Portland observer., March 12, 1981, Page 4, Image 4

Pag* 4 Portland Observer March 12.1981
lacks in western art: A changing image
By Clarissa Mynck
Smithsonian News Service
Part Ona
A 12-century mual at the
Collegiate Church o f San Isidoro in
Leon, Spain, portrays a pious Saint
M artin praying fervently to resist
the temptation of a "dem on.” The
evil spirit is represented as a Black
child.
A sculpture created a century
later for the Cathedral o f Notre
Dame in France depicts a white
Queen o f Sheba standing regally on
the back o f a crouching Black man.
These and other art works o f the
Western world reveal that some of
history’ s most negative images o f
Black people can be found in the
Western European art o f the Middle
Ages. Some historians believe the
negative views of Blacks held in the
medieval Western world and reflec­
ted in the art work o f the time
formed the basis for the racial in­
tolerance of later centuries.
Western artists, however, have
not always painted biased portraits
of Black Africans. In particular, the
art o f ancient Greece and Rome
contains some o f the most positive
and realistic images of Blacks.
The art o f Greece and Rome, ac­
cording to Dr. Frank Snowden, a
professor o f Classics at Howard
U niversity in W ashington, D .C .,
shows that although the people o f
antiquity were not colorblind, "they
never based their judgment of a man
on his skin color.”
Examples of the ways Blacks were
portrayed during a n tiq u ity , the
M iddle Ages and the Renaissance
are featured in a Smithsonian In ­
situation Traveling Exhibition Ser­
vice show based on the photographs
assembled in The Image o f the
Black in Western Art, published by
the Menil Foundation o f Houston,
Texas.
“ This art shows us that many o f
the prejudices o f today were not
held in the early centuries o f the
Western W orld,” Warrne Robbins,
director o f the Sm ithsonian’ s
Museum o f African A rt, says. “ It
shows too that the racial intolerance
that first infested the Western
W orld in medieval times was
primarily the result o f ignorance.”
U nlike the medieval Western
Europeans, the Greeks and Romans
had been in contact with Africans
for hundreds o f years. As early as
the seventh century B.C ., Greek
soldiers encountered Black military
opponents in Egypt and in other
North African countries and as con­
tingents o f armies invading Greece.
These Greek soldiers feared the
m ilita ry strength o f A fric a n
warriors, but that fear did n ’ t turn
into prejudice or racism, Snowden
contends in his book. Blacks in An­
tiquity.
N or, he continues, did the
prejudice and racism found in later
centuries jaundice the eyes o f the
Greco-Roman artists. While visiting
Africa, many Greek and Roman ar­
tists followed the lead o f Egyptian
artists and painted, sculpted and
drew tru e -to -life images o f Black
people.
These artists continued to depict
Blacks in their art when Black
Africans began to migrate to Greece
and Rome as slaves and free persons
from 500 to 400 B.C.
The artists were intrigued by the
challenge to depict accurately the
physical characteristics o f Black
people. To represent the tig h tly
curled hair o f Blacks, for instance,
some sculptors cut diamonds shapes
in relief, others sculpted spiral
cones.
For centuries, Greek and Roman
artists featured images o f Black
members o f the working class and
mythical African characters on terra
cotta pottery; they captured the
images of Black statesmen, scholars
and entertainers in bronze and
marble statues and busts.
But the number o f positive and
SHOP
realistic portrayals o f Blacks dwin­
S m ithson
News Service P hoto CQuHesy of
dled in the Middle Ages as racial in­
Memi FouncJa’ >n Htchey & R obertson H ouston
tolerance spread through the
Western W orld. According to
In the 13th c e n tu ry , S t. M a u ric e , th e p a tro n s a in t o f th e H o ly
historians, this prejudice against
R om an E m pire, sud d enly b ecam e B lack a fte r c e n tu rie s o f being
BRANDS
Blacks developed prim arily for two
d e p ic te d as a w h ite m an . This s an d sto n e s ta tu e , c a rv e d a ro u n d
V A RICTUS you lik e
reasons.
1250 A D , was probably one of the first im ages of the Black saint.
S IIK S you w o o l
First, in the Christian teachings of
German artists continued to depict St. M aurice as a BLack man until
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medieval Europe, the color Black
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• u<4 a N.l. Mamack
the 16th century.
• i l i « 4 • m . i o r i t a a
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symbolized evil. “ From the sim ­
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• ■«talpfc M ill, a ia s a
a l a k a O a w a *a W • *-*•
plistic but readily accepted idea that
• 1 ( 1 4 4 aa I I M a ta la a
a K la « City
Black is the sign o f death and
and merchants believed that Black
the
Holy
Roman
Empire,
suddenly
therefore sin, it was easy to go on to
people were the personification o f
became Black after centuries o f
the more dangerous idea that the
evil.
being depicted as a white man.
man whose color was Black was a
Some medieval European artists
End Part One.
menace, a temptation, a creature o f
then projected this fear in their art,
the D evil,” French historian Jean
stereotyping Blacks as servants, in ­
Devisse explains in The Image o f the
fidels, demonds and executioners.
Black in Western Art.
An eighth-century Roman fresco
Second, until the 15th century,
that shows Christ trampling a dark
Western Europeans rarely came in
figure as he descends into lim bo is
contact with Black Africans whom
one o f the earliest portrayals o f a
they nevertheless feared. A ll they
Black demon. And a 13 century
knew were the stories and rumors
sculpture over a portal o f the
'377
about Blacks they had heard from
Cathedral o f Notre Dame in Paris is
disgruntled soldiers who fought
just one o f many art works depic­
against Black Africans among the
E
X
O
D
U
S
ting the Black as executioner.
