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Good evening and thank you for joining us. For the last event in a series of four terror lectures in American Up.

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This series is sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art, which is dedicated to fostering exploration,

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understanding and enjoyment of visual art for the United States, for both national and international audiences.

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In collaboration with the Department of the History of Art at Oxford and Wooster College,

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the Foundation grants an annual fellowship to a leading scholar in American art.

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Amy Mooney is the terror visiting professor for 2019 2020.

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The Tara lectures have this year been included as part of the Live Online Event series in the Humanities Cultural Programme.

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One of the founding Stones for the Future, Stephen Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.

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My name is Wes Williams. I'm Professor in French Literature, Baseless and Edmund Hall here in Oxford.

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And I'm also the knowledge exchange champion at Torch, the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities.

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We at torture are delighted to be able to host this lecture series, particularly on this vitally important topic,

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one which has become in recent weeks especially salient throughout this evening's lecture.

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If you have any questions, please feel free to add them in the YouTube chat box.

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And we will do our best to answer as many of these as part of the session in about 45 minutes or so after the lecture.

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To get your questions in early, though, so that we can gather them together in good time for the discussion.

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We're delighted that this lecture will be introduced and chaired by Professor Jeffrey Batching.

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Jeffrey holds them professorship of the history of art in the Department of History of Art and the Faculty of History.

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He's also a fellow of Trinity College. Professor Benson's work as a teacher, writer and curator focuses on the history of photography in particular.

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And it's my absolute pleasure to welcome Geoffrey this evening. And now, Geoffrey, I'll hand over to you.

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Thank you very much. And he was it's my honour to introduce Amy Mooney as our speaker.

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Amy and Moody is an associate professor at Columbia College, Chicago, where she teaches courses on African-American art and visual culture.

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The publications include a monograph on the Chicago painter, Archibald Jay Mottley,

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junior, part of the David C. Driscoll series on African-American art,

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was published in 2004, which has also made contributions to anthologies and catalogues including Beyond Face New Perspectives in Portraiture in 2018.

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Archibald Mottley, Jazz Age, Modernist 2014 Lackies Black eight in 2013 and remain Bearden in the Modernist Tradition from 2009.

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She is the recipient of fellowships from the American Council,

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the Learnt Societies Black Metropolis Research Consortium with the Andrew Mellon Foundation,

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the Joyce Foundation, the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Terror Foundation for American Art.

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In collaboration with the revered photography historian Dr Deborah Wills and the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College.

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And you recently launched a digital humanities project. Say it with pictures then and now that recovers and critically examines the work

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of Chicago's African-American photographers from the 80s and 90s into the 1930s.

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As part of the Terror Foundation's Art Design Initiative, this project will generate an exhibition and catalogue.

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That brings to light Chicago's contributions to the formation of modern black subjectivities.

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During her tenure as the Terror Foundation visiting professor of American art, she's been completing her second book,

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Portraits of Noteworthy Character Negotiating a Collective American Identity, a project that investigates the social function of portraiture.

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The book is forthcoming with Duke University Press Amy.

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With that, I hand over the screen to you. I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

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Thank you so very much for the kind introduction and much appreciation for all of those who are joining us today.

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And greetings from the Provo's lodgings here at Wooster College.

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I am very much looking forward to our discussion. And I'd also like to take the opportunity before I begin to express appreciation for my colleagues

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in the Department of the History of Art at Oxford and at Wooster who have so warmly welcomed me.

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And I'd also like to offer profound gratitude to the Terror Foundation for American Art and to Columbia College, Chicago,

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for supporting such opportunities, as well as to the Oxford students with whom I have felt so privileged to work with.

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Finally, I'd like to also express my sincere appreciation to the colleagues at Oxford's Research

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Centre for the Humanities for providing the platform for this evening's live stream.

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This is the last of a four part lecture series.

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Drawing from my forthcoming book is just said Portraits of Noteworthy Character Negotiating a Collective American Identity.

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And in this, as you have seen probably through the whole series,

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I'm exploring the central role of portraiture played in fostering social change in the United States as

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progressive individuals and institutions relied on its cultural capital to further their political ideologies.

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For this final lecture, I focus on an exhibition generated by the Harman Foundation in 1944 called Portraits of Outstanding Americans of Negro Origin.

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This group of more than 50 portraits toured the United States for nearly 10 years

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with the intention of not only celebrating the contributions of African Americans,

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but also modelling social integration and the possibilities of civil rights.

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Considering the aesthetics and logistics of the exhibition,

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I'll explore the ways in which the philosophies of Alé Locke inform the optimistic belief that the experience of the portrait

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could generate social change in order to understand how this exhibition impacted US perspectives through portraiture.

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I'm going to begin briefly by examining its central figures that realised it.

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Mary Brady and Allie Mock as it's through their interactions that the exhibition comes into being.

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I will then consider the strategic objectives of the exhibition and the artists that they selected to paint the portraits.

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And finally, how the experience of viewing and participating in the portraits of outstanding Americans of Negro origin played out in the media.

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Along the way, I'll introduce close reads of a handful of portraits with the promise of more and further complete consideration in the book.

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This chapter builds upon the groundbreaking scholarship of Tilley's of Learning in Dr. David Driscoll,

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as presented in their 1997 exhibition, Breaking Racial Barriers.

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One of the many examples of how the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery supports the investigation of American identity.

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This venerable institution played a significant role in the commissioning and organising

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of the Obama portraits that have served as a point of departure for this lecture series.

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You have been invited to the embossed card with its gilt Smithsonian SEAL rests in your hand.

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Immediately your mind tries to imagine the event, the space in which it will take place.

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The excitement of seeing the portraits unveiled, what they look like.

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And what will the Obamas say about them? What insights might the artist offer?

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Who else will be there? What will you wear?

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I begin with a speculative Interpol that relations as they point to the portrait, as a memorable and personal experience.

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In effect, a celebration, a social gathering around an American national tradition,

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the unveiling and reception of portraits of the former president and first lady.

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This is an example of a myriad of ways that we make portraiture,

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a social process that is affirming of one's presence, inclusion and sense of belonging within the national identity.

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The experience of viewing a portrait is an opportunity not only to look at, but to look with,

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to be affirmed as part of the collective that shares and values the power of representation.

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Certainly this awareness directed the collaboration between the artists and their subjects, reflecting the former president's hope for the portrait.

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Gandhi wisely stated, quote, Barack Obama is incredibly sensitive to representation and to art history.

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He wanted to make sure that this image communicated who he is in the world.

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And from the very beginning, he wanted to have a very relaxed man of the people representation,

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even the smallest details, things like the open colour,

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the absence of tie, the sense that his body is actually moving toward you physically in space as opposed to feeling aloof.

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All of these subtle things went into this portrait needs.

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And considering the experiences of looking at these portraits, Mr. Obama noted that he was moved by the artist's, quote,

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extraordinary care and precise vision in recognising the beauty, grace and dignity of people who are so often invisible in lives.

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Why are these portraits forced us to look and see them in ways so often that they are not?

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And quite similarly, Amy Sherrills approach to portraiture seeks to shift how and who we see as she states.

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Quote, I paint the American people and I tell American stories to the paintings.

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I create my approach to portraiture is conceptual. Once my paintings are complete, the model no longer lives in that painting is themselves.

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I see something bigger and more symbolic, an archetype in, quote, mindful of this trans vision from self to collective.

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In her remarks at the unveiling of the portrait, Mrs. Obama said that she was, quote,

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thinking about all the young people, particularly the girls and girls of colour,

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who in years ahead will come to this place and they will looked up and they will see an image

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of someone who looks like them hanging on the walls of this great American institution.

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I know the kind of impact that this will have on their lives because I was one of those girls.

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And quote, As per Mrs. Obama's remarks,

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portraiture inherently is an investment in the future as it presumes that there will be an audience to experience and witness its material presence.

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Her words allow us to consider the conceptualisation of future redy, as theorised by scholar Tina Camped,

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who describes it as an imperative rather than a subjunctive, as a striving for the future.

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You want to see right now in the present such an urgent vision.

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Inform the unveiling of another exhibition of portraits more than 70 years ago and

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reverberates with the remarks made by Howard University professor Alan Locke.

