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Monday Open Thread: African American Visual Artists

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Good Morning Obots!

This week, we’ll take a look at a few African American visual artists. Today’s artist: John Biggers

John Thomas Biggers (1924–2001) was an African American muralist who came to prominence after the Harlem Renaissance and toward the end of World War II. Dr. Biggers was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and attended the Lincoln Academy, the Hampton Institute, and then Pennsylvania State Universityfrom which he earned a doctorate in 1954.

His works can be found on the campus of Hampton University (formerly Institute), primarily in the campus library.

Dr. Biggers founded the art department at Texas State University for Negroes, now Texas Southern University, in 1949. Biggers received a fellowship from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, in 1957 allowing him to become one of the first African American artists to visit Africa.

John Biggers studied under Viktor Lowenfeld at Hampton Institute, who significantly influenced Biggers in his artistic development. Biggers later created works which reflected his perspective of the anguish that people have suffered merely because of their race or religious beliefs.

Influences and symbols:
John Biggers had several influences which played prominent roles in his work. From his childhood growing up in North Carolina helping his widowed mother do the washing to support her family came the symbols like the wash pot, the washboard, fire, water  and the idea of cleansing and renewal as a prominent theme in his work. Seeing  his mother’s determination during those years and later, the personal strength and integrity of his wife, Hazel Hale Biggers, also influenced Dr. Biggers’  portrayal of women as strong  and powerful in his work. 
 

During his study at Hampton College and later at Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Biggers was influenced by Viktor Lowenfeld, an art educator who had fled his home in Austria to avoid Nazi persecution. Lowenfeld encouraged Dr. Biggers’ growth as an artist by introducing him to other artists’ works and by encouraging him to paint that which he knew, and to find value in the faces and world  in which he grew up.
 
As Biggers studied he was also influenced by other artists, particularly, Charles White and his wife Elizabeth Catlett who were visiting artists on the campus. Biggers became an assistant to White and eagerly observed how the artists  worked and discussed art.  The Mexican muralist Diego Rivera was an influence on both White and Biggers. The work of Thomas Hart Benton was also a part of the  art experience Dr. Biggers gained during his studies. 
 
Later, Dr. Biggers made several trips  to Africa and studied the cultures there. He found in the people, their way of life, their beliefs and mythology, universal ideas and themes which led to significant
changes in his work.