Muslim troops during the Crusades
A lthough positive images o f
and from traveling merchants who
Blacks became scarce in medieval
¿C iTucaTicno/ a r u / e n / e e
occasionally glimpsed Blacks during
Europe, they did not, however,
their journeys. Because o f their
become extinct. The people o f the
1639 N.E. Alberta
religious teachings, these soldiers
Mediterranean countries, who had
PORTLAND. OREGON 97211
more contact with Black Africans
294 7997
than their northern contemporaries,
were the firs t to o ffe r Blacks a
chance to im prove their cu ltu ra l
standing - and their image.
‘ ‘ Black people were allowed to
move upward in society on two con­
ditions. They had to become con­
verts to one o f the m onotheistic
Bv Tom Boothe
religions, and they had to get rich or
demonstrate some a bility entitling
them to upward m ovem ent,”
From the Front Door, as you may know, The House of Exodus was awarded a $50,000.00
Devisse writes.
grant
to develop a Youth Alcohol and Drug Prevention Program. This award was made back
Positive portraits o f Blacks did
in November through the North/Northeast Mental Health Project.
appear in Western Europe later. In
the 13th-century, fo r example,
The House of Exodus is happy to report that the first quarter review was extrem ely
Saint Maurice, the patron saint o f
favorable, which motivates us to do even better next quarter.
l _
K c
IE
lENOW'S
From the Front Door
Spears teaches
music class
This vase detail of an Ethiopian w arrior was created by the Greek
artist Exekian betw een 550 and 525 B.C. Greek a rtists, inspired by
E g yp tian a rtis ts , o fte n p a in te d im ag es of B lacks on te rra c o tta
pottery
M attie Spears, Northeast P ort­
land resident, w ill o ffe r a class in
Music Reading and Appreciation at
PCC’ s Cascade Center beginning
Tuesday, March 31.
M attie’ s music background was
acquired at the Music Conservatory
at New Orleans’ Xavier University,
and at UCLA in Los Angeles.
For addition al in fo rm a tio n ,
Phone 283-2541, ex. 30.
Wear black ribbons for Black children
(Continued from Page I Col 6)
munity offers any hope o f arresting
the worsening picture fo r Black
c h ild re n ,” states Evelyn M oore,
Executive Director o f the National
Black Child Development Institute.
"W ho, if not us," she asks, " w ill be
responsible for Black children?”
The Coalition For Black Colleges
and the N ational Black C hild
Development Institute point out
that the wearing o f yellow ribbons
successfully reminded Americans of
our patriotic duty to the hostages in
Iran. “ This domestic tragedy is
comparable to if not worse than the
taking o f hostages in Iran and Black
ribbons will remind us o f our moral
obligations to Black children. They
w ill become a profound symbol o f
the tragic deaths and an equally
evocative statement o f our national
so lidarity to protect the defen­
seless," states Tony Brown.
The Black C hildren’ s Campaign
also emphasizes the color Black
because o f its association w ith
m ourning and when tied to the
American flag, it vivid ly reminds
Americans that the na tio n ’ s
morality is endangered. The Atlanta
incident is a tragedy fo r all
Americans.
The Campaign believes that this
simple expression o f moral support
from the country would assist the
families and workers o f Atlanta as
they face the stark terror o f their
situation and let them know that we
share their deep sense o f loss and
anguish.
The Campaign is urging that
Americans in additon to wearing a
ribbon: volunteer to serve as an area
coordinator; inform as many people
as you can by passing out fliers in
your com m unity; call your radio
and television stations urging them
to publicize the Campaign and give
appropriate news coverage to the
A tlanta situ a tio n ; endorse and
solicit endorsements for the Black
Children’ s Campaign.
For more in fo rm a tio n w rite:
Black Children, 1463 Rhode Island
Avenue, N.W ., Washington. D.C.,
20005
As you know Exodus is a comprehensive, innovative and aggressive treatment center, and is
a driving force in the Black community and is meeting the challenge of treating our com­
munity citizens from (5) years of age, to over (701 years of age; and is providing positive sup
port through a dedicated professional staff
Exodus's latest development is it's New Youth Mental Health Offensive, which is a paiTof
the Exodus Youth Prevention Department. To accommodate this new undertaking, we have
moved to our new facilities, which is the entire block on the Northside of Alberta street
between 16th and 17th. The address is 1639 N.E. Alberta
We are proud of the support the community is giving Exodus, not the people you m ight
expect, but the quiet citizens w hom you w ould least expect to be concerned about
the quality of their neighbors life. (By the way these citizens are absolutely non solicited
volunteers), who came and asked "how can I help?" Some gave money, some are giving
their time and expertise and others are coming to participate in groups, and to learn and help
in anyway they can.
Some of these individuals and businesses have asked me not to glorify them, by mentioning
and publishing their names, so to not single them out to the public, we here at Exodus want
all of you to know that the clients, and staff, and perhaps the entire community sincerely ap
predates your support.
As I said last week, you can't spend your time or money for a better purpose. Join with the
Exodus Youth Mental Health Offensive, building our community into a better and safer place
to live and raise our children.
Brought to you m » public »ervice by House of Exodus