John Woodrow Wilson
John Woodrow Wilson | |
---|---|
Roxbury, Massachusetts | |
Died | Jan 22, 2015[1] |
Nationality | American |
Education | Tufts University |
John Woodrow Wilson (1922–2015) was an American
Family and early life
Wilson, commonly referred to by his professional name John Woodrow Wilson, was born the second of five children in
Wilson was very aware of the
Education and career
In Boston, Wilson took art classes at
In 1950, he married Julie Kowtich, a teacher who had graduated from Brooklyn College.
Artist Elizabeth Catlett was also living, painting and sculpting there. She was studying printmaking at the Taller de Gráfica Popular (Graphic Arts Workshop), where Wilson also studied the technique.[8] Chicago artist Margaret Burroughs wrote about visiting them both in 1951.[9] When Wilson returned to the United States in 1956, he made artwork for labor unions in Chicago and taught for a bit in New York City before returning to Massachusetts in 1964 to teach at Boston University.[1] He stayed there until 1986.[7]
Julie Kowitch says that her husband, "felt that his main objective as an artist was to deliver a message to people about black dignity, about racial justice, about poor people trying to get a better deal in life."[1] Wilson's daughter, Erica, said that he drew wherever he went and whatever he could find. For example, when driving to New York City with Erica and her son, Wilson drew a series of sketches of his infant grandson.[1]
Exhibitions and awards
By the time he was in his early 20s, Wilson was winning awards for his work. Soon after he left Tufts, the Museum of Fine Arts added a lithograph "Streetcar Scene" from 1945 into its collection.[7] The image was used for the cover of the exhibition "Alone in a Crowd" in 1992.[10] Smith College purchased "My Brother (1942)" while Wilson was a student at the museum school. It was part of a traveling exhibition that came to the college.[11]
In 1963 artist/educator, Hale Woodruff chose him as one of 24 Black artists to be featured in Ebony magazine's special edition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The article noted that he belonged to the "nation's elite of portrait painters."[12] He was a fixture in the annual Atlanta University "Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Prints by Negro Artists of America," which ran from 1942 to 1970. The exhibition, commonly referred to as the "Atlanta Annual" and founded by Woodruff, pulled together works by Black artists from across the United States at a time when white galleries and museums refused to show their works.[13][14] In the early 1970s, some works in the collection were shown in a traveling exhibit.[14][15][16]
At the annuals, the winning artists received payment for their submissions, which became part of the university's art collection. Among Wilson's awards and participation:
1943 - John Hope Award for his oil "Black Soldier."[17][18]
1944 – First Atlanta University Award for "Roxbury Landscape" and the lithograph "Adolescence."[19][20]
1945 – Purchase Award for "Portrait of Clair."[21][22] He received a large number of popular votes for "Black Despair" but did not win the top prize.[23]
1946 – Exhibited but no win.[24]
1947 – First Atlanta University Purchase Award for the oil painting "Church."[25][26]
1948 – Exhibited but no win.[27]
1949 – exhibited but no win.[28]
1950 – Honorable mention for the lithograph "Boulevard de Strasbourg."[29][30]
1951 – Print prize for the lithograph "Trabajador" and runner-up for the Purchase Prize for "Black Despair."[31][32]
1952 – Graphic arts prize for the lithograph "LaCalle."[33]
1954 - Purchase Award for the watercolor "Roxbury Rooftops" and first place in prints for "Mother and Child."[34]
1955 – Top cash award for "Negro Woman."[35][36]
1957 – Second prize in watercolors for "Black Despair" and first prize in prints for "Mother and Child."[37][38]
1960 – Honorable mention in the watercolors category.[39][40]
1961 – Honorable mention in "figures in oil" for "Man Resting" and "landscape in oil" for "Mirmande."[41][42]
1964 - Honorable mention in graphics category for "Urbanites."[43][44]
1965 – First prize in graphics category for "Father and Child."[45]
1966 – Second prize in graphics category for "City Child" and honorable mention for "Black Boy."[46]
1969 – First prize in graphics for "Child with father."[47]
In 1948, his work was among those chosen by Woodruff for a collection being formed by IBM. Others included Romare Bearden, Charles Alston, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Frank Neal, Selma Burke, Ellis Wilson, Dox Thrash and photographer Roy DeCarava.[48] In 1969, he was among artists in an exhibit at the Studio Museum of Harlem titled "Fourteen Black Artists From Boston." The works were first shown at the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Boston and the Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.[49][50]
