AESTHETIC REVIEW ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES The major research assignment in AFAM 3133 is the Aesthetic Review assignment. This assignment is essentially a set of three Aesthetic Reviews of two pages each, with each ‘review’ identifying the time period, art form, selection, and brief biographical profile of an African American artist (or artist group). A complete Aesthetic Review assignments is 6-pages long (not counting the required cover page). The Aesthetic Review assignment is submitted in two parts: the Aesthetic Review Description and the Aesthetic Review assignment.
AESTHETIC REVIEW DESCRIPTION
The Aesthetic Review Description is a one to 1.5-page document that describes the information that will be in your Aesthetic Review assignment. To complete this part of the assignment, you need to provide the following details for each of the three works you selected: the title of the artwork, the African American artist/group who created it, the form and style of the artwork, and the historical time period(s) the work represents. The Aesthetic Review Description must have one-inch margins, 12pt font, and a single-spaced heading (i.e., name, course name, assignment, date). The assignment should be consistently single-spaced throughout the document. Do not use larger than one-inch margins, or larger than 12pt font! Your Aesthetic Review Description should include:
AESTHETIC REVIEW ASSIGNMENT
The Aesthetic Review assignment is a 6- to 9-page document that includes aesthetic reviews of three works by African American artists. Each 2- to 3-page ‘aesthetic review’ includes:
the title of the selected art work,
the form of art the artist/group produced (art form),
the African American artist (or artist group) who created the work,
the time period the work represents,
a representative image of the selection of the artist’s work (e.g., an image of the painting, mural, quilt, photography, handicraft, sculpture, architectural structure, or cover art/poster for a song, dance, film, etc.),
a brief biographical profile of the artist, and
a brief critical analysis of the artistic selection.
ARTISTIC SELECTIONS, ART FORMS & ARTISTS
Artistic Selections. First, you need to select three works of African American art. Once you have chosen each selection you will review, you need to identify the title of the work, the year it was created or produced, and information about the artist who created or produced it. You must be able to provide the full and complete title of the artistic selection and a full citation for it. Please consult APA style or MLA style guidelines for how to write up the proper citation. You should also provide a representative image of the selection, if possible. If you choose a form of visual art (e.g., painting, mural, sculpture, handicrafts, architecture, photography, etc.), include an image of the selection. If you choose a performance art (i.e., music, dance, film, etc.), provide an image that is representative of the art, such as an image of the poster for a movie, the album art cover for a song, a playbill for a dance performance, or a snapshot from a performance, etc. If there is no image available for your selection, please state that at the beginning of the aesthetic review. (NOTE: You are strongly encouraged to use works that have a representative image.) Art Forms. You are free to choose from any of the art forms covered in this course. Since we review a broad array of artistic forms representing different genres and styles across the various time periods, you have plenty of options. In general, it is expected you will consider choosing from among the following visual and/or performance art forms:
Songs (singing, instrumental, rap, or spoken word performances)
Dance (performances)
Film (video art, movies, short films, etc.)
Paintings and Murals
Handicrafts (e.g., quilts, pottery, glassworks, etc.)
Photography (daguerreotypes, portraiture, digital, etc.)
Sculptures (including multimedia collages)
Architectural structures (e.g., built structures)
You may choose the art form you prefer for each time period you select. You are not limited to a single art form (e.g., painting), nor are you limited to a single style of that art form (e.g., postmodernist painting). NOTE: The art form and style must pertain to African American art. You are encouraged to frame your Aesthetic Review assignment creatively. For example, you can examine the same art form as it was produced across different time periods (e.g., photographs produced by artists in three different time periods), or you can focus on various art forms produced in different time periods (e.g., pottery in one time period, painting in a second time period, and a sculpture from a third time period). You can emphasize the same form of African American art produced in different styles during different time periods (e.g., ring shout dances, tap dances, and hip-hop dances, or spoken word performances from the 1970s, 1990s, and present-day, etc.). Which art forms you select is entirely up to you. Artists. The artists you select for your Aesthetic Review assignment must be African American. Additionally, they need to be African American artists who produced works that contributed to African American art. (Artists of African descent (e.g., Nigerian, Kenyan, Afro-Brazilian, Haitian, Jamaican, Barbadian/Bajan, etc.) who produced works in their native country and whose works are not tied to African American history, art, or culture, are not appropriate choices for the assignment.) Again, the artist or artist group you select must be African American.
TIME PERIODS
To help you better identify appropriate time periods, you can refer to the “Timeline” on pages 300-309 in African American Art (Patton, 1998). You may also refer to online exhibits of African American art from various museums and collections across the nation. In addition, you should use the following time periods to classify the works:
COLONIAL AMERICA (1700s – 1820)
SLAVERY & RECONSTRUCTION (1820s – 1870s)
19th CENTURY AMERICA/TURN OF THE CENTURY (1880s – 1920s)
HARLEM RENAISSANCE and the JAZZ AGE/MODERNISM (1920s – 1930s)
WPA/WORLD WAR II/ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM (1930s – 1950s)
CIVIL RIGHTS ERA (1950s – 1960s)
BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT (1960s – 1970s)
POSTMODERNISM/NEW BLACKNESS (1980s – 1990s)
21st CENTURY (2000s – Present)
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE OF THE ARTIST
Each aesthetic review includes a brief biographical profile of the African American artist whose work you selected. The biographical profile is approximately one page in length with no larger than one-inch margins. It should be typed in an essay-appropriate 11pt or 12pt font, double- spaced, with no after-paragraph spacing or unnecessary line spacing. The biographical profile of each artist (or artist group) should explain:
When and where the artist was born (or the artist group was founded)
Details of the artist’s early life, significant artistic activities, and accomplishments
When and where the artist died (if no longer living)
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ARTISTIC SELECTION
Each aesthetic review includes a brief critical analysis of the selected work. Frame your analysis by answering the following questions about the artwork you selected:
Why did you choose this selection of African American art?
