link March 29, 2006, 3:28PM 'Like a scab ... on America' Blackface photograph exhibition arouses many mixed emotions By PATRICIA C. JOHNSON Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Sometimes beauty is not the issue. Photographer David Levinthal has made beautiful pictures of some of this country's most controversial objects: toys and minisculptures that ridicule and stereotype black people. Portrayed in sensual, glossy and large-scale color Polaroids are rotund Aunt Jemima and Uncle Mose, a broadly grinning buffoon, a stogie-smoking con man and a watermelon-eating kid, among others. The photographs are from Levinthal's 1999 series titled Blackface, a selection of which is on view at the Menil Collection. The exhibit is aptly titled Insistent Objects. The question is not the quality of the photographs, but the subject matter. The objects pictured date from the late 19th century to the early 1960s. They were made by whites for a white market. As Charles H. Rowell, editor of Callaloo, a literary magazine, said during a panel discussion last week, "When I see these images, I don't see them as referring to me. They have nothing to do with me. I'm not that. "They are a documentation of how they (whites) wanted to see me." Many people say these objects, and by extension these photographs, are hurtful and offensive and should not be public at all. But many others say they are part of American history and should not be hidden or destroyed. To not look at these things and try to understand them, offensive as they may be, only deepens the scars from a time when society practiced or ignored overt racism. The Menil prepared a brochure to accompany the exhibit that includes reactions to Levinthal's images from some of the museum staff — black and white, curators and guards. They are illuminating. A sampling: The images, writes registrar Geri Aramanda, of "racial caricatures created out of ignorance and hatred confront us with the disappointing reality of what man is capable of feeling and expressing." Erma McWell, a receptionist: "I would expect African-Americans to collect these kinds of objects; they are a part of our culture, even though they are negative. The fact that the photographer is white does not change the way I think about the photographs." Paxton Howard in maintenance summarized the complex reactions of many: "I get mixed emotions when I see these works. It's like a scab, on the world, really, but especially on America." The objects have become collectibles. Several of those photographed are from the holdings that John and Dominique de Menil gathered as part of their decades-long, scholarly project The Image of the Black in Western Art. The project grew out of the couple's commitment to promote civil rights for African-Americans, efforts that extended to support for young black intellectuals and politicians like Mickey Leland. A small group of the objects from the museum's holdings complement Levinthal's photographs. They are on view in the library, normally off-limits to the public but open for the duration of the exhibition. Levinthal made his mark first with Hitler Moves East. In that series, he staged scenes of military activity using toys and photographed them in black and white and in such a way that they resemble newsreel footage or war photography like Robert Capa's. He used the same strategy of dolls as actors for Mein Kampf. That series, exhibited by the Holocaust Museum Houston, consisted of tableaux based on published and archival documents, photographed in color with deliberately blurred focus to suggest both distance and movement. He took a different approach to create Blackface. The focus is sharp, there are no costuming or make-believe situations, only the objects themselves, shot against deep black grounds that heighten the exaggerated features. But Levinthal reiterates his astute observation voiced during the exhibit of Mein Kampf: "Toys are not benign playthings. They are tools to socialize children." And we need to pay attention. patricia.johnson@chron.com
It is a scab on America and one each generation must learn. If we don't teach each generation the sins of the past, then those sins might be repeated in the future. Slavery, the internment of Japaness-Americans and the slaughter of Native Americans is our history. Does America want to ignore history like the Japanese ignore the rape of Nanking? America is not a Norman Rockwell painting. One must learn the good and the bad.
I find this an interesting comment in light of the current Mexican immigration issue. I feel there are MANY lessons from our past that are not being applied with regards to this issue.
