999

John Thomas Biggers
(American, 1924-2001)

"Blessing the People"

conte crayon on paper
signed, dated, localized "Houston, Texas", and inscribed "To W. C. Starling, Patron of the Arts" upper right.
Matted, glazed and framed.
sight 26" x 56"

Exhibited: New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Notes: I think we have to show the human condition and what happens to it. To me that is what art is all about - showing the spirit of man struggling above the mundane, above the material, above suffering. This is the whole story of art.

--John Thomas Biggers

Rebecca Felts and Marvin Moon. "Artist Series: An Interview with John Biggers". Texas Trends in Art Education. Fall 1988.

One of the most significant African-American artists of the 20th century, John Thomas Biggers was born the youngest of seven children to a family that stressed the importance of education, creativity and spirituality. Growing up in the tight-knit black community of Gastonia, North Carolina, Biggers has stated that he had a relatively pleasant childhood, and that he was encouraged in his artistic and intellectual pursuits. Both of his parents had attended nearby Lincoln Academy, which Biggers and his brothers would later attend. The Academy was an all-black Congregationalist school created after the Civil War for the children of black soldiers and freed slaves alike, and it had a reputation for stringent academic requirements combined with practical training. At the age of fifteen, Biggers began attending classes at Lincoln Academy with the intention to train to be a plumber. The young man soon realized his passion and inclination was drawing.

Having made the decision to study art, Biggers enrolled in Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Virginia, where he studied with Victor Lowenfeld, an Austrian who had fled Europe. Lowenfeld was one of the first to publicly acknowledge the artistic significance and influence of African culture on modern art, and he encouraged his students to eschew the artistic conventions of the time to pursue something that was more immediate, more personal to them and their heritage. For many of these students, this was the first validation of their particular experience from someone outside of the African-American community.

Biggers began to create drawings and murals which specifically referenced the life of African-Americans, creating an iconography which would be immediately understood and accessible to his intended audience. In 1943, Biggers was included in the Young Negro Art exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. This exhibition was extraordinary for several reasons; for such a prestigious institution to agree to an exhibit of student work was unusual in and of itself, for those students to be African American was virtually unheard of at that time. That same year, Biggers was drafted into the Navy, eventually becoming an illustrator. During this time, he began to refine his technique, employing a distinct hatching to create a sense of depth and volume and relying on a muted, almost monochromatic, palette of creams, umbers, browns and blacks.

As evidenced by the fine drawing presented here, his naturalistic, slightly exaggerated figures emphasize the inner spirituality and struggle that was so integral to mid-century black American life. The viewer's eye is immediately drawn to the upraised hand in the left corner, which then leads to each successive face and its contorted, yet tightly constrained expression. A century of African-American experience is deftly conveyed by a drawing of eight figures.

After his discharge from the Navy, Biggers attended Pennsylvania State University, receiving his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in 1948; he would later receive his doctorate from that institution in 1954 for his Negro Women in American Life and Education.

In 1949, Biggers accepted a position as Professor at Texas State College for Negros (now Texas Southern University), where he was instrumental in setting up the art department. He was to remain active in art education until his retirement in 1983.

Biggers was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including a UNESCO travel grant to West Africa which resulted in his Pulitzer Prize nominated book Ananse: The Web of Life.

References:
Thiesen, Olive Jensen. A Life on Paper: The Drawings and Lithographs of John Thomas Biggers. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 2006.; Thiesen, Olive Jensen. Walls That Speak: The Murals of John Thomas Biggers. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 2010.; Carter, Holland. "John Biggers - Obituary". New York Times. 30 January, 2001.




  • Condition: **Not examined out of the frame. Likely original framing. Some scattered buckling and a few creases to paper. Overall yellowing. Scattered small areas of soiling/accretions, including two drops of blue pigment in the lower central area, two spots of water drops in the lower right area and an area of discoloration to right edge. Scattered, mainly pinprick-sized losses with accompanying abrasions. Faint, scattered foxing. Please refer to the additional online images, illustrating the condition issues.


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