African American Art | Revisiting Legends

Providing History Paintings an African American Voice

Reimaging Traditions

Revisiting Legends

How can we reapproach familiar stories?

Many African American artists have revisited and repurposed historical scenes and famous individuals with their own perspectives. These images respond to our prior understanding of history and invite us to discuss race, social class, and identity’s impact. Some images obscure influential white figures, others highlight people of color, while still more consider the impact of these historical legacies today.

Columbus Day Painting by Titus Kaphar

Columbus Day remains a contentious federal holiday. It celebrates both our colonialist past and a tragedy for Indigenous People. When covering the white figures in John Vanderlyn’s Landing of Columbus, viewers can easily notice the Indigenous People previously hidden in the background. Is Columbus Day worthy of celebration?

Shadows of Liberty by Titus Kaphar

While George Washington was a great military leader, he must also be remembered as a slaveholder. Lists of every enslaved person he owned each year of his life are nailed to his torso in this portrait. This revision presents Washington as a slaveholder first and prevents viewers from seeing his military uniform.

Amendment #8 by Mark Bradford

African Americans are incarcerated at drastically higher rates than white individuals in America’s racist criminal justice system. The Founding Fathers attempted to prevent cruel and unusual punishment with the Eighth Amendment. Do you think African Americans are offered that protection today?

Behind the Myth of Benevolence by Titus Kaphar

Thomas Jefferson asserted that all men are created equal in the Declaration of Independence. Yet, he profited from and raped the enslaved people he owned. This image allows viewers to look beyond the peaceful agrarian republic he projected and into the harsh world of enslaved people’s reality.

Pickett’s Charge by Mark Bradford

The legacy of the Civil War remains deeply complicated in American memory. Responding to Paul Philippoteaux’s circular painting of the Battle of Gettysburg, this largescale round collage provides a fresh view on the conflict. The intricate collage shows viewers that the historical narrative was never grand or straightforward—instead, it has always been contentious.

In More Depth

Mark Bradford

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