Juan Seguin (1806-1890) In a life that spanned both sides of the Rio Grande, Juan Seguin knew both the adulation of a Texas hero and the anguish of a tejano forced to live among his former enemies. Seguin was born in 1806 into a long-established tejano family in San Antonio. Few details of his early life are known, but he became a harsh liberal critic of Santa Anna's centralization of authority in Mexico in the 1830's. Seguin's father had been a strong political ally of Stephen F. Austin, and Seguin himself played an active role in the Texas revolution. He served as provisional mayor of San Antonio and led a band of like-minded tejanos against Santa Anna's army in 1835. The next year he was at the Alamo for the first part of the siege, and survived only because he was sent to gather reinforcements. He and his tejano company fought at the battle of San Jacinto, helping to defeat Santa Anna's army. Seguin was rudely shocked, however, by the aftermath of the Texas Revolution. Numerous towns in Texas moved to expel all of their tejano residents, and even in San Antonio many anglos seriously considered such a move. But the most stunning blow came when Seguin helped defeat a Mexican expedition against San Antonio in 1842. In a ploy to turn anglo Texans against him, the Mexican commander stated publicly that Seguin was still a loyal Mexican subject, and although Seguin was the mayor of San Antonio at the time, anglos who had been his former comrades suddenly accused him of treason. Vigilantes drove him from the city where he had been born and forced him to flee to Mexico. Seguin's hopes that the Texas revolution would mean freedom for all Texans were shattered. Seguin's betrayal left him embittered: "A victim to the wickedness of a few men... a foreigner in my native land; could I be expected to stoically endure their outrages and insults?" he wrote in 1858. "I sought for shelter amongst those against whom I fought; I separated from my country, parents, family, relatives and friends, and what was more, from the institutions, on behalf which I had drawn my sword, with an earnest wish to see Texas free and happy." The Mexican government hardly welcomed Seguin with open arms. Upon his arrival in Nuevo Laredo in 1842, the authorities arrested him and offered him a choice between serving in the army or extended imprisonment. He chose to join the army, and fought in the Mexican-American war against the United States. After the war Seguin received permission to return to Texas, and did so, but in 1867 continued harassment again prompted his return to Mexico. He died in Nuevo Laredo, just across the Rio Grande from the land for whose independence he had fought, in 1890. link
My wife is an antique dealer and *collects stuff* [understatement of year]. One of the things she collects is antique and vintage linens, some of which she displays in the house. One of the vintage linens (dishtowel sized) had a hand-embroidered classic blackface Mame. At that time we had small kids and a black lady babysat from time to time for us (she could pass and that was a whole interesting other story). My wife and I discussed the appropriateness of displaying the linen and decided to ask her. She said it didn't bother her, it was part of history, and its been on display in our house ever since.
Maybe I'm missing something. Aren't you campaigning for that guitar playing Republican comic that wants to build a wall on the border?
If you were a friend/acquaintence of mine and you came to my house and found it offensive I would definitely take it down. Or if I thought it was just offensive in general and otherwise had no artistic or other redeeming value I wouldn't have put it up in the first place (assuming I am King of my castle, which of course I am not ). The linen has some, albeit little, artistic value as it is handcrafted. Perhaps it has some historic significance, but not much. Would it be OK to display offensive Nazi memorabilia because it has historic significance? In my mind I guess it really depends on the motives of the person displaying the item and the context of the display (in our case it is displayed with other vintage handcrafted linens). Like many racial questions, not black and white but shades of gray. I am curious what you think I should have done.
If you need to ask, then you don't get it. But in the spirit of not derailing the topic: The blackface characters were created by whites of their portrayal of blacks. At the time, it was considered okay and even comical. Recently we saw the white portrayal of blacks in New Orleans referred to as "refugees." We wiretap anybody with an arab sounding name. At the airport, we detain anybody with light brown skin. ... and the immigrant protesters are portrayed as criminals and ingrates for flying the Mexican flag. It would be nice if America would approach a subject with some compassion every once in a while rather than being shamed into it retroactively after having been exposed.
I'd have a strong feeling to smash a bucktooth Jerry Lewis impersonator if there was ever one walking the streets. I'm not sure how much dialogue can be reach across from this exhibit other than to acknowledge how nasty American culture was and how it still can be. I guess it would work if they link present day black stereotypes with these caricatures commonly spread in the past.
Yucko the Clown wore blackface on the Howard Stern Show (3/29/06). Edit: picture removed. I didn't realize he was holding a large dildo in his hand. WTF.
i guess you can hide behind free speech and freedom of expression for anything these days other than criticizing dubya and israel
i wasnt implying anything other than what i said: free speech and freedom of speech are used to justify everything these days btw, i believe it was you mr. meowgi, nice rockets painting in your computer room and bar set up for rockets game!
