Alain Locke and the Lingering Question of Identity

Portrait of Alain Locke by Betsy Graves Reyneau

B.U. students and faculty members celebrated Harlem Renaissance leader Alain Locke’s birthday on Tuesday evening. Visiting lecturer Jeffrey Stewart spoke to the crowd about Locke’s famous ideas on “Negro Art,” and the lasting ripple effect those ideas generated within the African American art community.

Portrait of Alain Locke by Betsy Graves Reyneau
Portrait of Alain Locke by Betsy Graves Reyneau, via Wikimedia Commons

Locke lived from 1886-1954 and was known for his work as an influential writer and philosopher during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, which was an art movement that took place in America during the 1920’s and 1930’s. He was also a famous promoter and collector of African art.

Stewart, a professor of black studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, interpreted the ideas expressed in Locke’s book Negro Art: Past and Present, as well as the criticism it received.

“[Locke] believed that black artists had an obligation to reveal their identity and history through their art,” Stewart said. “He advocated the black artist represented as a racial subject.”

Stewart stated that this idea was considered an act of violence.

Artist Henry Ossawa Tanner opposed Locke’s use of race to the advantage of art makers. Tanner held the belief that an artist should be seen as an artist, not a Negro artist.  Artist James Porter had similar beliefs on the subject.

The issue of identity led to a split in the artistic community: an artist’s inclusion of identity remains an important stylistic choice to be made today.

Stewart noted contemporary artist, Mark Bradford, as a sort of middle ground between the two camps of African American art: some of his work touches on racial identity while some is completely unrelated.

Scorched Earth (2006) by Mark Bradford, photo by Jon G. at the Chicago MCA, via Flickr Commons
Scorched Earth (2006) by Mark Bradford, photo by Jon G. at the Chicago MCA, via Flickr Commons

Bradford’s work, “Scorched Earth,” is a reference to the torching of an African American neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma in an early attempt at ethnic cleansing.

“Locke’s logic remains sound that, in the end, we already have been made racial subjects,” Stewart said. “We need to accept that fact and figure out what to do next.”

Bradford’s self-titled exhibition, Mark Bradford, will be at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston this November.

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