Black is beautiful excursion

The academic year  or ASAH was launched artisticly. On October 17th 2008 we paid a visit to the ‘Black is Beautiful’ exhibition in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. The central focus was on the beauty of the black man and woman in the art of the Netherlands. This was reflected in about 135 paintings, drawings and manuscripts from collections from here and abroad, illustrated from the perspective of Holland's famous masters as Rubens, Rembrandt, Apple, Jordeans and Dumas. The tour took us on a historical journey that began around 1330 and ended in contemporary art.

The exhibition was divided into three periods: the Old World, New World and the Modern World. In pieces from the Old World the Christian faith is the starting point. The famous biblical story of the three kings, is seen in a number of paintings, including that of Rubens. It became clear that the black king was one of the most famous black characters in the Middle Ages. In the Bible (Matthew 2:1-12) itself no kings were mentioned, instead they were called ‘the Wise’, who in the Christian literature and art gradually turned into the three kings. At one point one of them was always depicted as a black king. What I personally found impressive for this period of time, was the portrait of Moses and his Ethiopian wife. In the right corner of the painting the stone containing the Ten Commandments is depicted. Perhaps it is commonly known that his first wife was Tzipporah, but not that his second wife was a black woman. Nice about this piece of art was that the focus should not be on the Ten Commandments, but the acceptance of his Ethiopian wife.

In the New World, trade was the main focus was on trade. Images of exotic people, plants or goods referred to the relationship between Africa, Brazil and Europe. Furthermore, around the seventeenth century (Golden Age) is seems to be popular to depict yourself with a black boy as a servant, as a status symbol. This is also shown in the portrait of Margaret of Raephorts made by Jan Mijtens. Interestingly, the servants were always portrayed in the same way. Whether the black boy was always actually present, is doubtful. On some paintings it can be seen strong black men were used to depict the famous sketch by Leonardo Da Vinci, the "Man". Often they did not know what the proportional measures were, so this was used as a guideline.

In contemporary art, the interest in the true beauty of black men and women is well expressed. More attention is  paid to style, color, form and content. The image of the face of Naomi Campbell by Marlene Dumas stands out. Jazz is quite hot in this period partly due to Josephine Baker.

 After the tour, it was made possible to look at favorite pieces more closely, with the information garnered.

Diana van der Lugt

ASAH Activiteiten Commissaris 2007-2008