What is the theme of the selection? What message do you think the artist intended the work to convey to its audience?
Consider your understanding of the “Black Aesthetic.” In what ways does this selection represent or reflect the life, history, or social experience of African Americans? Would you classify it as “black art”? Why or why not?
Each Aesthetic Review (details, biographical profile, and critical analysis) should be at least two complete pages in length. A complete Aesthetic Review assignment should be no less than 8 pages in length: a cover page (1 page), the three Aesthetic Reviews (6 to 9 pages), and a Works Cited or References page (1 page). REMEMBER: Proofread your completed Aesthetic Review!
In this example,
“Aesthetic Review No. 1”
provides details about
“Aspects of Negro Life:
From Slavery to
Freedom” mural, an
image of the mural, a
brief biographical profile
of its creator (Harlem
Renaissance artist Aaron
Douglas), and a brief
critical analysis of the
work.
An example of one aesthetic
review (of three) from the
Aesthetic Review assignment:
Cover Page (APA Style), Page 2,
Page 3, and Page 4.
Pages 2, 3 and 4 (shown at left)
give an example of how to
format an aesthetic review.
AESTHETIC REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN 2
Aesthetic Reviews of African American Muralists and Their Works across Three Eras
Aesthetic Review No. 1
Selection: “Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery Through Reconstruction” (1934)
Artist: Aaron Douglas
Art Form: Mural (Oil On Canvas)
Time Period: Harlem Renaissance
Biographical Profile of Aaron Douglas
Aaron Douglas, an African American painter, graphic artist, illustrator, and arts
educator, was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1899. The son of laborers, Douglas developed an
early interest in art, an interest that was encouraged by his mother. After graduating from
high school in Topeka, Douglas attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. After
graduating from college in 1922, Douglas taught art at Lincoln High School in Kansas City,
Kansas. Douglas was eager to explore art and decided to move to Harlem in New York City
in 1925.
Douglas quickly became immersed in the New Negro Movement that is now known
as the Harlem Renaissance. His prolific activity and artistic achievements during the
AESTHETIC REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN 3
movement (and thereafter) earned him great respect; he is often referred to as the “father of
black American art” and the “Dean of the Harlem Renaissance.”
Douglas created powerful images of African-American life and struggles, and won
awards for his work. His unique artistic style represented a fusion of modernism and African
art. His illustrations blended elements of art deco, art nouveau, cubism, Egyptian art, and
West African sculpture. The compelling nature of his graphic designs led to him becoming
an in-demand illustrator for prominent African American writers, including James Weldon
Johnson, Alain Locke, Wallace Thurman, and Claude McKay. Douglas’s illustrations for
magazines and book covers decreased after 1927, as he began devoting more time and
energy to being a muralist.
Though he remained a prolific artist well past the end of the Harlem Renaissance,
some of Douglas’s best-known paintings and murals were created in the 1930s.In 1930, he
was commissioned to create a series of murals for the Fisk University Library. After that
work, he completed several other murals for hotels and colleges, and took time off to study
art in Paris, France. He returned to the U.S. in 1932 and completed a series of murals for the
New York Public Library that would come to be among his best-known works: the four-
paneled “Aspects of Negro Life.”
Around this same time, Douglas joined the faculty of Fisk University and established
the university’s art department. During the decades of his tenure, he established its famous
gallery and amassed a substantial collection of art for the university. He also conducted
several solo exhibitions and received numerous awards and honors. He retired from Fisk
University in 1966; however, he continued to be an active painter and arts education
lecturer. Aaron Douglas died in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 2, 1979.
AESTHETIC REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN 4
Critical Analysis of “Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery Through Reconstruction”
I chose this selection of one of Douglas’s famous murals because it beautifully
conveys the historical journey of African Americans, from slavery to Reconstruction. The
mural represents the themes of African American slavery, liberation, freedom, and hope.
The artist used a warm palette, overlaid images, and silhouettes to tell the story. The
imagery of slavery is conveyed by the silhouettes of enslaved workers toiling in cotton fields,
bearing drums, their backs bowed to the task. The abolition of slavery is shown by the men
standing with broken shackles on their wrists, standing tall with arms raised, and black
soldiers standing in the distance. They seem to stand in defiance of the Klansmen on
horseback, intent on terrorizing and attacking black people. The imagery of hope and
Reconstruction is conveyed by the silhouette of the orator speaking from his stand, pointing
the way to the future: education (the college on the hill) and paid labor (the factory on the
hill). And the musician and the dancer reflect the irrepressible culture of African Americans,
who express exaltation and exuberance despite the harsh realities of American society.
I would classify this mural as an example of black art for several reasons. It
exemplifies African American culture and is a voice of the black experience. Not just by the
historical theme of the work, but in the way that history is reflected with iconic imagery that
is meaningful, representative, and easily understood. The use of silhouettes and overlays
communicates that the portrayed events occurred in overlapping and continuous times, but
the style also conveys a flow of progression from life in slavery to life in freedom with all its
new possibilities and terrors. The mural was created in 1934, long after the end of slavery
and Reconstruction, but firmly situated in the harsh reality of racist terrorism. This reality is
not dismissed; instead, it seems answered by African American persistence and the undying
desire to survive and be free, and thrive.