Emory Douglas
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| - | [[Image:King Asa of Juda Destroying the Idols.jpg|right|thumb|200px| | ||
| - | ''[[King Asa of Juda Destroying the Idols]]'' (early [[17th century]]) by [[Monsù Desiderio]]]] | ||
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| - | :''[[art]], [[politics]], [[music and politics]], [[aestheticization of violence]], [[vandalism]]'' | + | '''Emory Douglas''' worked as the Minister of Culture for the [[Black Panther Party]] from 1967 until the Party disbanded in the 1980s. His graphic art was featured in most issues of the newspaper ''The Black Panther'' (which had a peak circulation of 139,000 per week in 1970) and has become an iconic representation of the struggles of the Party during the 1960s and 70s. The ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' reported that Douglas "branded the [[Radical chic|militant-chic]] Panther image decades before the concept became commonplace. He used the newspaper's popularity to incite the disenfranchised to action, portraying the poor with genuine empathy, not as victims but as outraged, unapologetic and ready for a fight." |
| - | :"All efforts to render [[politics]] [[aesthetic]] culminate in one thing: [[war]]". --Walter Benjamin via “[[The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproducibility]]” | + | |
| - | '''Political art''' includes anything from [[anarcho-punk]] to [[culture jamming]], from [[political literature]] to [[social realism]], from [[political cinema]] to [[protest art]]. | + | As a teenager, Douglas was incarcerated at the [[Youth Training School]] in [[Ontario, California]]; during his time there he worked in the prison’s printing shop. He later studied commercial art at [[San Francisco City College]]. |
| - | The term [[artivist]] come to mind. Think the [[Notre-Dame Affair]] and [[The Revolution of Modern Art and the Modern Art of Revolution]]. | + | |
| - | It is the opposite from [[art for art's sake]]. | + | Colette Gaiter writes: |
| + | :"Douglas was the most prolific and persistent graphic agitator in the American Black Power movements. Douglas profoundly understood the power of images in communicating ideas.... Inexpensive printing technologies—including photostats and presstype, textures and patterns—made publishing a two-color heavily illustrated, weekly tabloid newspaper possible. Graphic production values associated with seductive advertising and waste in a decadent society became weapons of the revolution. Technically, Douglas collaged and re-collaged drawings and photographs, performing graphic tricks with little budget and even less time. His distinctive illustration style featured thick black outlines (easier to trap) and resourceful tint and texture combinations. Conceptually, Douglas’s images served two purposes: first, illustrating conditions that made revolution seem necessary; and second, constructing a visual mythology of power for people who felt powerless and victimized. Most popular media represents middle to upper class people as "normal." Douglas was the Norman Rockwell of the ghetto, concentrating on the poor and oppressed. Departing from the WPA/social realist style of portraying poor people, which can be perceived as voyeuristic and patronizing, Douglas’s energetic drawings showed respect and affection. He maintained poor people’s dignity while graphically illustrating harsh situations." | ||
| - | == The Revolution of Modern Art and the Modern Art of Revolution == | + | ==MOCA Exhibit== |
| - | + | The [[Museum of Contemporary Art]] in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]] curated an exhibit of Douglas' work entitled ''Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas'' in 2007-8 at the MOCA [[Pacific Design Center]]. | |
| - | ''[[The Revolution of Modern Art and the Modern Art of Revolution]]'' is an unpublished text (1967) by by Timothy Clark, Christopher Gray, Donald Nicholson-Smith & Charles Radcliffe | + | |
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| - | Throughout history, forms of [[art]] have gone through periodic abrupt changes called '''artistic revolutions'''. Movements have come to an end to be replaced by a new movement markedly different in striking ways. See also [[cultural movement]]s. | + | |
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| - | == Artistic revolution and cultural/political revolutions == | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The role of [[fine art]] has been to simultaneously express [[value]]s of the current culture while also offering [[criticism]], balance, or alternatives to any such values that are proving no longer useful. So as times change, art changes. If changes were abrupt they were deemed [[revolution]]s. The best artists have predated society's changes due not to any prescenience, but because sensitive perceptivity is part of their 'talent' of seeing. | + | |
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| - | Artists have had to 'see' issues clearly in order to satisfy their current clients, yet not offend potential patrons. For example, paintings glorified aristocracy in the early 1600s when leadership was needed to nationalize small political groupings, but later as leadership became oppressive, satirization increased and subjects were less concerned with leaders and more with more common plights of mankind. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Examples of revoutionary art in conjunction with cultural/political movements: | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | *[[Trotskyist]] & [[Diego Rivera]] | + | |
| - | *[[Black Panther Party]] & [[Emory Douglas]] | + | |
| - | *Cuban [[Poster Art]] | + | |
