Race, Paintings, and Narrative

One of the topics I’ve been reading a lot about lately has been the history of painting between the end of abstract expressionism and the revival of painting in the 1980s—a history largely ignored within the narrative of art history. Much of the counter-narrative around painting discusses the space this critical gap left for painters who were not white males to fill—especially for women. The attention drawn to women painters has made me aware of whom attention is not drawn toward—in both our discussions in class and in the articles I have read.

Howardena Pindell is a black female painter who was involved in efforts to raise awareness and gather resources for female artists working in New York City in the 1960s and 70s; however, she criticized her white peers for discounting the impact racism also played in holding artists back. Pindell argues that it is not enough to draw attention to one kind of problem—such as the difficulty women face in the male-dominated art world—but rather that if something else is also problematic, such as race, it must also be attended to.

The readings and discussions on race within the context of our seminar class primarily focused on the black/white dichotomy—given the breadth of the topic of race, this particularly surprised me. Although it draws attention to an aspect of race, it ignores legions of others. Weirdly, our conversation on race perpetuated the historical narrative of race in America by focusing almost solely on black/white dynamics while spending significantly less time discussing other kinds of race identities and relations within the context of art in the same way that the art historical narrative perpetuates an attitude that painting simply did not viably exist in the 70s.

It seems to me that Pindell’s point elides with Walter Benjamin’s in his essay Constellations in Time, regarding historicity and historical narrative—when something about the established narrative sticks out, or does not quite fit, then that is a moment within the narrative that should be troubled, and may reveal elements that have been omitted. In this vein, the simple dichotomy of man/woman, black/white feels troubling—conditions of race, gender, and sexuality do not exist in a vacuum.

Obviously, not all discussions can touch on all things, and certainly not all work. But in the spirit of troubling things, it would be useful to consider Adrian Piper’s performance work, Mythic Being, in which she performs as a racially and sexually ambiguous person, and documents both herself and the reactions of those around her. 

 

Images courtesy of Adrian Piper and Thomas Erben Gallery.