The cover of Robin Coste Lewis’ book, Voyage of the Sable Venus features a Harlem Renaissance era photo of a slim black woman standing on a sidewalk deep in thought. With one hand resting on her hip and the other cradling her chin, the woman is pondering what lies behind the glass window in front of her. It’s a classic “looking at art” pose. Lewis’ book of poetry is an autobiographical examination of identity that raises important questions about how other’s perceptions of us influence how we see ourselves. In art history the portrait is a fundamental artistic exploration of perception, and in CAAM’s show Face to Face, we are offered a glimpse into black portraiture that reclaims and redefines blackness. I recently read Lewis’ poem and took note of how one complimented the other. Face to Face offers a visual epilogue to the journey in Voyage of Sable Venus; both the show and the poem ask the same fundamental question: Where is the black body in art history? Robin Coste Lewis specifically explores the black female body in art history and her journey starts with the title of the book and its namesake poem.
Voyage of Sable Venus was originally an illustration created by British artist Thomas Stothand in 1793. The first time I saw an image of the Voyage, I thought it was stunning. The piece depicts a beautiful black woman standing in an open clam shell that is being guided through the seas by dolphins. Navigating her voyage are cherubs fanning the winds with beautiful plumes of ostrich and peacock feathers. At first glance it looks like a re-imagination of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, however when I looked closer I began to wonder where this woman was going…then I looked at her ankles; are those sandals or shackles? When I finally noticed the Greek god Triton in the corner of the image carrying a Union Jack flag, a colonial symbol of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, I found my answer. The Voyage of Sable Venus from Angola to the West Indies was illustrated for use in a re-release of a pro-slavery tome written in 1743 by Bryan Edwards called The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British West Indies. The juxtaposition between the beauty of the image and its use in the book was jarring; this feeling is at the core of self-exploration, and is brilliantly captured in Robin Coste Lewis’ book.
Her poem, Voyage of the Sable Venus rests at the center of the book and it tracks the symbolic voyage of the black female figure throughout art history. The poem is written with prose comprised entirely from the titles and historical descriptions of art that featured black female form. Reading the poem, we quickly learn that the prevailing nomenclature used to describe the black female body was often reductive, just as the artwork itself relegated black women to servants, accessories, and objects of desire. The descriptions rendered these women as either invisible or voiceless.
In Lewis’ poem she transforms these narrowly transcribed descriptions to create new characters with depth. It is a painful and illuminating read that left me gutted; much like the sensation I felt when I realized what was waiting for Sable Venus at the end of her journey. In a discussion with Maggie Nelson, Lewis described the alienating experience of otherness that’s created when you see yourself as others see you (or don’t see you) and the struggle “to will yourself into history when history tells you that you do not exist…” To acknowledge your presence within a space that struggles to see you is a feeling I am very intimate with. When I was younger I remember the pride I’d experience anytime I saw a black person in television or in movies without fully realizing that many of these images and messages were not only harmful, they weren’t accurate depictions of my knowledge of or experience with blackness. It wasn’t until I saw Marlon Riggs’ Ethnic Notions did I see the correlation between the images presented to me and how I internalized them. More importantly, I came to see the distinction between how I viewed myself vs the external perception of blackness portrayed by those that don’t look like me at all. This is why CAAM’s show on portraiture was so important; it offers us many views of blackness from a spectrum of styles, voices and aesthetics that were free from a narrowly prescribed perception of blackness.
Face to Face introduces viewers to portraits where the black body isn’t an accessory or a secondary figure hidden in the shadows, they are primary, present, and unapologetically black. Through demonstrating a variety of artistic approaches to portraiture from traditional painting and photography to collage and mixed media work, the show presents blackness with distinct voices that create a rich visual dialog on identity, politics, perception, and visibility that shatter the artistic canon that failed to recognize our artistic presence in the past. Subjects directly engage the viewer as in Kehinde Wiley’s divine Apotheosis of Admiral Vettor, Pisani who appears to be emerging from a forest of fleur-de-lis to greet his viewers.
Other works challenge systemic, institutional racism like Patrick Martinez’s Po-lice Misconduct and Titus Kaphar’s tar dipped portraits representing time and incarceration in The Jerome Project. The show refuses to limit itself to a singular conception of blackness by presenting works centered on different themes in a manner that is comprehensive without appearing dense or overwhelming.
Throughout the show, style makes a statement all on its own, whether it’s Amy Sherald’s smart, sunny, sartorial rendering of Pythagore, or the flowing do-rag that crowns the head of John Edmunds’ Prince. The feathered plumage adorning Lorna Simpson’s Two Ladies stylishly hold court with the hat wearing church ladies in Genevieve Gaignard’s The Line Up. Other works explore life and death with the spectacle of sparkle as in Ebony Patterson’s large scale Two Birds, while Sadie Barnette imagines the vast possibilities presented in the cosmos with Three Men.
If Robin Coste Lewis’ poem is an exploration of the female black body in art history, Mickalene Thomas’ work in Face to Face reflects on that journey with a celebration of the perseverance, strength and beauty of black women. With a deliberate gaze that validates her presence in the space she occupies, she is commanding power and agency through her direct contact with the viewer. In a 2013 interview, Thomas reflects on the importance of that power dynamic within her subject’s gaze, commenting, “to see me is to know that I see you as well”. This command of the narrative, where our stories are told through our own diverse voices, is what made Face to Face such a powerful show. If the subjects in Face to Face could speak with the women in Lewis’ poem, I think the title of Mickalene Thomas’ work says it all:
“Look At What You’ve Become.”
Face to Face is on view at CAAM through October 8, 2017.
References:
Culture Shock Art 
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