MS01.01.03.B02.F05.033

7
Musical giants Such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller + Louis Armstrong on their way yelling and tooting the good news of the new, black synthesis in audio expression.

For the visual artist, the awakening proceeded more
slowly since painters and sculptors are bound first
by conventions and traditions in visual culture
that rely upon an already established
language of signs and symbols as their communication
elements. But a change did occur in
the adjustment black artists made to the new subject of the new
Negro. One might ask the question
had not black subjects been seen before in american art and
had they not been true to the genre of the
times? The answer to such a question must
be undertaken in parts. Blacks
had been depicted in fine art subjects since colonial
times. In the paintings of Kuhn, Crimmell,
Walker, Quidor, and others.
But their depictions
occupied the role of servant/slave and comic caper.
They projected the fullness of the stereotypic
image. Elevation of the black subject to
a dignified posture would not come about
until Wm. Sidney Mount, Winslow Homer
and Thomas Eakins took brush into hand
and painted recognizable subjects commensurate
with the lifestyle of black people. But one
would not mistake the sympathetic genius of
a white artist for the race consciousness of the newly liberated
African oriented black artist. Black painters
and sculptors stretching their talents beyond the doors of neo-
classicism and impressionism, would introduce