Faith Ringgold: Meta Creativity by Domain Social-Commentary

Consider the "greats" in art history, and think. Who comes to mind? On a quick Google search, those listed as the top five include Leonardo Da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and Johannes Vermeer. While all quite brilliant in their own rights, it is no secret that the world of visual art - specifically, the world of what is deemed revolutionary creative art - is most significantly attributed to men or European/White men.

Faith Ringgold was born in Harlem, New York in 1930, and she eventually received her M.A. in Fine Arts from the City College of New York in 1959. Aware of the world she inherited as a Black woman in the US, she was not disillusioned by this reality of the art world. Met with racism but determined to make a name for herself, she leaned into the prevalence of these injustices, channeling her identity and experience into the provocative and powerful art we know today. Profoundly subversive as the pioneer of what she coined "super realism", one of her paintings currently displayed at the Chicago MCA particularly stuck out to me.

"Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles" 1991

While creative in this execution of form, color, and structure, Ringgold's creativity also lies in the commentary of this painting, specifically of the creativity systems we've discussed in class. As the art world would be considered a domain itself, Ringgold's art holds a sort of meta-status by utilizing her riveting new style while also commenting on the field of art itself. By centralizing Black women, traditionally on the margins of the visual art field and canvas space, she subverts the conceptual expectations of that which is the field of creative art. While a Big C creative like Vincent Van Gogh is typified as a focal point in visual art as a domain, her work momentarily brushes him aside to comment on the way Black women are traditionally brushed aside in the domain of art itself. 

In the 1960s, she began her "American People" series which detailed numerous ordinary people, specifically adding nuance to the renderings of their race. In art school, where one would presumably learn the technicalities and mechanics of the art domain, Ringgold was at a loss given the White-dominated nature of her experience; she was only ever instructed on how to convey White skin. Unincluded but determined to achieve recognition, she coincided with the status quo for a time by painting in a way French-inspired - likely from her trip to Europe to forge and find her own art path. Nonetheless, in these normatively White spaces, she would hear microaggressions like "Do you know where you are," and "You...cannot do this" (Memoir, p. 144). Given the even larger racist climate of the US as a whole, she concluded that in the domain of visual art, the oppressive forces she faced would prohibit any recognition from its field. Thus, the 1960s marked the genesis of Ringgold's journey to construct decidedly Black art.

The American People series was at the forefront of her new style of super realism which aimed to "make a statement...about the Civil Rights movement...and to make it super real" (Memoir, p. 144). These pieces were especially profound as many had neglected to intentionally render race and race relations in a way that encapsulated the Black perspective - especially significant for Ringgold's work as both a Black and feminist advocate throughout her career.

 

Ringgold and "Between Friends" 1963

This piece was also striking to me at the MCA. In an ambiguously complimentary depiction of a Black and White woman, she touches on the intersection of race and feminism - including differences in womanhood through disposition, color, and tone, while also maintaining a sense of reciprocity. This painting specifically was to highlight the ostensibly well-meaning attitude of Whiteness and White feminism while also pushing back on the history of White centrality amidst a trope of the Black peripheral.

I would characterize Ringgold as somewhere between the Middle C creative category and Big C. Given the recency of her work and the ever-evolving nature of contemporary art, it is hard to tell how significantly her creative nuance will impact the future, especially with continuing racism and misogyny. However, while drawing on historical attitudes and styles, the assertions and empowerment of her intersecting identities within a world of unacceptance are revolutionary. By introducing super realism and scrutinizing the very domain in which her work lies, I personally think her work is more than merely Middle C.

sources: 

https://www.faithringgold.com/

We Flew Over the Bridge: Faith Ringgold