ELEVENTH HOUR, THE: FACING HISTORY (TV)
Summary
One in this series of interview programs that examines current events in New York City. This edition, hosted by Robert Lipsyte, examines a controversial exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum titled "Facing History -- The Black Image in American Art 1710-1940." It features interviews with museum staff and a panel discussion with three artists who comment on the issues surrounding the exhibit. The program opens as "Facing History" curator Guy C. McElroy and Brooklyn Museum educator Sonnet Takahisa discuss the types of negative and positive portrayals of African Americans in the show and the role of the visual arts in reflecting and perpetuating stereotypes. Art historian Jack Flam criticizes the show for setting politics above aesthetics, but McElroy responds that the art inherently features politics. Included are scenes of a guided museum tour of high-school students during which paintings such as William Sidney Mount's "The Bones Player," John Singleton Copley's "Watson and the Shark," and Edmonia Lewis's "Forever Free" are shown and discussed. McElroy speaks about the economic and social discrimination that has excluded African Americans from the art world; he also discusses his struggles as a recently disabled person. The second portion of the program includes a panel discussion with artist Juan Sanchez, playwright George C. Wolfe, and writer Jessica Hagedorn, which includes the following subjects: the exhibit's role in encouraging the audience to examine racial stereotypes; the way in which American art creates a national mythology that reconciles the horrors of slavery with ideals of democracy; mainstream society's control of images; the lack of opportunities for people of color to represent themselves; the difference between stereotype and archetype, as seen in the writings of Zora Neale Hurston; reasons for the condescending attitudes of European Americans toward people of color; and exclusion of artists of color from mainstream gallery and museum systems.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: November 30, 1999
- RUNNING TIME: 0:30:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:19237
- GENRE: Arts documentaries; Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: African Americans in art; Art - Galleries and museums; New York City - Museums; Race relations
- SERIES RUN: WNET (New York, NY) - TV series, 1989-1990
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Steven Weinstock … Executive Producer
- Lesli Klainberg … Coordinating Producer
- Kevin Cosgrove … Senior Producer
- Mary Doro … Producer
- Andre Carl Wilk … Director
- Robert Lipsyte … Host
- Jessica Hagedorn … Guest
- Juan Sanchez … Guest
- George C. Wolfe … Guest
- John Singleton Copley
- Jack Flam
- Zora Neale Hurston
- Edmonia Lewis
- Guy C. McElroy
- William Sidney Mount
- Sonnet Takahisa