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As the keynote speaker for the closing of an exhibition of portraits of distinguished citizens of Negro Heritage in 1946,

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Locke interwove his philosophical beliefs on critical pragmatism and cultural pluralism into his remarks

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with an audience of over a thousand crowded into the auditorium of the Chicago Historical Society.

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The professor shared his deeply held conviction that this exhibition presented the opportunity for trans valuation,

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affording a substantive shift in the personal values of viewers that would inform their social, political and cultural actions.

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Persuasively addressing a multiracial audience. LA posited that the experience of black subjectivity, as represented through portraiture,

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could change the personal values that informed racism and xenophobia.

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He argued that through the artistic portrayal of extraordinary African-American individuals such as Labour organiser Aissa Philip Randolph,

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opera singer Marian Anderson and sculptor Richman Bartek,

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perception itself could be reformed and inculcated toward an appreciation of diversity, equity and inclusion.

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For all those who experience the exhibition for luck, the portraits of African-American professionals like Judge Jane Boland,

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pilot William Campbell and author James Weldon Johnson were proof that, quote,

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the full gamut of accomplishments is opened up,

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that the whole psychological pressure of prejudice is lifting and there is no longer a completely blocked path for us in any line or accomplishment,

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unquote. In his concluding remarks, he observed, quote, When we look at all of this at the light public opinion allowing this,

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as well as the increasing preoccupation of the white artist with Negro subject matter and the quiet

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way that Negro men and women in art are taking their place in the general scheme of art development,

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we are all aware that it is impossible for a truly American art or progress to develop on race pride low.

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It must develop in American pride in our own conviction that all groups have the same potential we see in our Negro youth and quote,

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blacks emphasis on American pride and his strategic deference that the accomplishments of those portrayed could not have been realised by race.

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Pride alone speaks to contemporary concerns that racial now be some threatened the

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possibility of all groups progressing together toward the realisation of democracy,

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although seemingly optimistic in an enlightened public opinion, allowed such an exhibition.

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Locke's Commitment to the Imperative.

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The portrait reflects the tensions of post-World War Two America in its continued failure to extend civil rights to all of its citizens.

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In referencing the quiet way of art,

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creation and appreciation to achieve a more egalitarian society closer to a sludge in general anxieties over the escalating degree of

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violent racial conflict as African-American soldiers returning from serving their country were only denied basic civil liberties.

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This temperate prescription through which African-Americans could take their rightful places reveals a deep belief that art,

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particularly the portrait,

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had the potential to generate a collective national identity that was inclusive and conscious of African-American contributions.

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Locke reasons that the mutual experience of valuing the portraits of African-Americans seeing reading of their accomplishments,

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sharing appreciation with one another, would generate positive feelings and thereby pragmatically alter and impact behaviours.

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The circulating exhibition was part of a portrait of outstanding Americans of Negro Origin initiative generated by the Harmon Foundation,

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a philanthropic organisation dedicated to recognising and promoting African-American achievements in the fields of fine arts,

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business, industry, education, literature, music, race, relations, religion and science.

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Founded by real estate magnate William H. Harmon Harlem in 1922, the foundation began with the stated purpose of, quote,

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encouraging and stimulating individuals to self-help, stressing the values of self-reliance and hard work.

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The foundation supported a wide array of programmes that reflected contemporary thought on the purpose of art in society.

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For the foundation's director, Mary Beedi Brady, Art was in service to society and played several roles.

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She believed that art provided evidence of social social advancement and was a constructive use of leisure time.

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But most tellingly, through the work working with advisers such as Emily Locke.

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She came to see art as a pedagogical tool that could end.

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Racial prejudice. Together, they planned an ambitious,

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multitiered programme that included the creation of more than 50 portraits that travelled from coast to coast, the United States,

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as well as the development of extensive supported materials such as a portfolio of reproductions, lectures,

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photographs of the artists and a film strip that were distributed to schools, churches and community organisations across the United States.

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Portraits of outstanding Americans of NUGA Origin toured the United States for 10 years and was installed in museums,

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galleries, libraries and community venues by the foundation's account.

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Millions of Americans saw the paintings in person and even more engaged with reproductions and educational materials,

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leading Brady to link the US Supreme Court's landmark decision in 1954 to the end of segregation due to the impact of the portraits.

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Certainly in retrospect, it's difficult to believe that such an assertion.

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Such an assertion. Yet commissioning and exhibiting so many large scale portraits.

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And they range between three by five. Be up to three by four.

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Four feet. This is just simply without precedent.

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Their subsequent acquisition and positing within the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery reveals About Home Me reveals

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much about the representation of black subjectivity and its role in the formation of a collective American identity.

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Looking to the portraits to function in what they termed a social instrument for change,

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Locke and Brady understood that the honorific painted portrait communicated the status and importance of the subject and

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thus could be used as a vehicle to transfer social capital to black subjects who historically been denied such recognition.

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Following the philosophies of Progressivist Chewey, John Dewey and Pragmatist's William James.

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They reasoned that the shared experience of portraiture exhibit would prove to be

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a unifying and mutually beneficial for anyone who attended to ensure reciprocity.

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Arrested Tippity. Excuse me. Brady and Locke believed that the portraits had to adhere to an academic template,

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relying on the effect of a conceptual realism that actively challenged that your rational fears of racism.

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In essence, they sought to apply the lessons learnt from the primers,

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the progressive's and the politics of respectability to generate the proper regard for African American citizens.

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The foundation encouraged to classically trained artists, Laura Wheeler Waring, who is African-American, and Betsy Graves,

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we know who zero American to paint portraits of African-Americans who had either been recognised by the Heart Heart Foundation,

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received this Dingaan medal for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People,

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or had garnered a national reputation for their professional achievements.

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This preventing ensure that the portraits were depictions of those judged to be

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respectable and contributing to the advancement of civil rights in America.

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Stage photographs of the artists were juxtaposed to form a sort of frontispiece for the portfolio.

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The portrait reproductions demonstrate from the beginning,

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the foundation conceived of the propagandistic potential of its philanthropic efforts miling interracial

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cooperation between artists intent on the honour of the selected American African-American subjects.

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They were wearing or rindo received financial compensation for the portraits.

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Rather, the artists were invited by the Hermann Foundation to create the portraits as a means of furthering their own careers,

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political agency and commitment to achieving racial equality.

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Likewise, the subjects of the portraits were expected to give their over their own likeness.

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To further the cause and the promise of increased public awareness of their achievements.

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Since its 1944 inaugural debut at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the exhibition was celebrated for its integrationist politics.

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At the time, James Herring, the director of the Howard University's art gallery,

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observed that while the exhibition goes beyond the boundary of art into the realm of cultural and social relations,

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and the launch of the project was sponsored by the US Department of Interior and endorsed by Eleanor Roosevelt and Secretary Harold Ickes.

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This for hearing optimistically reflected, quote,

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the increasing consciousness of responsibility that the nation's leaders had developed toward the Negro in contemporary American life.

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And certainly the conception in reception of the exhibition reveals a number of contradictions that are

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inherent to white philanthropical organisations that supported African-American artists during this period.

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In fact, throughout the foundation's forty five year duration, several artists condemned at segregated exhibitions and policies,

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citing them as patronising and harming the development of professional black artists.

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And indeed, there are mitigating circumstances around the commissioning of the portraits that merit further consideration.

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The portraits were not created as individual private objects to be inherited within a privileged family, lenient.

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Rather, they were conceived as a collective validating experience that would generate a public sphere in which one could witness social change.

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For Mark,

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the function of art in the United States was to complete the process of self realisation begun in the reconstruction period and thus providing,

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quote, a black subjectivity that would become an agent of cultural and social revolution in America.

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Although perhaps best known for students stewardship of the Harlem Renaissance and his conceptualisation

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of the new Negro luks cultural activism drew upon the innovative ideas around value theory and necessity,

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a re-examination of the impact of portraits of outstanding Americans of Negro origin.

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The exhibition opened at the height of World War Two,

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underscoring the continued need to address the divisiveness within the United States as it fought fascism abroad.

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In many parts of the initiative were modelled after the strategies and aesthetics developed during the Work Progress Administration,

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better known through its acronym, the WPA. As part of Roosevelt's New Deal,

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this programme encouraged American artists to use a recognisable imagery in their work with the goal of making art accessible to a broad audience,

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encouraged to consider their practise as part of a distinctly American social experience.

