Early 20th C. African-American Papier-Mache Figures

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Antiquities | Asian | Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Sep 27, 2018

Set Reminder 2018-09-27 10:00:00 2018-09-27 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Antiquities | Asian | Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/antiquities-asian-ethnographic-3469
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• Lot Description
  New World, United States, ca. 1920s to 1940s CE. A pair of politically incorrect papier mache figures that serve as reminders of the oppression and abuse afflicted upon people of color for centuries. However controversial this imagery is, it is still a part of our culture. Objects related to racial segregation and anti-black caricatures like these may be used for educational purposes, just as much as objects related to Civil Rights and African-American achievement. Several institutions use material of this offensive nature precisely for educational purposes. Ferris State University's Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, for example, maintains the following mission statement, "The mission of the Jim Crow Museum is to use objects of intolerance to teach tolerance and promote social justice." Size: each measures 25" H (63.5 cm)
  
  In addition, numerous artists of color have elected to use such offensive imagery in an effort to combat outdated racist ideas. For example, in a recent article about the artist Michael Ray Charles by Steven Heller entitled, "Michael Ray Charles: When Racist Art Was Commercial Art" Charles explains how and why he uses racist memorabilia in his art as a means of never forgetting the misdirected racism of the past. The article opens with the following, "What if the Jews never talked about the Holocaust?" writes Michael Ray Charles in the introduction to his catalog of paintings, 'Michael Ray Charles: An American Artist’s Work' (The Art Museum of the University of Houston). This rhetorical question underscores an artistic exploration that delves deep into the history of commercial art stereotypes, which during the late 19th and early 20th centuries relegated African Americans to graphic ghettos comprised of Sambos, mammies, minstrels, and coons. Charles argues that the once ubiquitous existence of these characters are virtually unknown to blacks. He believes that graphic depictions of infantile, shiftless, and buffoonish black men and women are artifacts that shed needed light on the conflict the black people have in society today. As both a reminder and as a way to co-opt these negative portrayals, Charles, 31 years old, a painter and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, recasts ugly stereotypes in huge, satiric paintings that challenge the language of institutional racism." (http://www.printmag.com/imprint/michael-ray-charles-when-racist-art-was-commercial-art/)
  
  Provenance: private California, USA collection
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
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  #134992

  Condition

  Expected surface wear with scuffs and losses to pigment as shown. The tray of one of the figures is a bit loose.
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