The Art of Remembering: Essays on African American Art and History
Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw
(Author)
Description
In The Art of Remembering art historian and curator Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw explores African American art and representation from the height of the British colonial period to the present. She engages in the process of "rememory"--the recovery of facts and narratives of African American creativity and self-representation that have been purposefully set aside, actively ignored, and disremembered. In analyses of the work of artists ranging from Scipio Moorhead, Moses Williams, and Aaron Douglas to Barbara Chase-Riboud, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, and Deana Lawson, Shaw demonstrates that African American art and history may be remembered and understood anew through a process of intensive close looking, cultural and historical contextualization, and biographic recuperation or consideration. Shaw shows how embracing rememory expands the possibilities of history by acknowledging the existence of multiple forms of knowledge and ways of understanding an event or interpreting an object. In so doing, Shaw thinks beyond canonical interpretations of art and material and visual culture to imagine "what if," asking what else did we once know that has been lost.
Product Details
Price
$28.95
$26.92
Publisher
Duke University Press
Publish Date
April 02, 2024
Pages
320
Dimensions
6.07 X 8.95 X 0.66 inches | 1.31 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781478030171
BISAC Categories:
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Become an affiliateAbout the Author
Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw is Class of 1940 Bicentennial Term Associate Professor of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, author of Seeing the Unspeakable: The Art of Kara Walker, also published by Duke University Press, and Portraits of a People: Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century.
Reviews
"The essays in The Art of Remembering show Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw to be a sophisticated thinker with a capacious interest in American art and culture and how it represents Black people. Her voice is both hard-hitting and subtle, unafraid of tackling meaningful and challenging topics."--Cherise Smith, Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Art History, University of Texas at Austin
"Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw is fearless. At a moment in art history and criticism when consensus muddles clarity of perception, Shaw not only takes on subjects that otherwise would be neglected or overlooked in the pursuit of knowledge but also avoids expected and required analyses. Her laser-sharp perspective is particularly important in this age that professes a commitment to expanding the scope and depth of our knowledge of persons and events--all in the name of newfound fairness--but delivers accommodation and conciliation."--Lowery Stokes Sims, author of "Challenge of the Modern: African-American Artists, 1925-1945"
"Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw is fearless. At a moment in art history and criticism when consensus muddles clarity of perception, Shaw not only takes on subjects that otherwise would be neglected or overlooked in the pursuit of knowledge but also avoids expected and required analyses. Her laser-sharp perspective is particularly important in this age that professes a commitment to expanding the scope and depth of our knowledge of persons and events--all in the name of newfound fairness--but delivers accommodation and conciliation."--Lowery Stokes Sims, author of "Challenge of the Modern: African-American Artists, 1925-1945"