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WPA artists and administrators staged openings and exhibitions to ensure the widest viewership possible.

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Their subject matter was influenced by the administrator's goal of generating a common heritage and purpose,

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creating a sense of community success for the nation and like the like the narratives and murals and prints that retold America's history to itself.

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Portraits of American heroes are seen andin Cornwell's fortification of Andrew Jackson,

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those who succeeded against the odds were familiar and reassuring during this era of

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uncertainty marked by war and racial violence in their generation of a usable past.

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However, the WPA commissions rarely included specifically mean heroic black subjects.

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Here in Douglass's epic mural's aspects of Negro life, created for the Schaumberg branch of the New York Public Library,

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relaid the black experience from Africa to slavery to reconstruction to urban modernity to an anonymous silhouetted figures,

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though both Brady and Lunk admired Douglass's approach. They wanted to honour distinctive individuals using their likenesses to form a critical

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citizenship in which the accomplishments of specific persons could be extended to all,

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forming a more inclusive and shared knowledge of national history.

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Brady and Locke also hoped that the exhibition could provide a more positive narrative than

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those that address social injustice by explicitly depicting the violence and lynching.

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Sponsored by the end of the ACP and leftist leaning organisations such as the John Reid Club, the exhibitions,

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such as an art commentary on lynching and the struggle for Negro rights,

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sought to raise public awareness of the horrific crimes against African-Americans.

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Shifting sympathy into active support for the proposed national anti lynching legislation.

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Using a variety of media and subjects to visualise the virulent expression of racial hatred.

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Participating artists such as Joe Jones and Borers Colbert, Gorelick sought to prompt viewers into a deeper understanding of racism's cost.

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Instead of a direct confrontation of white supremacy,

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portraits of outstanding Americans of Negro origin sought to support the recognition of commonalities,

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extolling some of the values such as hard work and self-reliance that were presented as uniquely American within the popular sphere.

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For their exhibition and Brady Ripley's depictions of black suffering with representations of black triumph,

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believing that this was the best course to generate Interpeace herself, Darity and further the advancement of civil rights law.

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Like many intellectuals before him, understood that to render the likeness of a black subject was to enter into the rhetoric of personal values,

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asking viewers to draw upon their own such activities. If the portrait could elicit emotional affinities,

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more reason that the attitudes and actions could then result in pragmatic consequences of social change,

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whereby the respect and admiration for those represented in the images transferred to all

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black individuals as the most long term and central adviser to the Harmony Foundation.

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Ali Locke's lifelong enquiry into value formation serves as a framework to consider the condition, circulation and lasting impact of the exhibition.

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During his graduate school studies at Harvard, Malcolm worked with a variety of scholars to homes understanding of value theory,

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investigating the social context and psychological account of how values emerge in the human consciousness.

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In his synthesis of William James is promoted. Pragmatic theory led him to understand the relationship between our daily world of practise

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and a world of value creation were bound through lived experiences through his teaching,

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scholarship and culture. Advocate C Mark reasoned that if racial equality was going to be realised,

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it had to be experienced and art was amongst the means to generate such an experience.

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The ideas of John Dewey also reverberated within Locke's intellectual circle, as he believes, quote,

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The moral function of art is to remove prejudice to do away with the scales that keep the eye from seeing into purrfect the power to perceive,

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end quote. Dewey advocated for a layered consciousness of looking, moving from recognition to perception.

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For him, the differentiation relied upon the degree of emotional interaction generated by the experience.

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Further, like Dewey Locke, quote, sought the root of a static consciousness in the emotions rather than the logical,

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reflective knowledge, and called for an empathetic openness to our experience to realise the aesthetic dimensions of our lives.

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Following in XY ology based on pragmatism that would build new knowledge from social experience love,

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the Bradys sought to redirect the language of portraiture,

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believing that its conservative, staid academic approach would ensure the greatest legibility of the racial identity,

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accomplishments and character of the SIDOR. In the portrait of famed educator Miriam Be Cleared Buffoon.

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For example, painter Betty Reneau depicted her subject in three quarter length posts.

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Standing near a curtain at the left, there's a painting of one of the first buildings at Bethune Cookman College.

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Is positioned directly above the educator's head as an indication of her dedication and founding role in this revered, historically black institution.

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Tilting her head slightly to the right thing looks directly out at the viewer with a frank candour

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for which she was known to renew casts a spotlight on this subject to highlight her features.

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But the effect also creates a long shadow,

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symbolically indicating the depth and influence of Bethune's work in seemingly amplifying her presence in the portrait at a right in her right hand.

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She holds a cane that once belonged to Franklin D. Roosevelt, a reminder of her service in the president's black cabinet,

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an informal group of prominent black leaders that advise the president and his wife

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on how to ensure that African-Americans benefited from the New Deal programmes.

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In her nomination for Horyn Award in the field of race relations, Bethune was cited,

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quote, not only as an outstanding woman of a race, but by general consent.

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One of the outstanding women of the world, quote, As if echoing these words,

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Turino included a globe directly in front of the singer, though a reference to worthiness merited by Bethune's influence.

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Its turn to show North and South America and with the United States prominently outlined,

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it seems to project Parthians national allegiance and diligent work toward integrating African-Americans into Africa into American life.

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The overall effect of the painting is one of exploitation.

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Presenting the formidable presence of a woman who, according to Ali, lock in his biographical sketch that accompany the portrait,

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quote, has dared to cross the frontiers of hatred and rise above the misunderstandings.

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And prejudice and Renaud's sensitive portrayal makes visible loks assessment of Bethune's character is being,

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quote, endowed with a great spirit of service to our own people and a great faith to herself and human nature.

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Moreover, the honorific painting counters a contemporary racist by biographical account that described her as,

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quote, large black folk bosomed and strong limned,

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evoking the longstanding stereotypes to which black women were subject to these reductive words were penned by Edward Embry,

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the president of Julius Rosenwald founded Fund, a philanthropic organisation that funded schools for African-Americans in the rural South.

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And to note the extent to which Yaro Americans unconsciously perpetuated the

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very bias that they reported to be working against and is especially heinous.

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As he concludes his biographical summary under Thune by stating, quote,

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She does not fall into anybody's found picture of an old southern mammy, end quote.

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Even in his attempt to celebrate her substantive accomplishments, Embry reifies a demeaning and misogynistic trope.

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In contrast, Renaults portrait depicts a professional and elegantly dressed with gleaming brown eyes.

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The artist carefully modelled her skin to reflect the light, using a broad palette of brown,

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purple and pink tools to capture the highlights on her facial features, refuting Embry's essentially see Reed.

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Her skin colour as, quote, call black highlights also for empathy underthings,

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dark suit, suggesting the richness of the fabric and its flattering drape.

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And for each portrait that she contributed to the series. Reno carefully recorded the singer's likeness.

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No realistic yet idealised manner, showing the racist stereotypes that even those who believed they had good intentions harboured.

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Contemporary reviewers praised the portrait, noting, quote, as a delineation of character.

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Few paintings can equal the understanding and human sympathy shown in the face of Mary

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McRoy through the dusky grey purples of her skin are enriched by the Deep Purple.

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Her dress and the dark clad figure makes a forceful contrast with the light background and the writer's avocation of understanding and human sympathy.

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Or a particular note for this underscores the expectation of portraiture to foster connexions between the viewer and the represented subject.

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Given the racial stratification of the era, the reporter's response to the painting models exactly what Mark and Brady hoped for,

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that the experience of seeing African-American subjects through the venerable tradition

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of formal portraiture would provide alternative ways of feeling toward the subject,

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not as merely serving as a counterexample to the stereotypes of visual culture.

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These portraits also modelled a different mode of consciousness by extolling the

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accomplishments of the SIDOR and insisting on the recognition of their humanity.

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The portraits, programming and supportive materials demanded that viewers value the sitters leader.

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In his writings, LARP argued, quote, Value reactions guided by emotional preferences and affinities are as important or is as potent

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in the determination of attitudes as pragmatic consequences are in the determination of actions.

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In the generic and best sense of the term pragmatic, it is important to take stock of one as the other.

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In a survey of the history of fine art in portraiture, Locke took stock and called out, quote,

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the blindness of the Caucasian eye as it could not see beyond a half caste psychology that distorts all true artistic values.