| - | *[[Social realism]] & [[Ben Shahn]] | + | |
| - | *[[Feminist art]] & the [[Guerrilla Girls]] | + | |
| - | *[[Industrial Workers of the World]] & [[Woody Guthrie]] | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | == Artistic revolution of style == | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | But not all artistic revolutions were political. Revolutions of style have also abruptly changed the art of a culture. For example, when the careful, even tedious, art techniques of French neo-classicism became oppressive to artists living in more exuberant times, a stylistic revolution known as "[[Impressionism]]" vitalized brush strokes and color. [[Edgar Degas]], [[Claude Monet]], [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]] burst onto the French culture, effecting a revolution with a style that has become commonplace today. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | An artistic revolution can be begun by a single artist, but unless that artist gains some understanding, he becomes an iconoclast. The first [[Abstract Expressionist]]s were considered madmen to give up their brushes and rely on the sheer force of energy to leave an image, but then the import of [[atomic bomb]]s, all atomic energy, became realized, and art found no better way of expressing its power. [[Jackson Pollock]] is the artist best known for starting that revolution. | + | |
| - | ==Marx and ideology== | + | |
| - | :''[[Marxist art theory]]'' | + | |
| - | During the mid-20th century art historians embraced [[social history]] by using critical approaches. The goal is to show how art interacts with power structures in society. One critical approach that art historians used was [[Marxism]]. [[Marxist art history]] attempted to show how art was tied to specific classes, how images contain information about the economy, and how images can make the status quo seem natural ([[ideology]]). Well-know Marxist art theorists include [[Clement Greenberg]], [[Meyer Schapiro]], [[Arnold Hauser]], and [[T. J. Clark (historian)|T.J. Clark]]. | + | |
| + | == Urbis Exhibition == | ||
| + | The Urbis Arts Museum in Manchester city centre showed a similar exhibition of Emory Douglas' work in 2009. This exhibition not only presented his work but also the context in which it was created, giving insight into the turbulent lives of these young revolutionaries. Douglas also held workshops with the museum in which he worked with local children to produce their own pieces of artwork following his style, many of which were displayed at the exhibition's end. | ||
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Emory Douglas worked as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the Party disbanded in the 1980s. His graphic art was featured in most issues of the newspaper The Black Panther (which had a peak circulation of 139,000 per week in 1970) and has become an iconic representation of the struggles of the Party during the 1960s and 70s. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Douglas "branded the militant-chic Panther image decades before the concept became commonplace. He used the newspaper's popularity to incite the disenfranchised to action, portraying the poor with genuine empathy, not as victims but as outraged, unapologetic and ready for a fight."
As a teenager, Douglas was incarcerated at the Youth Training School in Ontario, California; during his time there he worked in the prison’s printing shop. He later studied commercial art at San Francisco City College.
Colette Gaiter writes:
- "Douglas was the most prolific and persistent graphic agitator in the American Black Power movements. Douglas profoundly understood the power of images in communicating ideas.... Inexpensive printing technologies—including photostats and presstype, textures and patterns—made publishing a two-color heavily illustrated, weekly tabloid newspaper possible. Graphic production values associated with seductive advertising and waste in a decadent society became weapons of the revolution. Technically, Douglas collaged and re-collaged drawings and photographs, performing graphic tricks with little budget and even less time. His distinctive illustration style featured thick black outlines (easier to trap) and resourceful tint and texture combinations. Conceptually, Douglas’s images served two purposes: first, illustrating conditions that made revolution seem necessary; and second, constructing a visual mythology of power for people who felt powerless and victimized. Most popular media represents middle to upper class people as "normal." Douglas was the Norman Rockwell of the ghetto, concentrating on the poor and oppressed. Departing from the WPA/social realist style of portraying poor people, which can be perceived as voyeuristic and patronizing, Douglas’s energetic drawings showed respect and affection. He maintained poor people’s dignity while graphically illustrating harsh situations."
[edit]
MOCA Exhibit
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, California curated an exhibit of Douglas' work entitled Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas in 2007-8 at the MOCA Pacific Design Center.
[edit]
Urbis Exhibition
The Urbis Arts Museum in Manchester city centre showed a similar exhibition of Emory Douglas' work in 2009. This exhibition not only presented his work but also the context in which it was created, giving insight into the turbulent lives of these young revolutionaries. Douglas also held workshops with the museum in which he worked with local children to produce their own pieces of artwork following his style, many of which were displayed at the exhibition's end.
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