The Utterly Original Bill Traylor
newyorker.com
The Utterly Original Bill Traylor
White people love black art until it forces them to see or engage black pain beyond caricatures and stereotypes. To avoid confronting black pain, white audiences turn to white artists who appropriate black art without substance.
thecrimson.com • DAMN. And the Consumption of Black Art
James Baldwin on the Creative Process and the Artist’s Responsibility to Society
Maria Popovathemarginalian.org
“My name is Modigliani. I am a Jew.”
That was how the artist Amedeo Modigliani would introduce himself to his fellow Parisians in the early 1900s. It was a risky declaration. At a time when ethnic nationalism was surging in France, Jews were frequently subjected to racist remarks and outlandish conspiracy theories.
The Tuscan-born painter found... See more
That was how the artist Amedeo Modigliani would introduce himself to his fellow Parisians in the early 1900s. It was a risky declaration. At a time when ethnic nationalism was surging in France, Jews were frequently subjected to racist remarks and outlandish conspiracy theories.
The Tuscan-born painter found... See more
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Even on the level of popular culture, I belonged to a cohort raised on Memphis and Motown soul, the music of the black middle class. The blues was part of a black working-class tradition that my generation was seeking to forget or leave behind. What I failed to recognize until many years later was that the blues was essential to understanding the
... See more“He was a generational talent who wrote something that has lasted till this day. And yet he spends all his time worrying about running out of logs for the fire or switching rooms to avoid his creditors.”
- How artists make (or beg for) money