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With few exceptions,

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he noted that African-American subjects were cast in several roles positioned along the periphery and rarely portrayed as accomplished individuals.

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Moreover, Locke recognised that many artists, such as Sidney, Mont.

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Had not really developed the technical skill to render the variety of pigmentation and the subtle value of black skin and,

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quote, postulating that social conventions stand close to God or a painting that most of the other arts.

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Locke argued that a new school in idiom of Negro portraiture would be particularly significant.

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Far too often, he observed and said, social conventions generate objectionable character terms and negatively impacted the black psyche.

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In realising an entire gallery of honorific, larger than life portraits of African-American subjects,

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Marc saw an opportunity to shift the narrative of American art and history.

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And by applying the values associated with portraiture such as status and veneration,

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Locke reasoned that the exclusionary apparatus could be appropriated in rearticulated as part of an enabling formation.

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The dignity and formality of academic portraiture pretended a fundamental shift

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in recognising and valuing African-American contributions to the culture,

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history and politics of the United States.

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And given that these portraits circulated during the time where the national media for blackface minstrelsy of Amos and Andy,

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the experience of them refuted the conception of that subject could as entertaining buffoonery.

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Using the most stayed in Quotidien Manor, a fine art portrait,

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her portraits of standing Americans of Negro origin challenged and destabilised

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prevailing racist attitudes requiring viewers to confront their own biases and ignorance.

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The static and formulaic approach employed by Renault and Wareing reinforce the cultural value of the

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genre of portraiture while simultaneously representing the values of black subjectivity further.

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The X exhibition events that within the collective construct of blackness.

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There was diversity. Not only did the exhibition present a wide array of accomplished professionals,

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it also depicted the variance in each individual's skin tone and physiognomy,

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contributing another layer toward decentralising blackness,

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opening viewers to the plurality that was central to Locke's conceptualisation of African American identity.

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In short,

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Lucht believe that the Hohmann Foundation could have a broader impact on dispelling racial prejudice by literally bringing Americans face to face,

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creating an opportunity for the negotiation of the past as well as the possibility for the future.

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And to that end, he hopes that the portraits would inspire racial pride for African-Americans and encourage others to achieve similar success.

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It was Brady who insisted that the portrait of Lotte included in the exhibition.

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And she pressed Vienneau to quickly create one from a photograph,

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casually smoking a cigarette while seemingly lost in thought and wearing his Oxford jacket.

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Mark is depicted as a scholar and a gentleman, as in many of her portraits renewal position Lasseter against a plain background,

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ensuring that viewers focus on the subject's face.

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Only a small stack of books at the left gives clue to the numerous publications that Lockett authored by this time in his distinguished career.

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The creamy yellow hues on the wall behind the figure contrast with a warm round tones used to render his skin breathing,

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striking shadow and light effect that emphasises the shape of Locke's permanent four head,

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a conventional portrait her that visualise the subject's intellectual pursuits.

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Yes, it's telling as to the character traits that viewers ascribe to this portrait of the first African-American

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Rhodes Scholar and the first graduate with a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University,

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writing the original exhibition label for the portrait. Media expert and educator Lyman Bryson directed viewers to consider all of the

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philosopher's accomplishments secondary to his purported forbearance and tolerance,

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writing, quote, He has mastered Western thought and can teach them of some of the doctrines of the philosophers.

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And as a critic of the arts life, he's earned the gratitude of all lovers of clarity and beauty.

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But his greatest is in the Mandeb and his patients with which he waits for the

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rest of mankind to discover what his race has done and can do in the future.

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The idea that Locke waits with Big Man in his patients is not only mischaracterises his constant advocacy for racial progress,

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it also reveals the desire for African-Americans to accept and tolerate Jim Crow policies and the continued denial of their civil rights.

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In the portrait, there is a dynamic tension within the figure that counters Bryson's assertion of acceptance,

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and Stacie's love pushes his elbow back on the desk behind him,

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yet leans forward toward the viewer, hugging his hand to his torso in such a way that it pushes his jacket open,

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revealing a dark and best beneath that contrast with the weight of his jacket and shirt.

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When coupled with his brown tie, these choices seem more symbolic than sartorial.

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It's as if this philosopher's clothing signifies his constant negotiation between white and black.

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Between what can be seen in the light and what must remain closer to the heart cloaked by shadow as a closeted gay

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black man constantly negotiated the expectations of the white heterosexual realms of academia and philanthropy.

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His family was amongst Philadelphia's black athlete and expected their son to live by the decorum of respectability politics.

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The presumption that this rigorous thinker and constant advocate possess endless patience is to

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perpetuate the myth of black benevolence toward an even tolerance of white ignorance and bias.

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Bryson's incongruous characterisation exposes the complicated and often culture victory process of Trian valuation.

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The copious exchange of letters between Malcolm Brady attested a mutual belief that art could and should affect social change.

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Yet at various points in their relationship, the two had serious conflicting perspectives regarding the existence of a racial art.

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By the 1930s, Locke expanded his argument for racial art then only to be a continuance of African legacy,

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but also to recognise the unique experience of being black in America.

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Locke biographer Jeffrey Stewart identifies the shift toward a quote DiCamillo view that contemporary Negro artists were so warped after

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internalising European notions of white supremacy that they found it difficult to properly value what was valuable in their own traditions,

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especially the black body itself, end quote. This shift informs Lux essay.

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The Negro comes of a. Negro artist comes of age excuse me,

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written for the 1933 Harmon exhibition of works by African-American artists in which he advances the idea that, quote,

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the psychological process by which the Negro artists became a subject by rendering him or herself through pictures and,

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quote, defines the relationship to society based on their own subjectivity.

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And this would allow for the transformation that was needed to occur for black people, as well as white people to see beauty differently.

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And in new places, according to Locke. According to David Scotland, David Driscoll,

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Brady saw herself as a facilitator charged with the responsibility of encouraging and stimulating creative thought amongst school administrators,

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art teachers, museum personnel and community leaders.

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In her opinion, the role of the portrait was, quote,

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to show the American public and the world the contributions to our natural national life through culture,

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science and government that have been made in our time, regardless of race.

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Convinced of its efficacy, Brady advocates that quote Through portraiture, dignity, intellectual calibre,

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achievement, charm, leadership and authority may be conveyed by the artist in presenting a human being.

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And for Brady, the physical experience of being surrounded by a collection of life size portraits of black

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subjects literally coming face to face with the viewer could have what she called to be a start.

397
00:43:08,390 --> 00:43:16,080
In fact, making portraiture, quote, a very dynamic way in which to present positive achievement.

398
00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:20,970
Ideally, the startling effect was not a reaction to the formal qualities of the portrait,

399
00:43:20,970 --> 00:43:26,220
but a way in which it affected change in the viewer allowing for a shift in values.

400
00:43:26,220 --> 00:43:33,320
According to Brady, the foundation strongly believe that, quote, pride of race is at the base of all progress of individuals or groups.

401
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:38,820
And we think that it is important for the Americans of Knicker Origin to have pride for a race.

402
00:43:38,820 --> 00:43:50,550
We believe that this type of approach is constructive and equally useful for all parts of our population.

403
00:43:50,550 --> 00:43:55,530
In order to foster this interracial pride and each of the exhibitions, venues,

404
00:43:55,530 --> 00:43:59,730
the hosting committees or individuals staged a variety of social events intended

405
00:43:59,730 --> 00:44:06,180
to engage audiences and create memorable experiences widely covered in the press.

406
00:44:06,180 --> 00:44:11,820
These events are telling in regards to the language used to describe the objectives of the exhibit.

407
00:44:11,820 --> 00:44:21,150
Headlines such as white and Negro hostesses to greet public art and show huge audiences as to the integration of social etiquette,

408
00:44:21,150 --> 00:44:26,640
then informed the securing of the exhibition and organising events which purportedly, quote,

409
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:31,770
different at which purportedly different, quote, differences of colour were forgotten.

410
00:44:31,770 --> 00:44:40,680
As members of the two groups mingled socially chatting over fruitcake and tea or viewing the paintings together and.

