African American Art
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Ten years before the Civil Rights Act was signed into Law by former President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, a baby named Kerry James Marshall was born in Birmingham Alabama. By the time Marshall, an African American, would reach his tenth birthday and experience the signing of this Act America he had witnessed a turbulent era in the history of American race relations. When he was eight Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous I Have A Dream Step at the Lincoln Memorial that galvanized the civil rights movement. Just a few short months later John F. Kennedy would be assassinated helping win sympathetic support from both Houses of Congress for the Civil Rights Act. By the time Marshall reached his fifteenth birthday Martin Luther King Jr. would also fall to an assassin’s bullet. One year later Marshall and his family would survive the Watts Riots in Los Angeles where they made their home. Throughout this turbulent and controversial period in American history, Marshall busied himself with books – especially picture books. Inspired by the pictures and drawings he saw, Marshall decided he wanted to be a visual artist. As one biographer notes, “Themes and ideas present in Marshall’s work reflect the complex web of personal and social issues that have been instrumental in molding his life” (Biography 1). Like many Black youths of era, Marshall was deeply affected by the injustice, racism, and oppressive discrimin
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g so. Marshall revealed that he likes using this particular technique to “disrupt the narrative flow” so that the images that are presented are not seamless or holistic, in a sense mirroring the social conditions he experienced (Our 1).
We see in Figure Two that Marshall is able to create images that are seemingly idyllic on the surface but upon closer inspection reveal the flaws inherent in American society, particularly with respect to race and class divisions. At first glance the bluebirds, colorful and stylized imagery, and bright colors produce a joyous sensation as if from the pictures in children’s books that first inspired Marshall. However, on closer inspection we see from the children’s facial expressions to the yellow ribbons tied around every tree that something is quite unsettling. The surrealist nature of the work, promoted by Marshall’s collage and dripping technique, further blurs the viewer’s distinction between appearances and reality in the piece: “Presenting a vision as surreal as it is immediately recognizable; Marshall uses the language and history of painting as a way to mingle real and imaginary perceptions of American society” (Our 2).
Another collection known as Mementos includes four large-scale p
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Approximate Word count = 2959
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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