Compare And Contrast African American Art And Folk Art

308 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on African art history

Traveling back to the 1920’s African American Art was at its’s height. At the time there were two typical styles of art that were widely used, Folk Art and High Art. While both styles were different, artist of both sides had disagreements of which art style better represented Racial Pride. Folk art is described as more an African American style of doing art. Folk art was originally created to celebrate African American culture and the lives of the people. Sometimes the writers that create Folk art will use dialect or slang. Almost completely opposite from High Art, Folk Art utilizes “slang” and writing the way people actually talked instead of worrying about spelling or correct grammar. High Art on the other hand is described as

Show More
Related

  • How Does Countee Cullen Use Folk Art?

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    Racial pride was most popular during the Harlem Renaissance. Amidst 1910 and 1930, approximately 1.6 million blacks moved north to forsake the racial discrimination, but also for new opportunities (Background Essay). This is mentioned because it’s understandable to be afraid of showing one’s true self or to want to try something different but, the reason for trying high art shouldn’t be because you’re trying to prove yourself; that’s when folk art becomes the better option. Folk art really revered and acclaimed the African-American culture by presenting the lives and struggles of blacks during that time (Background Essay). While high art was also a good choice, it mainly focused on matching the white’s style and ability to say it’s able to be done. If anything, why not use a bit of both? The art would be beautiful enough for both sides (those who prefer folk art and those who prefer high art) to appreciate.

    Read More

  • Essay On Elizabeth Catlett's Art

    2251 Words  | 5 Pages

    The idea that art can be a service to people- most importantly a service to poor and disenfranchised people is one that may be disputed by some. However, Elizabeth Catlett and other artists at the taller de Graffica Popular have proved that art could be made to service the poor. Catlett in particular is someone who has always used her art to advocate for the poor and fight injustices. While her activism and political views were very impactful, they were also very controversial. Catlett`s art and activism influenced African American and Latin American art by changing the narratives of Black and Brown working class women. In their books titled Gumbo Ya Ya, The Art of Elizabeth Catlett, African American Art: The Long Struggle, and Elizabeth Catlett: Works on Paper authors Leslie King-Hammond, Samella S. Lewis, Crystal Britton, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jeanne Zeidler speak of the work of Catlett. In a paper titled -----, ---- also speaks of the work of Elizabeth Catlett and her legacy as an activist.

    Read More

  • Kehinde Wiley: The King Glory

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kehinde Wiley was born in 1977 in Los Angeles, California. He is a New York visual artist who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of black people in heroic poses. As a child, his mother supported his interest in art and enrolled him in after school art classes. When Wiley was 12 years old he attended an art school in Russia for a short time. At the age of 20 he traveled to Nigeria to learn about his African roots and to meet his father. He has firmly situated himself within art’s history’s portrait painting tradition. He earned his BFA at San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 and he received his MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2001.

    Read More

  • Jacob Lawrence

    1738 Words  | 4 Pages

    In order to add something to their lives, [black families] decorated their tenements and their homes in all of these colors. I've been asked, is anyone in my family artistically inclined? I've always felt ashamed of my response and I always said no, not realizing that my artistic sensibility came from this ambiance.... It's only in retrospect that I realized I was surrounded by art. You'd walk Seventh Avenue and took in the windows and you'd see all these colors in the depths of the depression. All these colors.

    Read More

  • Charles Chesnutt: The Harlem Renaissance

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    “It was a time when the Negro was in vogue” (“Harlem Renaissance” Dispute). This ironic comment by one of the period’s leading writers, Charles Chesnutt, evokes the irony and mystery of the Harlem Renaissance. Between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression, African American musicians, writers, and performers dominated the American cultural scene. Another name for the period, the “Jazz Age,” reflects the cultural importance of African American culture at this historical moment. The roots of this era were in the Great Migration, the movement of millions of African Americans from a condition of near slavery in the agricultural South to the industrial North. This migration was accomplished only with strong determination

    Read More

  • Essay On The Chicano Art Movement

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    In addition, the Chicano artists sought to demonstrate pride and air their grievances while empowering the community. The number one aesthetic goal was the continued search an organic unity between art and the real social living. However much the content and styles of the art forms and murals were distinct, there was a constant theme that continued to develop such as the reclamation of the lost indigenous history. The return of the practices, ceremonies, and their ancestral ways gave the Chicano people strength and direction. This can be certainly viewed as the evolution of the Chicano struggle and development of their artistic nature. Through the many art forms created by the Chicano people, they have been able to their history and represent their struggle hoping for a better future (Arreola,