411
00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:47,410
The reported mingling was accompanied by photographs of two members of the Milwaukee Interracial Federation,

412
00:44:47,410 --> 00:44:52,900
a black woman and a white man who posed next to the portrait of Dr. John Andrew Kenny,

413
00:44:52,900 --> 00:44:56,740
a theme surgeon who co-founded the National Medical Association.

414
00:44:56,740 --> 00:45:02,980
Readers could admire their admiration of the portrait as well as their proper interracial decorum.

415
00:45:02,980 --> 00:45:11,890
Teacups and all. The very premise of the exhibition was to use the achievements of the extraordinary to effect the social status of the ordinary,

416
00:45:11,890 --> 00:45:18,580
which, as we have seen with a central component of the etiquette text and illustrations that were exam within your lectures.

417
00:45:18,580 --> 00:45:28,720
Yet the image is incorrectly captioned as it identifies the portrait as being of another famed scientist, George Washington Carver,

418
00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:30,540
demonstrating that the editor,

419
00:45:30,540 --> 00:45:40,390
the photographer and anyone else who was looking was suffering the blindness of Caucasian eye as it asserted itself again.

420
00:45:40,390 --> 00:45:47,410
The egregiousness of the era as if one African-American scientist could be swapped out for another is further amplified,

421
00:45:47,410 --> 00:45:54,520
as the reporter noted that, quote, President Truman proclaimed Saturday as George Washington Carver Day, quote,

422
00:45:54,520 --> 00:46:03,490
The mistake indicates the extent to which the racist disregard informed US national consciousness working within such systemic discrimination.

423
00:46:03,490 --> 00:46:07,030
The Harmons attempts to educate the public were inherently fraught,

424
00:46:07,030 --> 00:46:12,040
making it difficult to definitely assess the impact of the exhibition and its programming.

425
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:16,000
Yet there are some archival records that support the foundation's assertion that the

426
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:22,000
exhibition increased the public's awareness for the need to address racial injustice.

427
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:27,520
The foundation carefully tracked reviews of the exhibition as similarly massive scrapbooks that

428
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:33,940
served to document its possible popularity and the realisation of its integration's objectives,

429
00:46:33,940 --> 00:46:38,780
largely consisting of laudatory clippings from newspapers from around the U.S.

430
00:46:38,780 --> 00:46:46,120
The scrapbooks testified to the foundation's justifications of resources required to generate this transformative experience.

431
00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:52,720
For example, in one media interview, an African-American teacher relates that he brought his students to the exhibition to ensure

432
00:46:52,720 --> 00:46:59,310
that they realised that there had been contributions by Negro people to American culture.

433
00:46:59,310 --> 00:47:06,250
That his words and thereby countering his own experience as a boy, are believing that all the leaders were white.

434
00:47:06,250 --> 00:47:12,040
When the exhibition debuted at the San Francisco Palace of Honour under the sponsorship of Until ACP,

435
00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:19,870
the local African-American press proclaimed the portraits, quote, will fill you with pride that you were able to claim racial heritage with these

436
00:47:19,870 --> 00:47:23,780
men and women who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of art,

437
00:47:23,780 --> 00:47:29,950
science, education and government. Other journalists reported that the exhibition expose, quote,

438
00:47:29,950 --> 00:47:35,920
the conspiracy of silence by the white press regarding the achievements of Negroes in seeing the

439
00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:41,830
beautiful portraits and reading the biographies proved to be overwhelming and an inspiring experience.

440
00:47:41,830 --> 00:47:47,020
And many specifically called out the impact of the exhibition would have on children pronouncing,

441
00:47:47,020 --> 00:47:52,960
quote, it will stimulate them to greater accomplishment to the end of their days.

442
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:59,200
Amongst the most significant people to access the exhibition was lawyer Charles H.

443
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:06,190
Houston, who was critical in laying the legal groundwork that led the Supreme Court to outlaw segregation in public schools.

444
00:48:06,190 --> 00:48:09,880
Writing to support the continued exhibition of the portraits, Houston observed,

445
00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:15,490
quote, its value encountering the Negro stereotypes which motion picture industry,

446
00:48:15,490 --> 00:48:22,600
comic publications and public school textbooks have imposed upon America can not be overestimated.

447
00:48:22,600 --> 00:48:27,250
These stereotypes have given America and the world a completely unrealistic,

448
00:48:27,250 --> 00:48:38,620
integrated estimate estimate of Negroes which totally unfit the white people affected from dealing with Negroes on an intelligent basis in Houston,

449
00:48:38,620 --> 00:48:42,160
noted the profound impact of the exhibition, stating, quote,

450
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:51,430
I can think of no better way to advocate tolerance and understanding and promote goodwill and to ensure accessibility of the portraits.

451
00:48:51,430 --> 00:48:56,800
Beyond the constraints of time and place, the hiring foundation created numerous ancillary materials,

452
00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:01,570
including sets of photographic copies of 23 of the portraits.

453
00:49:01,570 --> 00:49:08,140
The advertising leave the position these portfolios as, quote, something new in art and interracial understanding,

454
00:49:08,140 --> 00:49:14,920
quote, and recommended that they would be of use for libraries, clubs, schools, colleges, churches and individuals.

455
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:19,060
Further, the leaflet suggested that they could be used for, quote,

456
00:49:19,060 --> 00:49:25,690
programmes on race and unequal achee and achievement and as well as de corps for your home.

457
00:49:25,690 --> 00:49:33,850
End quote. The copies of the portraits ensured the continual community engagement sought by the Home and Foundation in under Brady's guidance.

458
00:49:33,850 --> 00:49:39,400
The foundation followed the teachings of John Dewey, looking for art to personally affect one's life,

459
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:44,560
seeking to move beyond the expectation of art as, quote, simply a picture to hang on the wall.

460
00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:53,700
Pieces of sculpture are something to look at. Apart from life, she advocated that art be away in the call of life.

461
00:49:53,700 --> 00:49:57,340
Amongst the many programmes that were generated to ensure the broadest audience

462
00:49:57,340 --> 00:50:03,220
engagement cutlery exhibitions that featured the portfolio of reproductions.

463
00:50:03,220 --> 00:50:08,620
The Cleveland Public Library, for example, displayed black and white photographs of the portraits,

464
00:50:08,620 --> 00:50:16,630
along with books by and about the subjects of the portraits. Media coverage of the exhibition noted the impact of these efforts as viewers appreciated

465
00:50:16,630 --> 00:50:21,100
the accessibility of such displays and could adopt similar formats for their own schools,

466
00:50:21,100 --> 00:50:29,560
churches and so on. The report for the End Tbilisi Police Crisis magazine saw them as a more enduring means of effecting change,

467
00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:35,730
where as, quote, the portraits in all their glory of colour and vitality would only be there for a little while.

468
00:50:35,730 --> 00:50:43,310
And amongst the books included in this display was Alan then Marks Germinal Anthology, The New Negro.

469
00:50:43,310 --> 00:50:49,900
And as noted by the reviewer, interventions such as this Friday, continuous and immediate charge to recognise, quote,

470
00:50:49,900 --> 00:50:58,750
the beauty of human dignity and worth that common good may be found for all men, no matter what their race or creed, unquote.

471
00:50:58,750 --> 00:51:04,330
Each form of reproduction removed varies from the experience of the unique characteristics of the paintings,

472
00:51:04,330 --> 00:51:08,500
altering their impact in terms of scale, colour and material.

473
00:51:08,500 --> 00:51:11,230
Yet despite losing aspects of the physical aura,

474
00:51:11,230 --> 00:51:17,530
the resulting images increase the potential for the dialectical process of value for Musha transformation.

475
00:51:17,530 --> 00:51:21,020
In short, the portraits increased circulation and shared a network of.

476
00:51:21,020 --> 00:51:25,520
Resources sought after by organisations and individuals who believed in the portrait's

477
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:30,550
ability to educate and effect social change within the foundation's archives.

478
00:51:30,550 --> 00:51:37,880
There are numerous requests from a broad range of institutions and persons seeking materials and advice on how to best case,

479
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:42,140
engage in interracial and intercultural work.

480
00:51:42,140 --> 00:51:50,720
A librarian from Wesley College, the director of California County Schools and a minister from St. Paul's Methodist Church and BOA's,

481
00:51:50,720 --> 00:51:54,170
Alabama, are amongst those who contacted the foundation.

