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Mary Lee Brady, Ph. D.
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Gifted and talented students of African heritage, for at least three generations of births and beliefs after Civil War sought to emulate and imitate the great European masters to breath in and internalize their renaissance that spanned five centuries via wealth, especially gold, often plundered from Africa and the Americas. Many, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of artists, performers and writers of African heritage flocked to Paris, London and Rome as centers of enlightenment and education. What they found and learned about were expressions of virtues and beauty in the eyes of families that patronized the arts. Indeed, art at its very best always requires patrons to encourage and sustain it, and after many decades of trials and trying, most African heritage artists were able to digest that one cannot copy the renaissance of other cultures and claim it as something new for you, ... such as the much mis-pronounced Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem based imitation of life lasted about twenty years, after all was said done, wherein a lot of aspiring artists, writers and entertainers of African heritage imagined they were the vanguard of a Black renaissance albeit most of their patrons, benefactors and beneficiaries were Whites interested in their endeavors. Their great frustration led many to eventually settle and live out their lives in Paris where they felt more appreciated and able to earn a living. Henry Ossawa Tanner son of a Pittsburgh minister was one such young man long before the decades that gave us modern Black art expressions of men and women who looked at themselves for artistic inspiration. The difference between men like Henry Tanner and the modern ones noted on this site is that consumers of African heritage have proven they will buy and patronize when and if the artists and writers are focused on them as objects of beauty, courage and virtue.
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Copyright © 2010 Brady Enterprise Association, Inc. Last modified: 05/12/10 |