In 1976, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art curated a traveling show titled "Two Centuries of Black American Art" where Wilson was represented.[51][52] His work "Street Children" was entered in the Black Enterprise Winter Art Exhibition in 1978. The works were hung in the magazine's offices.[53][54] In 1992, his drawing "Streetcar Scene (1945)" was featured on the cover of the catalog for the traveling exhibit "Alone in a Crowd: Prints by African-American Artists of the 1930s-1940s" of works in the collection of Reba and Dave Williams. The exhibit was shown at the Brooklyn Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Baltimore Museum of Art, among others.[10][55][56][57]
In 1995, Wilson had an exhibit of his own work at the Museum of Fine Arts called "Dialogue: John Wilson/Joseph Norman".[1] The exhibit consisted of many of Wilson's sculptures and sketches.[1] In 1996, he was represented in a traveling exhibit titled "In the Spirit of Resistance: African-American Modernists and the Mexican Muralist School" that focused on the influence of Mexico's graphics workshop on Black artists during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Also included were works by Mexican artists and photos of murals by both groups. The exhibit was sponsored by the Studio Museum of Harlem and Mexican Museum in San Francisco.[58][59]
In 2003, he was included in an exhibition of artwork from the Atlanta University collection on display at the Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries and titled "Remembering the Atlanta University Art Annuals."[60]
In 2004, he received the James Van Der Zee award from the Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia. "I can't remember when I was not doing some sort of visual art," he said at the time. "This career has been very satisfying, gratifying and there is nothing else I could conceive of myself doing."[61][62] In 20l9, the Yale University Art Gallery mounted a traveling exhibit titled "Reckoning with 'The Incident': John Wilson's Studies for a Lynching Mural', which focused on Wilson's 1952 mural that he painted while at La Esmeralda, the national school of art in Mexico. The mural, which no longer exists, shows the lynching of a Black man by the Ku Klux Klan as a Black family looks on. The exhibit contained his sketches, painted studies and related prints and drawings.[63]
Major works
Political pieces
Wilson was championed for his ability to fuse his artistic creativity with his passion for politics and social justice. Wilson's most famous and viewed work is the bronze
One of Wilson's most overtly politically charged works, a lithograph called "Deliver Us From Evil," was created while he was a student of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1943.
Another critical work by Wilson is the lithograph "Streetcar Scene," created in 1945.[1] In this scene, a lone Black man sits on a streetcar, surrounded by white women.[1] While all of the other passengers seem to be absentmindedly looking away into different directions, the Black man looks directly at the viewer.[1] This creates the effect of identification between the viewer and the subject, as it begs the viewer to "ponder the burdens and responsibilities of his wartime life."[1] With this work, Wilson is criticizing Franklin D. Roosevelt's integration of factories.[1] Wilson was quoted saying, "I resented the fact that almost everyone on my block was on welfare until they needed us in the shipyards and factories."[1] The subject of this lithograph is one of the Boston Navy Yard workers, wearing workman's coveralls, a cap, and holding a metal lunchbox, riding alongside fashionable women.[65] The rich color palette is made up of mostly reds, whites, and browns, evoking a feeling of warmth from the painting.[1]
Wilson experimented with other mediums in his earlier years, such as his 1946 ink drawing "Man with Cigarette."[1] The bold lines and shadows in this work in addition to the diagonal composition of the bust create a sense of urgency.[1] The man depicted also seems to share the same sensitive expression that is characteristic of Wilson's portraits, which is used to express Wilson's concerns regarding the African American experience in the United States at the time.[1] He described the country as "a world that promised freedom and opportunity for anyone who worked hard… but clearly if you are black you realize that these nice sounding phrases did not include you."