482
00:51:54,170 --> 00:52:02,420
Throughout the exhibition's tenure, many great school teachers wrote the foundation, seeking curriculum materials to create units such as neighbours,

483
00:52:02,420 --> 00:52:08,870
all that sought to integrate cultural pluralism into student's understanding of American national identity.

484
00:52:08,870 --> 00:52:16,820
Each request received a lengthy response, some complimentary materials and brochures on additional resources available for a nominal fee.

485
00:52:16,820 --> 00:52:24,830
Beyond the reviews of the exhibition, these requests testified to the impact of the portraits into their role that for the better or worse,

486
00:52:24,830 --> 00:52:32,180
the Harmony Foundation played in generating the art historian Mary Kalo calls an overt cultural racialism.

487
00:52:32,180 --> 00:52:36,260
In order to generate community engagement and social exchange around the portraits,

488
00:52:36,260 --> 00:52:44,390
the Hohmann Foundation relied upon the artist travel with the exhibition, offering tours and speaking on Starner accomplishments of the sitters.

489
00:52:44,390 --> 00:52:52,550
Because of her responsibilities as the director of the Art Department at Cheyney University and then later illness and death in 1948,

490
00:52:52,550 --> 00:53:01,320
Laura we're wearing was unable to travel with the exhibition. This necessitated the hiring of another African-American spokesperson,

491
00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:05,370
Bella Taylor McKnight, the executive secretary of the Cleveland branch of the end.

492
00:53:05,370 --> 00:53:14,700
WCP was tasked with, quote, promoting this exhibit as a springboard for a broad range of community adjustment along interracial lines.

493
00:53:14,700 --> 00:53:24,800
Quote, in her letter of introduction, Formic, Brady Brady's stretched the objectives of the exhibition to position the portraits as, quote,

494
00:53:24,800 --> 00:53:27,980
showing the country what we meant by achievement, dignity,

495
00:53:27,980 --> 00:53:34,610
intellectual calibre and all the fine qualities we desire in high grade American leadership.

496
00:53:34,610 --> 00:53:36,920
For Brady, McKnight's racial identity,

497
00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:43,430
institutional affiliation and cultural capital could facilitate the kind of what she called community adjustment

498
00:53:43,430 --> 00:53:49,730
required to recognise the Americans who in fact were leading the nation under McKnight's stewardship.

499
00:53:49,730 --> 00:53:53,960
The exhibition continued to travel, and its programme evolved and expanded.

500
00:53:53,960 --> 00:54:02,000
Referring to herself as the exhibition's field representative, McKnight booked the exhibition, gave gallery talks and provided educational materials.

501
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:11,120
One of her first acts was to synthesise contemporary interracial literature into a coherent press release that could be shared with potential venues.

502
00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:17,990
McKnight retained many of the sources that she consulted, including an interracial primer written by Bayard Rustin,

503
00:54:17,990 --> 00:54:22,310
who organised the 1941 March on Washington with Labour organiser A.

504
00:54:22,310 --> 00:54:32,600
Philip Randolph, published in 1943. The Interracial Primer How You Can Help Relieve Tension Between Negroes and Whites provides insight as to the

505
00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:39,230
perspectives that influenced and inspired with night's work focussing on abolishing racism and segregation.

506
00:54:39,230 --> 00:54:46,430
Reston addresses a white audience providing a wide range of recommendations on organising boycotts,

507
00:54:46,430 --> 00:54:50,660
improving education, increasing employment and housing opportunities.

508
00:54:50,660 --> 00:55:00,950
He also advises that concerned citizens could present local schools with quotes and pictures of outstanding American Negroes in court and

509
00:55:00,950 --> 00:55:08,510
ensure that they are included in the corridors and classrooms where portraits of contributors to American cultures would be typically found.

510
00:55:08,510 --> 00:55:13,010
The recommendation is accompanied by an illustration that depicts two little girls,

511
00:55:13,010 --> 00:55:18,290
one white and one black holding hands and regarding portraits of African-Americans,

512
00:55:18,290 --> 00:55:25,490
a suggestive foreshadowing of the staging that would become portraits of outstanding Americans of Negro origin.

513
00:55:25,490 --> 00:55:32,010
Perhaps, though, the most telling response to ignite efforts comes in the form of testimonials from white students.

514
00:55:32,010 --> 00:55:37,760
Develop this high school where McKnight addressed a packed auditorium as part of an outreach programming.

515
00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:43,550
While the exhibition was on display at the Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio.

516
00:55:43,550 --> 00:55:48,950
Their comments, when coupled with the media coverage that emphasised her charm and social grace,

517
00:55:48,950 --> 00:55:57,710
make it apparent that ignites presence itself was critical to the engagement with the exhibition as she was perceived as its living embodiment.

518
00:55:57,710 --> 00:56:02,090
One student wrote that the knight herself was an exemplar, appreciating, quote,

519
00:56:02,090 --> 00:56:07,260
that she got across the great things the Negro race has accomplished for the good of our country.

520
00:56:07,260 --> 00:56:12,140
Quote, The student goes on to assess McKnight's performance, noting that, quote,

521
00:56:12,140 --> 00:56:18,310
She had good poise and she was dressed, stylish, and hence she could talk and keep you interested.

522
00:56:18,310 --> 00:56:25,100
And though the students tone remains respectful, perhaps maybe even admiring her evaluative gaze,

523
00:56:25,100 --> 00:56:33,320
Rhee Centre's whiteness as the arbiter to whom civil rights should or should not be extended.

524
00:56:33,320 --> 00:56:40,130
Several other students expressed that their generation would fight against the injustice of segregation.

525
00:56:40,130 --> 00:56:45,680
As McKnight not only pointed out, the failure of the United States to realise the promise of democracy,

526
00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:53,390
but also the inequities that African-Americans face in healthcare and in education.

527
00:56:53,390 --> 00:57:00,560
Even though there is no doubt through McKnight's efforts, the exhibition became a socially and historically connecting experience.

528
00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:03,980
There's much more that I would like to say and consider about these portraits.

529
00:57:03,980 --> 00:57:12,300
But in the interest of time, I need to conclude and I want to leave you with a provocative comparison.

530
00:57:12,300 --> 00:57:21,750
On the left, you have a staged press photo of Reno with a racially mixed group of schoolchildren regarding the portrait of Jeanne Matilda Bolden,

531
00:57:21,750 --> 00:57:28,320
who became the first black woman to be appointed a judgeship in the domestic relations court of a New York City.

532
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:36,660
At the left. At the right. You have Ben Hines now viral photograph of Parker Currie regarding the portrait of Michelle Lavone Robinson.

533
00:57:36,660 --> 00:57:41,490
Obama, the first black woman to become first lady.

534
00:57:41,490 --> 00:57:46,580
At the beginning, this lecture, I referred to Mrs. Obama's insistence on future reality,

535
00:57:46,580 --> 00:57:52,140
the awareness of interconnectivity and the possibility of the portrait to inspire.

536
00:57:52,140 --> 00:57:58,380
Though the comparison is by no means parallel, both images speak to the power of portraiture,

537
00:57:58,380 --> 00:58:04,140
its impact on her youth and the urgency to affect change.

538
00:58:04,140 --> 00:58:18,780
Thank you so very much for listening. I look forward to your questions and I would now like to invite Professor Jeff buckin to enjoin join.

539
00:58:18,780 --> 00:58:24,080
Thank you so much, Amy. I have to say that listening to today's lecture.

540
00:58:24,080 --> 00:58:26,390
But the last the whole four of elections,

541
00:58:26,390 --> 00:58:37,430
that's kind of refreshing to see you addressing directly the relationship of race and portraiture at a time when this issue is, of course,

542
00:58:37,430 --> 00:58:43,340
at the forefront of world debates, a kind of reminder that art history and the kind of skills that art historians

543
00:58:43,340 --> 00:58:48,230
develop actually do have interesting and useful things to offer to society at large.

544
00:58:48,230 --> 00:58:55,340
So thank you. If nothing else, for that reminder. A few interesting questions, Amy.

545
00:58:55,340 --> 00:59:02,870
Just on this lecture, somebody is asked, how exactly would these portraits commissioned?

546
00:59:02,870 --> 00:59:09,500
How were the painters chosen? How were the subjects chosen? And how were the two matched up?

