African American art is a popular
art form among all the diverse arts presented by humans in the world. It has
its own unique factor in the field of art and talks about the different social,
economic, political and human conditions in the world irrespective of the
timeline. The Black art has seen versatile artists through the different
periods of time. Some of the famous names are as follows:
v G.
W. Hobbs, Patrick H. Reason, and Joshua Johnson were pioneers of the black art
before the civil war period in America.
v Edward
Mitchell Bannister, Henry Ossawa Tanner and Edmonia Lewis Were the artist who
emerged after the Civil war and shaped the African American art into something
new.
v Richmond
Barthé, Aaron Douglas, Lawrence Harris, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson,
Sargent Johnson were the names that revolutionized the style of art during the Harlem
Renaissance Movement.
v Horace
Pippin, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence were the artists of 1950’s that were
able to put their mark on the New York galleries.
v Larry
D. Alexander, Laylah Ali, Amalia Amaki, Emma Amos, Kadir Nelson, Frank Morrison became
the newest wave of African American artists of the contemporary world which
followed their professional ancestors and innovated a new chapter in the
history of Black Art.
All these names are of the
greatest artist of African American culture, which is not based on a pleasant
history. The participation of African Americans in the field of art began at a
very disturbing note. During the 18th century, the Africans were
slaves in America. It was a legal practice which imposed the black people to
create iron pieces, quilts, silver and pottery as part of their slavery. A lot
of the slave owners allowed the slaves to sell off their pieces of art created
during their off time to buy freedom from their masters. With time black people
harnessed their skill in the fields of art. A lot of merciful masters
encouraged the artistic side of the African Americans and provided them with
private tutoring that enhanced their skill of crafting.
Read Also: Black
Art Work – The Beginning of a Heritage
During the period 1861 to 1865, a
civil war took place which was fought between Confederate States of America
which was a group of states that had declared succession from America and the
Union which was the group who opposed them. The war was fought mainly because
of the slavery system. After the 4 years of bloodshed and over 600,000 people
dead from both sides brought freedom to slaves in America which eventually gave
rise to the Black Art.