    Read More

  • How Did Human Nature Change In The 1800s

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1800’s it would’ve been considered a crime for a person of color to do anything that a “white” person was doing. They were considered to do one thing and one thing only and that’s work. They weren’t supposed to be writing, making music, or creating art. All of these were used to express someone’s feeling towards a subject and people of color were not allowed to do that. The people of color were using these ways of art to communicate and express how they were treated and how they wanted to be treated. Source D says, “The Art Institute of Chicago's collection of African American art provides a rich introduction to over 100 years of noted achievements in painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Ranging chronologically from the Civil War era to the Harlem Renaissance and from the civil-rights struggles following World War II to the contemporary period, these works constitute a dynamic visual legacy.” This statement shows how important it was for the African American people to make art and express what they were going through. It has opened the eyes of people and changed history. The art itself has changed human nature in many ways and showed that they deserve to be treated the same as everyone else. This is why it was a crime in those times. Now everyone is free to express their feelings in any type of art such as writing, musical art, and making art as an artist. Art is a beautiful thing that everyone should be able to express. Art is a part of human nature and it can be expressed in many ways and everyone needs to have the right to do that. This is why human nature has changed. It has changed in a good way and made everyone’s views and opinions change on what people of color should be able to

    Read More

  • Aaron Douglass Aspiration Analysis

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aaron Douglas was an African-American painter and illustrator who played a prominent role during the Harlem Renaissance, a movement that had emerged in the early 20th century where many African-Americans were striving for equality. Of the many different paintings at the De Young Museum, Aspiration (1936) seemed to be the one artwork that had caught my attention. This painting, Aspiration, is one of two extant paintings from a four-part mural that Douglas had created and represents the path from slavery to freedom that the African-Americans took.

    Read More

  • Essay On Ringgold's Work As An Activist Art

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1960s were marked by the intense Civil Rights Movement that largely impacted the entire country. As African Americans continued to fight for racial equality and against oppression, artists used their arts as a means of getting involved and enhancing the movement. Many African American artists of the time were creating works of art that expressed the turmoil and injustice of that period. Nevertheless, the mere expression of the injustice that African Americans were experiencing due to racism and discrimination wasn’t enough: African Americans not only had to have their voices heard, but they also had to firmly reestablish their African American culture, their African American identity. Understanding the importance in both exposing

    Read More

  • Jazz In The 1920s

    404 Words  | 1 Pages

    The 1920s is an era in American history largely synonymous with the jazz age. It’s depiction in the 21st century is that of a celebration of black culture and its rise into popularity in a world where the greats were accepted for their talent instead of discriminated against based on the color of their skin. This, however, is unrealistic and does not fairly acknowledge the trials, tribulations, and resistance faced by black jazz musicians of the time. While the 1920s was a lively era in our nation that sparked great change politically, socially, and economically, it also notably brought new ideas of music to pop culture through a rise of jazz across all demographics. This rise brought black culture to the forefront of our nation and helped

    Read More

  • Ron Karenga's Black Cultural Nationalism

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    The people of the black culture need a motivating force behind their community. They need a black aesthetic to motivate them and incline them to support the revolution. The black aesthetic itself will not be enough to motivate the people; they will need black art to help them understand what they are supporting. The art in the black culture needs an aesthetic to get the message across to its viewers and allow them to understand the meaning behind pieces of artwork. One of Ron Karenga’s points is how people need to respond positively to the artwork because it then shows that the artist got the main idea to the audience and helps to motivate them to support the revolution. In “Black Cultural Nationalism”, the author, Ron Karenga, argues that

    Read More

  • Art And Culture In The 1920s

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    African Americans showed off their unique culture by creating bold colorful imagery that showed off African-American pride. Aaron Douglas, a famous artist, once said "...Our problem is to conceive, develop, establish an art era. Not white art painting black...let's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. Let's do the impossible. Let's create something transcendentally material, mystically objective. Earthy. Spiritually earthy. Dynamic

    Read More

  • Portraying the New Negro in Art

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mooney, Amy M. “Archibald J. Motley Jr.” The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art: Volume IV. Pomegranate - San Francisco. Copyright 2004 6.

    Read More

  • Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    “However, despite the ongoing debates about whether or not the Harlem Renaissance was this an misnomer” (McLendon). Whether it was a successful movement at all or not, Harlem became a symbolic figure. “It was resonated across time and space, as well as across gender, racial, and cultural boundaries” (McLendon). Today there are hundreds of thousands of Black musicians, artists, and writers. Due to the Harlem Renaissance and outbreak of new music and type of art began. “Many writers of European and Asian as well as African descent have found the idea of Harlem to be relevant to their preoccupations and employed the figure of black Harlem in significant ways”

    Read More

  • African Art Essay

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    Africa is home to a great and thriving art culture. Until recently, African art hasn’t had enough attention, due to scholars’ and art collectors’ emphasis on traditional art, while being part of the most diverse legacies on Earth. Although some people consider African art ‘traditional’, the art actually consists of hundreds of different people groups, cultures, and civilizations. The artwork favors abstraction rather than naturalistic representation because the artwork represents objects or ideas rather than depict them.

    Read More

More about Compare And Contrast African American Art And Folk Art

Open Document