547
00:59:09,500 --> 00:59:15,320
So there are a couple circumstances that occurred for this to take place, first and foremost.

548
00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:23,150
We'll start with Laura, where they're wearing. She actually was already recognised by the Harman Foundation and had been awarded for some of her work.

549
00:59:23,150 --> 00:59:32,450
The Harman Foundation in the 30s had annual exhibitions and they gave out annual prises and you could get a gold medal and a financial contribution.

550
00:59:32,450 --> 00:59:38,570
So the Harvard Foundation was already aware of the portraiture and the work that Waring was creating.

551
00:59:38,570 --> 00:59:46,550
And she seemed like a natural fit. She was really interested in doing portraits of her contemporaries and then also with her teaching possibilities.

552
00:59:46,550 --> 00:59:52,790
There was, you know, a lot of activity that I think the foundation found very attractive in the work for Betty Gates.

553
00:59:52,790 --> 01:00:00,260
You know, she was recruited. She actually was to working as a portraitist and she meets Brady.

554
01:00:00,260 --> 01:00:06,860
And then the two of them connect and they wanted to deliberately bring together a white woman and an African-American woman.

555
01:00:06,860 --> 01:00:13,650
So this idea that they were going to go back and forth between the two of them was really important to the idea.

556
01:00:13,650 --> 01:00:15,470
As they said in the lecture,

557
01:00:15,470 --> 01:00:24,410
the commissions were selected by Brady and Lock and drawn from either the awards that the Harmon Foundation had already recognised for

558
01:00:24,410 --> 01:00:34,000
people who have contributed or from some of the other associations that likewise were devoted to achieving civil rights like the NWC Kate.

559
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:41,010
And were the subjects reimbursed for their time or did they volunteer their time, so to speak, their bodies?

560
01:00:41,010 --> 01:00:48,310
Their subjects were not reimbursed. They definitely were giving themselves over in terms of their likeness in the letters of exchange.

561
01:00:48,310 --> 01:00:55,810
When, again, the commissions are being set up. There is a kind of language discussion of taking pride in.

562
01:00:55,810 --> 01:01:01,120
Likewise, it will be an honour and in your portrait will travel.

563
01:01:01,120 --> 01:01:07,930
And for the most part, too, it should be known that both Reno and Waring worked from photographs.

564
01:01:07,930 --> 01:01:11,140
So in the book I do some comparisons between what you saw.

565
01:01:11,140 --> 01:01:20,060
It was done a few occasions where there were live settings, but for the most part, the requests did not demand too much from the singer's time.

566
01:01:20,060 --> 01:01:26,090
And did anybody declined to be painted? I'm not sure that's a really interesting.

567
01:01:26,090 --> 01:01:30,010
I have not come across that in any of the correspondence.

568
01:01:30,010 --> 01:01:34,780
It's quite, quite copious. So that would be an interesting question.

569
01:01:34,780 --> 01:01:39,610
I was wondering if there was any evidence of response from the suitors themselves.

570
01:01:39,610 --> 01:01:43,390
I mean, you gave us a bit of a sense of Locke's position on portraiture in general,

571
01:01:43,390 --> 01:01:48,370
but do we have any direct evidence that they liked or dislike the way they were portrayed?

572
01:01:48,370 --> 01:01:53,720
There is one example actually comes from Marian Anderson, the opera singer.

573
01:01:53,720 --> 01:02:00,820
She's not like Laura, where Waring's portrayal of her and insisted that Betty Grace, you know, do a different version of her portrayal.

574
01:02:00,820 --> 01:02:07,300
So and that's actually at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, because a few examples are from Waring's work.

575
01:02:07,300 --> 01:02:11,820
I wanted to make sure that I used her work. And I also find it very evocative.

576
01:02:11,820 --> 01:02:17,110
And I mean, you showed us a selection, but quite how many portraits were there and in all.

577
01:02:17,110 --> 01:02:20,920
So things get a little bit unclear at a certain point.

578
01:02:20,920 --> 01:02:28,660
Overall, I think that I've counted about 54 portraits were created under the auspices of this exhibition.

579
01:02:28,660 --> 01:02:34,810
Some of them, however, were actually then purchased from different organisations.

580
01:02:34,810 --> 01:02:43,720
The artist also made a couple copies of them. So there are definitely some kind of ships that are part of this exhibitions history.

581
01:02:43,720 --> 01:02:49,360
I mean, I was just wondering, because, I mean, you mentioned Marian Anderson, that Louis Armstrong, Paul Robeson.

582
01:02:49,360 --> 01:02:53,320
I mean, what are notable figures not included for one reason or another.

583
01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:55,240
Right. So Paul Robeson was included.

584
01:02:55,240 --> 01:03:02,980
But for the most part, you'll see that the subjects that were selected were not really largely coming from the arts.

585
01:03:02,980 --> 01:03:11,500
And again, I think we get into that question of respectability politics, that if those that were coming from education, from government policies,

586
01:03:11,500 --> 01:03:21,300
those that were seen as, you know, very politically active, were more that the preferred subjects for for this exhibition.

587
01:03:21,300 --> 01:03:29,590
And did you yourself regard any one of these portraits as more accomplished, more notable, more effective than others in the book?

588
01:03:29,590 --> 01:03:35,590
I spent a lot of time with Laura Wheeler Waring's piece that she did on James Weldon Johnson,

589
01:03:35,590 --> 01:03:41,540
especially the very evocative background that she painted there and making reference to some of his writings.

590
01:03:41,540 --> 01:03:50,720
I think it's really quite a moving in interesting way to approach that question between the exterior and interior ourselves.

591
01:03:50,720 --> 01:04:01,900
Yeah. Now, I'm interested in how this lecture opens up into the others question of portraiture as a kind of vehicle or aid or a vehicle,

592
01:04:01,900 --> 01:04:08,290
an agent for social change. Do you consider this exhibition to have been successful in that regard,

593
01:04:08,290 --> 01:04:14,210
or is there any evidence in the record of the people who organised it, thinking of it as being successful,

594
01:04:14,210 --> 01:04:20,020
given that we're talking about a period in which African-Americans basically had no civil rights and

595
01:04:20,020 --> 01:04:27,260
still didn't get them for perhaps another 20 years or so with the passing of Brown versus Board in 1954?

596
01:04:27,260 --> 01:04:35,350
The Hybrid Foundation declared that the exhibition had, in fact been successful and Newling no longer needed to tour.

597
01:04:35,350 --> 01:04:45,370
And so they brought the paintings back and put them in storage where they stayed until the foundation closed down in the early 1960s.

598
01:04:45,370 --> 01:04:51,530
The portraits then were offered up to the newly founded National Portrait Gallery.

599
01:04:51,530 --> 01:04:57,310
And there was some debate as to whether they would be accepted or not. Some of their works are people found really compelling.

600
01:04:57,310 --> 01:05:02,920
Others, they felt, were more sociological in nature and not really commendable.

601
01:05:02,920 --> 01:05:10,630
So this in itself is quite telling as to that question of who was seen as a

602
01:05:10,630 --> 01:05:15,580
proper subject and especially to be venerated in this newly established museum.

603
01:05:15,580 --> 01:05:22,930
That was really focussed on collecting images of people who had already died and who had given,

604
01:05:22,930 --> 01:05:30,790
in some people's mind over themselves over to the pursuit of democracy.

605
01:05:30,790 --> 01:05:39,040
So it's a telling moment, to say the least, when I think about these portraits in regards to the arc of the book.

606
01:05:39,040 --> 01:05:48,060
One of the things that I am constantly trying to work through and to think about the kind of advocacy of portraiture is how we are taught to look,

607
01:05:48,060 --> 01:05:56,800
you know, and how that inculcation comes to us, how our values are shifted and how they can be impacted by a work of art.

608
01:05:56,800 --> 01:06:00,400
And I would like to think that if you have a memorable experience,

609
01:06:00,400 --> 01:06:05,620
something that is shared and confirmed, not just once, but again and again and again,

610
01:06:05,620 --> 01:06:14,230
it does have an impact on how you think or how you look at yourself and others and what your expectations are that looking could be.

611
01:06:14,230 --> 01:06:22,540
I see this especially in regards to contemporary artists and how they are using the portrait to kind of effect this change.

612
01:06:22,540 --> 01:06:27,040
Not only can do Whiley, obviously, but an image child.

