Image of the Black in Western Art Archive
ARTICLES:
Celebrating Race in the Renaissance
Image of the Week: What's the meaning behind this 16th-century cameo featuring a black and a white face?
A Post-Civil War View of Free Blacks
Image of the Week: This painting was created during Reconstruction, before racist imagery would re-emerge as the standard.
Boston Bishop Showed Colorblind Charity
Image of the Week: This monument depicts his many good deeds for the poor, including aiding a black man.
A Female-Friendly, Fiery Nubian Saint
Image of the Week: This Portuguese painting declares that the holy virgin Ifigenia's official role is to ward off fire.
Free the Slaves -- and Then What?
Image of the Week: This late-18th-century painting displays the artist's idealized vision of a settlement for freed blacks.
An Image of Inclusion or Colonialism?
Image of the Week: The story of an Ethiopian's baptism is complicated by the era in which the illustration was created.
An Ancient Figurine's Unknown History
Image of the Week: This second-century B.C. statue raises more questions about race in ancient Greece than it answers.
Diversity at the Descent From the Cross
Image of the Week: A 16th-century painting includes black and brown Gentiles bearing away Jesus' body.
When Blacks Were Part of America, but Not
Image of the Week: The positions of figures in 1848's War News From Mexico are key to understanding attitudes of the era.
A Nubian Bishop and His Patron Saint
Image of the Week: This 10th-century fresco gives fascinating insight into the Christian history of the fabled Nubia.