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John Wilson: Witnessing Humanity - by Jennifer Farrell & Leslie King Hammond & Patrick Murphy & Edward Saywell (Hardcover)
About this item
Highlights
- Through paintings, sculptures, drawings and more, John Wilson's work foregrounds the human experience and refuses invisibilityAmerican artist John Wilson was not only a master draftsman, printmaker, painter and sculptor active for over seven decades, but he was also a keen observer and social activist.
- Author(s): Jennifer Farrell & Leslie King Hammond & Patrick Murphy & Edward Saywell
- 224 Pages
- Art, Individual Artists
Description
About the Book
"Through paintings, sculptures, drawings and more, John Wilson's work foregrounds the human experience and refuses invisibility."--Provided by publisher.Book Synopsis
Through paintings, sculptures, drawings and more, John Wilson's work foregrounds the human experience and refuses invisibility
American artist John Wilson was not only a master draftsman, printmaker, painter and sculptor active for over seven decades, but he was also a keen observer and social activist. In his representations of Black Americans in particular, he sought to pay homage to the beauty and truths of ordinary Black people in such a way that all viewers, across race and culture, might see themselves reflected. His multidisciplinary works include unflinching representations of racial violence and war, tender family portraits, monumental bronze heads and landmark commissions such as the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr., which stands in the United States Capitol.
The first major retrospective of the artist's work, Witnessing Humanity sheds light on Wilson's life and artistic evolution. Reproductions of artworks and photographs accompany critical essays and personal reflections, including analyses by art historians, interviews with Wilson's peers, remembrances from fellow Black creatives and a full chronology by the late artist's gallerist. The varied voices which resonate through this catalog illustrate that it is long past time to recognize Wilson's art--to celebrate his lifelong dedication to depicting what he described as the "reality of being Black in this impossible world."
John Woodrow Wilson (1922-2015) was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tufts University. He lived in Mexico for five years and became a friend and colleague of artist Elizabeth Catlett. Wilson taught fine art at Boston University from 1964 until 1986.
Review Quotes
In his rough gestural swipes of charcoal and oil stick, charged with dynamic fury, you can feel him in the room with you, spectral, urgent, defiant. I don't hesitate to call the show a landmark; it pays respect, definitively, to an underacknowledged master of his form, and to his irrepressible devotion to justice. In its intense, often dark beauty, it leaves no question about Wilson's consequence -- only about how long it took to get here.--Murray Whyte "The Boston Globe"