The problem with posting underrepresented artists

My last V. Note proclaimed itself “the first of four posts highlighting black artists with professional careers in both painting and printmaking.” I had done an internet search for black artists, and found a Wiki page with a fantastic list of artists I could research. To narrow down the list, I looked for all the artists who had painting and printmaking listed as their mediums. I thought it’d be interesting to see how the paintings and prints related each other, and I wanted to put focus on black artists. Most of my artist posts celebrate work by white people. I’ve a goal to change that.

I had the best intentions…. then The Thing happened. I say The Thing because there is no perceivable boundary, but there is a Thing. As I searched for fruit, I found dry crumbs. This Thing, it’s a hole, an absence, and for me it acts like a wall.

I wanted to post work by older generations. I am somewhat familiar with a few of the stars of today, I could list the most famous black artists: Jacob Lawrence, Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, and Kehinde Wiley, but who else was out there? I wanted to learn and share about some artists I didn’t yet know about. I also wanted it to be fast and easy, because I’m in a freakin hurry. Spending a day at the library is about as likely for me as going to the moon. I use Google.

In the archives of Google, there weren’t many black artists listed from the 1800’s, I have my ancestors to thank for that. The first sizable group of artists receiving mention were from the mid 1900’s, the generation that is just now getting around to dying. These list holders were the first black people to “make it” as artists. They “made it” enough to be listed on a Wiki page of black artists, at least. If, like in the case of Betty Blayton-Taylor, they had affected the lives of thousands of people and were lucky to have died near a blogger, they received several written memorials that included glowing and detailed illustrations of their personality, professional achievements, and these posts also included beautifully photographed galleries of their work. If they weren’t fortunate enough to die near a blogger, as in the case of Vincent D. Smith, their online legacy ends after a few rows of pixelated images from estate auction listings, and a pinterest post. No writing about their depths of character. The resources easily available on Mr Smith are dry and miniscule compared to the juicy low hanging fruit of his white counterparts. From these dry crumbs, I can’t impress or intrigue you with some text about what he said, I can’t credit him with this or that technique. There are no youtube videos illustrating his philosophy of paint, or the set up of his studio. No GoodReads quotes representing his character. I can’t wow you with six strong high resolution images of his paintings, and compare them with another six images of his prints. I can’t talk about the person or the work, because I don’t know enough about it. If I can’t talk about an artist’s character or their work, then I fear I’m a white artist posting a picture by black artist because it’s February.