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Last Updated: May 30th, 2008 - 11:49:13 |
“Stereotypes versus Humantypes: Images of Blacks in the 19th and 20th Centuries,” an exhibit at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, is an exercise in dichotomy.
Exploring the history of representations of Black people in various forms of media, this show focuses on the ways in which images of Black people, including Black children, were being consumed, from minstrel shows to the marketing of products. The exhibit also leaves room to show how these images, stereoptypical and otherwise, not only targeted people of African descent but also other non-White communities.
The exhibition space is divided into two room. One room, titled “Stereotypes,” has a large range of stereotypical images found in comic strips and posters for minstrel shows. Any photographs are grossly distorted by post-production techniques, such as darkening the Black subjects’ skin and increasing the redness of their lips.
The room on the farther end, titled “Humantypes,” shows more realistic, mainly photographic, images. The images begin with vintage family portraits and extend to more modern images found in magazines advertisements, such as those for Kellogg’s cereal or McDonald’s. In some of these pictures, Black people show genuine affection for each other. This evolution in depiction illustrates how these “humantypes” were not marketable until recently. At the same time, this study shows how commercialized Black images both evolved and remained subtly consistent.
There are places in this exhibit where the division between misguided art and realist art is less clear. For example, there are two advertisements that have no date and seem as if they can be found today, unlike the blatantly racist images such as black person with bulging eyes fixated on a watermelon. One advertisement is a sketch drawing of a realistic-looking Black woman wearing a headscarf and carrying a basket. The woman is looking onto the distance and holds no product in her hands. Underneath this image, there is an advertisement for Santa Catharine Coffee that has a painting of a more abstract-looking purple-shaded black woman holding a coffee package. This woman has a marvelled gazed at the marketed product. Both images are not photographic documents, which might explain why they are found in the “Stereotypes” room but the reasons why they appear to be stereotypes is less clear. These ambivalent displays test our definitions of what makes specifically non-photographic art stereotypical when used for marketing. Moreover, these depictions question the amount of creative room that artists—regardless of race—have when depicting Black people.
After this exhibit, which is curated by Howard Dodson, the chief of the Schomburg, viewers can also go to the first-floor art exhibit entitled “Black Art: Treasures from the Schomburg” which showcase sculptures and paintings from the center’s collection. Deirdre Bibby is the curator for this exhibit that celebrates the tradition of art-marking in the transnational Black community. This exhibit might begin to answer the question of how Black artists who do not use photography—therefore, have a different relationship with realism—mediate with representing and the representations of Blackness.
Both exhibitions are free of charge and are on display until October 28, 2007 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037. Exhibition hours: Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm. Sunday, 1 pm to 5 pm.
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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