Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art [Paperback]

Thelma Golden (Author), Robert Mapplethorpe (Photographer), Leon Golub (Painter), Jean-Michel Basquiat (Author), Other Various (Author), Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Contributor), Ed Guerrero (Contributor), Bell Hooks (Contributor), Andrew Ross (Contributor), Spike Lee (Director)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1995

The popular image of African-American men has gone through several transformations since the rise of the Black Power movement in the late 1960s. This book, which is the catalogue of an exhibition that opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, in November 1994, chronicles these changing perceptions of African-American masculinity as interpreted in painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed-media work, as well as in film and video. More than 70 works have been selected, by 29 leading artists of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hammons, Robert Mapplethorpe, Adrian Piper, Andres Serrano, and Lorna Simpson, among others, explore such issues as personal identity, sexuality, and social history. The catalogue includes six essays by leading voices in African-American art criticism and cultural studies: Elizabeth Alexander bell hooks, Isaac Julien and Kobena Mercer, Tricia Rose, Andrew Ross, and Greg Tate. The film and video section is the work of five scholars in African-American studies. Herman Gray, Ed Guerrero, Philip Brian Harper, Valerie Smith, and Clyde Taylor each curated a film and video programme, and their essays examine critical and theoretical points of view concerning mainstream and independent film and video as well as commercial television. Essays by Thelma Golden and John G. Hanhardt present overviews of the problems and challenges confronted by representations of black masculinity in the various forms of artisitc expression.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Whitney Museum of Art (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810968169
• ISBN-13: 978-0810968165
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,275,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book on art and the black man!, January 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art (Paperback)

This collection of essays may have come from a particular exhibit or conference. It is a book that discusses black men's status as objects of art. Don't sleep! The art world is racist. Coco Fusco and bell hooks have effectively documented this. So this anthology is a very needed intervention. Articles cover topics such as gay black men in movies, the visual representation of gangsta rap, Mapplethorpe, etc. The contributors analyze numerous art mediums, not just painting or film. What I love about this book is how straight black men and gay black men are treated equally; a discussion of one does not marginalize the other. I especially love the article "The Gangsta and the Diva." This book is incredible!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent and illuminating, February 10, 2008

By 

Benjamin (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Black Male; Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art. (Paperback)

This book was published to accompany the exhibition Black Male Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art 1994. It comprises a collection of thirteen essays by different writers, a Bibliography, lists of Works in the Exhibition and Film and Video Programs, and Notes on the Contributors. There is also a section of Plates.

The book covers all aspects of the visual arts, painting, film and photography and three dimensional art; the essays discuss a wide range of subjects with perhaps the emphasis on film and screen, but there are also essays specifically on social and political issues, music, gang culture, pornography and gay issues. The contributors, a mix of men and women, while predominantly university professors also include a writer and a critic and film maker. They are intelligently written and very illuminating.

The essays are illustrated throughout in black and white, mostly quite small images, but one or two are about half page size. They include many stills from films, photographs of personalities and other individuals, art photographs; too many to count they appear on almost every page. The section of plates contains 39 full page images in full colour, with the exception of a few originally black and white pictures; they include original art works and photographs and stills from films. The artists include Basquite, Leon Golub, Lyly Ashton Harris, Barkley L Hendricks, Jeff Koons and Robert Mapplethorpe.

This is a well presented book with a very smart matt-black card cover with minimal white lettering (probably screen-printed) on the front and spine and the words BLACK MALE blind embossed on the front. The book is attractively laid out. My only complaint is that I would like to have seen more and larger images.