613
01:06:27,040 --> 01:06:32,270
But I'm also thinking about, you know, my colleague who has long worked at this downward bay.

614
01:06:32,270 --> 01:06:39,700
I think about the efficacy of Carry Me wins titles for Kerry, James Marshall McLuhan, Thomas.

615
01:06:39,700 --> 01:06:45,430
There's just a tremendous amount of individuals who are trying to use this figurative language to,

616
01:06:45,430 --> 01:06:52,120
again, rethink representation around the ideas of race and identity and gender sexuality.

617
01:06:52,120 --> 01:06:57,910
I think it's really has a charge to it. I mean, it's interesting to hear you talk about that,

618
01:06:57,910 --> 01:07:07,330
because one of the tensions that I was sort of aware of during the talk was this dynamic between,

619
01:07:07,330 --> 01:07:09,550
I don't know what you call it, conformism,

620
01:07:09,550 --> 01:07:19,360
integration ism and avant garde or contestation between black subjects being encouraged even by their own leaders,

621
01:07:19,360 --> 01:07:26,410
to conform to abortion proper boards, while a respectable portrait conventions and then framing the lectures with, say,

622
01:07:26,410 --> 01:07:34,240
wireless portrait of Barack Obama, which, you know, I mean that as an artist notoriously considered to have an African-American aesthetic.

623
01:07:34,240 --> 01:07:37,270
And within the tradition of presidential portraiture,

624
01:07:37,270 --> 01:07:43,100
that portrait contests that tradition by providing are quite different, not just in the sense that.

625
01:07:43,100 --> 01:07:47,240
The subject is black. But even the way it's painted is quite distinctive.

626
01:07:47,240 --> 01:07:51,710
I mean, do you see that tension yourself between what's called conformity and contestation?

627
01:07:51,710 --> 01:07:55,400
Is that the choice that African-Americans have to face?

628
01:07:55,400 --> 01:08:01,340
I think that there's a tension of aesthetic that was quite purposeful in regards to Brady and Locks thinking.

629
01:08:01,340 --> 01:08:06,410
So if they wanted to have this, like, revolutionary radical shift in people's thinking,

630
01:08:06,410 --> 01:08:10,490
they wanted to use a language that people were already familiar with.

631
01:08:10,490 --> 01:08:14,120
And it's not so much that the subjects were trying to conform to it.

632
01:08:14,120 --> 01:08:21,500
Instead of I think about it the other way, think about it as the audience member who never before has considered black subject hood.

633
01:08:21,500 --> 01:08:25,970
And now here it is right in front of you. And so how do you conceive this?

634
01:08:25,970 --> 01:08:33,110
And instead, if your daily diet of visual imagery of African-Americans is based on stereotype, a character.

635
01:08:33,110 --> 01:08:40,690
That's how you see things normally. So this was actually a very different radical gays to utilise that kind of visual language.

636
01:08:40,690 --> 01:08:45,050
And if we think about why work as well, remember, he's still using that language.

637
01:08:45,050 --> 01:08:52,190
I mean, definitely, obviously, he collapsed and and ground. He's got so many internal dynamic innovations, as does Amy Sherrod,

638
01:08:52,190 --> 01:08:59,120
especially in terms of her use of the Garci and flattening against the figure as well in terms of space.

639
01:08:59,120 --> 01:09:04,580
But I think that, again, both of them are working on the conventions of portraiture,

640
01:09:04,580 --> 01:09:10,800
the presentation of a presence that then we as viewers enter into negotiation with.

641
01:09:10,800 --> 01:09:15,650
And I think that that's what kind of is the tie that binds throughout the book.

642
01:09:15,650 --> 01:09:19,200
I'm not just looking at what people would traditionally consider to be a portrait.

643
01:09:19,200 --> 01:09:23,720
Right. We spent a lot of time on visual culture, primers, illustrations and the like.

644
01:09:23,720 --> 01:09:33,900
And what I'm trying to get to is that these are all part of a larger scheme of looking and inform how we evaluate ourselves and others.

645
01:09:33,900 --> 01:09:40,580
And it's this evaluative part that I hope that we can effect some change.

646
01:09:40,580 --> 01:09:46,730
I've had a number of questions sent in. Amy, about the philosophy of Alain Locke.

647
01:09:46,730 --> 01:09:51,530
But maybe we could sum it up. What do you think he would have made of while his portrait of Barack Obama?

648
01:09:51,530 --> 01:09:59,420
I think he would have loved it, by all means. I mean, definitely, as Jeffrey Stewart and many others have shared with us.

649
01:09:59,420 --> 01:10:03,230
Locke loved all kinds of patterns and innovations.

650
01:10:03,230 --> 01:10:10,820
He was quite a dandy himself. And so I think he would really love not only obviously having an African-American president,

651
01:10:10,820 --> 01:10:17,420
but I think the commanding presence and also the intricacy of the design patterns, beauty.

652
01:10:17,420 --> 01:10:25,320
I think all of that would really be inspiring to him. Now, Amy, what about the future for you?

653
01:10:25,320 --> 01:10:33,900
I guess a couple of questions. What the lectures have been sort of tracing a span from the 80s and 90s up into the 1950s.

654
01:10:33,900 --> 01:10:38,760
Is the book in the book? Will you be going up to the near present as well?

655
01:10:38,760 --> 01:10:44,310
And then perhaps your time at Oxford, which I know has been somewhat constrained by current circumstances.

656
01:10:44,310 --> 01:10:52,320
But has that shaped your research or the way you're thinking about your research in any particular way in terms of the book?

657
01:10:52,320 --> 01:10:57,780
I've got a couple options. You have to rewrite my introduction. Which one is always off to do it?

658
01:10:57,780 --> 01:11:04,060
Because when you propose the book tunes and takes different. You're right.

659
01:11:04,060 --> 01:11:09,520
Last I find. Exactly. So, you know, for the proposal, I needed to get it out there first.

660
01:11:09,520 --> 01:11:14,860
I need to rewrite that. And very likely I might want to frame it within this contemporary moment.

661
01:11:14,860 --> 01:11:19,000
We don't know that I would necessarily use the Obama portraits for that.

662
01:11:19,000 --> 01:11:27,190
This worked for this lecture context, but I would definitely want to give some thought to how to bring it into a discourse around our

663
01:11:27,190 --> 01:11:32,500
contemporary selves and have the value of the past to be reflective in the work that we need to do.

664
01:11:32,500 --> 01:11:39,180
Now in regards to being here. Oxford. It really just afforded the chance to dig in intellectually.

665
01:11:39,180 --> 01:11:45,940
There was such a pleasure to be able to teach a course that was exclusively focussed on portraiture of Mark with a series

666
01:11:45,940 --> 01:11:53,900
of graduate students who were quite critical and keen to consider these same issues about representation and identity.

667
01:11:53,900 --> 01:11:59,400
Right. Well, I'm hoping we will leave a mark on you as you have left a mark on us.

668
01:11:59,400 --> 01:12:00,690
We're coming to the end of our time.

669
01:12:00,690 --> 01:12:07,050
So let me just first thank everybody who's been watching and listening and especially those that are sending questions.

670
01:12:07,050 --> 01:12:11,610
I'm sorry we couldn't get to all of them. But I glad we got to at least some of them.

671
01:12:11,610 --> 01:12:18,780
But most importantly, let me thank Amy and Mooney, speaker for today and out for our last four elections.

672
01:12:18,780 --> 01:12:22,170
Amy, it's been an extremely thought provoking series and so timely,

673
01:12:22,170 --> 01:12:28,410
it's sort of uncanny how you have addressed a topic that is so central to contemporary debate.

674
01:12:28,410 --> 01:12:36,270
So thank you so much for leaving thoughts behind you. I think we'll be debating the kind of things you've been presenting for some time to come.

675
01:12:36,270 --> 01:12:42,840
And let me thank also on your behalf and on my behalf or the team at Torch that have made this series possible.

676
01:12:42,840 --> 01:12:48,540
We're very grateful for your assistance. And thank you finally to all the viewers at home for watching.

677
01:12:48,540 --> 01:12:53,130
We look forward to seeing you again when the next terror foundation lectures are presented.

678
01:12:53,130 --> 01:13:20,039
Thank you.