Three African American Artists and the Black Female Nude in American Art

Identifier

162

Author

Chantal D. Drake

Date

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Art History

Concentration

General Art History

Committee Chair

Earnestine Jenkins

Abstract

"Three African American Artists and the Black Female Nude in American Art" examines the black female nude in the works of Eldzier Cortor, Dox Thrash, and Archibald Motley. This study offers insight into the lives of black women in America, highlights the artists' academic training and admiration of European and classical art and explores the black female nude from a perspective rarely discussed in the scholarship on American nudes. I argue that the use of the nude, a classical white figure, as a narrator of the black woman's experience offers a visual opposition of what the nude historically represented and how black women were perceived in American art.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

Recommended Citation

Drake, Chantal D., "Three African American Artists and the Black Female Nude in American Art" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 117.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/117