Wilson's method for creating profound art can be seen in the sketches he made in preparation for the bust of King.[1] The original drawing has been in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts since 1997.[1] When a request was made to display the drawing in another museum for an extended exhibition, Wilson decided to create a print of it rather than expose the original work to the intense lighting in the exhibition space. The result was a "sensitive" depiction of the civil rights hero, which "focuses on King's face, manipulating the rich lights and darks of the etching by scraping and burnishing the plate." He humanizes King by tilting his head and by giving the face "an almost weary expression" that "emphasizes King's profound humanity in his struggle for equality." Eventually, the Museum of Fine Arts purchased this print, along with the copper plate and the nineteen working proofs that Wilson made.[1] This group of works make it possible to understand Wilson's process for making art and are effective in teaching students about printmaking techniques. Wilson's raw and powerful depictions of Martin Luther King, Jr. convey his indirect involvement with the civil rights movement. Even though he did not actively participate in the movement, he did remark that King was "a very important symbol" in his life.[1]
Wilson illustrated several children's books, including Jean C. George's "Spring Comes to the Ocean," 1965; Joan Lexau's "Striped Ice Cream," 1968; Willis Oliver's "New Worlds of Reading," 1959, and one by his wife titled "Becky" in 1967. "Striped Ice Cream" and "Malcolm X" can be found at the Princeton University Library. Additionally, Wilson's drawing "Steel Worker" was used for the cover design of The Reporter on July 23, 1959, and is currently housed in the Princeton University Art Museum.[64] In 1969, one of his paintings was among 27 chosen by author June Jordan for her book of poetry "Who Look At Me."[66]
Influences
In 1952, Wilson made the lithograph "The Trial" depicting a young black man awaiting a pronouncement from three looming white judges.[4] This lithograph is now in the Brooklyn Museum. Wilson was very interested by murals and was influenced by the painted José Clemente Orozco. He saw murals as a way to reach a wider, more diverse audience who did not have the means to visit art museums.[4]
Many artists of the
Praise and legacy
Wilson died on Thursday, January 22, 2015, at his home in Brookline, MA. He was 92 years old.[2] His art continues to make an impact.[1] In Wilson's career survey, "Eternal Presence" of 2012, Boston Globe art critic Sebastian Smee said he is one of "Boston's most esteemed and accomplished artists."[1] Following Wilson's intent to spark political discussion, Smee stated that Wilson's sketches and charcoal drawings are "an impulse toward clarity, toward truth."[1] Wilson helped found a museum called the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA) in Roxbury, where he was born.[67] In this museum is an exhibit honoring his life and work titled "John Wilson Remembered 1923–2015."[67] This temporary exhibit included many of his sculptures and graphic art.[67]
His work was featured around Boston throughout his life, including pieces of art in the Museum of Fine Arts and at Martha Richardson Fine Art.[1]
Wilson's legacy of artistic practice has been carried on by his family. His grandson, Zack Wilson is an upcoming and acclaimed Hip-hop and Jazz musician performing under the Artist name 'Diz,' who is currently based in Boston, Massachusetts. Diz's work is accessible through various music services, and has amassed over one million streams total over his few years releasing music.
Selected Collections
- United States Capitol rotunda[68]
- Metropolitan Museum of Art[65][69]
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston[70]
- Minneapolis Institute of Art[71]
- Indiana University Art Museum[68]
- Princeton University Art Museum[72]
- Muscarelle Museum of Art[73]
- Clark Atlanta University[74]
- Tufts University[7]
- Library of Congress[75]
- Smith College[11]
- Smithsonian American Art Museum[76]
- Art Institute of Chicago[77]
- Philadelphia Museum of Art[78]
- National Gallery of Art[79]
- Cleveland Museum of Art[80]
References
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- ^ a b c d "John Woodrow Wilson". Brezniak Rodman Funeral Directors. Retrieved 2017-01-28.
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- ^ a b "John Wilson's My Brother: Seeking Truth in Art". Smith College Museum of Art. 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ "Leading Negro Artists". Google Books. September 1963. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
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- ^ "Reckoning with "The Incident": John Wilson's Studies for a Lynching Mural". Yale University Art Gallery. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ a b Mellby, Julie (May 3, 2015). "John Wilson 1922–2015". Graphic Arts. Retrieved 2017-01-28.
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- ^ a b c "Welcome to the Museum". The Museum of the NCAAA. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ^ a b "John Woodrow Wilson". Indiana University Art Museum. 2006.
- ^ "John Woodrow Wilson | Deliver Us from Evil". The Met. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
- ^ "Wilson/Cortor". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. November 5, 2016 – August 6, 2017. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ "Martin Luther King, Jr., John Woodrow Wilson; Publisher: Center Street Studio, Milton Village, Mass". MIA. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
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- ^ "John Woodrow Wilson: Black Soldier". Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ ""Dialogue" / John Wilson 1973". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
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