historicism, and captured the scenery of slaves working and their “stony expressions.” However, White’s started to loosen up the subjects and the aesthetics. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xw9j4q/moma-exhibition-black-artist-charles-white
-His incredibly-detailed, time consuming craftsmanship, executive drawings and paintings (primarily in black & white, sepia & white drawings and lithographs) capture the beauty and humanity of the African American culture. http://www.heritagegallery.com/charles-white.html
-He started to designed more graphics for films and message-driven images in television when we loved from New York to Los Angeles. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/arts/design/charles-white-a-retrospective-review-moma.html
-Being a teacher also effected on how he view his art, he decided to experiment with it technically and complicate its content. “He devised an oil-wash technique that merged painting and drawing in semi abstract layers of images, words and patterns. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/arts/design/charles-white-a-retrospective-review-moma.html
– Black bodies became monumental in some of his best known works, including the Seed of Love, that depicts a woman pregnant from the side, solitary and statuesque against a shaded background. https://www.vnews.com/Charles-White-who-made-some-of-this-country-s-greatest-art-transcends-labels-21084483
-He worked counter to the what the other artist were working on at that period of time. He made drawings and paints, working with charcoal and ink in a very detailed method, limning faces and bodies that captured the tragic pain and anguish, and fitting his subjects into the backgrounds that were at turns abstract, minimal or teeming with the social strife or mural art.
-The human figure that represent in the drawing allowed White to challenge racism at the instinctual level, disrupting the viewers at the precognitive moment of how we identify ourselves and others.
10 facts about the time period when the artist created the work
-The painting, “Seed of Love” is created in 1969
-Charles White was born in Chicago’s South Side in 1918. His mother raised him alone and White would often be settled in the Chicago Public Library when her mom was working. He started to draw because of the influence from the illustration books.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/arts/design/charles-white-a-retrospective-review-moma.html
-In the age of 16, he started to present his work with the Art Crafts Guild, also known as the Black Chicago Renaissance, that flourished the idea of contributing his work to the creative community.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/arts/design/charles-white-a-retrospective-review-moma.html
-Malcolm X was shot on February 21, 1965, who was an an African American rights activist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post–civil_rights_era_in_African-American_history
-Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 that triggered riots in different cities in the united states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post–civil_rights_era_in_African-American_history
-By 1970s, African Americans were protect against for school integration because of the unequal treatment in black urban schools. http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-usa-2000.html
-In 1970, it is also known as the beginning of the Post- Civil Rights Movement with several federal acts of legislation were created to have equal rights among all the Americans. https://www.thoughtco.com/african-american-history-timeline-1970-1979-45445
-Black power movement, emphasized in racial pride, economic empowerment, and the creation of political and cultural institutions. (The Black Panthers, Women in Black Power, The Black Arts Movement) https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power
-one of the earliest painting of his in 1939 of two women with their clothes loose, it represent how the african american were forced to live in kitchenette apartments in the 1940s, when racism drove poverty, that forced people from the south to live in overcrowded neighborhood in Chicago.
-The Chicago Seven were free of charge to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. https://www.thoughtco.com/african-american-history-timeline-1970-1979-45445
-In the 1950s and 60s, civil rights activists all over the states fought against discrimination, which they were participated in protest, marches that made them had chances to get killed. In this time, because of the pressure, the U.S government passed different civil right laws like Women’s Rights Movement, The Peace Movement and the Environmental Movement. https://abhmuseum.org/turning-the-tables-on-civil-rights-the-1970s-and-1980s/
character
-black woman that is born to be a slave.
-became a surrogate for people because she needs money
central conflict
-in love with a white man and got pregnant
-wanted to keep the child but she couldn’t
genre/emotion
drama/intense
setting background
slavery era
