Relation To W.E.B. Dubois
In an editorial in the monthly magazine “The Crisis,” W.E.B. Dubois, another father of “The New Negro Movement,” said “let us train ourselves to see beauty in black” (Pinder: 65). Dubois called upon African-Americans to be proud of their heritage instead of being ashamed of their dark skin. This racial image issue was another characteristic of the African-American experience at this time. Thrash addressed the issue by creating portraits of African-American subjects and ideal heads using his carborundum mezzotint method that defined typically black facial features in a more realistic manner. At a time when white artists illustrated blacks barbarically in cartoons and newspapers, tasteful portrayals of black subjects were highly influential. In Thrash’s illustration of an African-American woman in his print “Marylou,” the chiaroscuro effect is extreme. Unlike some of his prints, there is minimal, visible white space in this print, except for around the subject’s head. Resembling a halo, the light space bordering the woman’s head gives the viewer a sense that there is something pure and righteous about her. She is not tainted or inferior as white society might try to imply. This could be Thrash’s attempt to see the beauty in black as W.E.B. Dubois called upon African-Americans to do in his editorial. Although this painting focuses on an individual, the way that the woman’s eyes are illustrated makes her seem as though she is not a specific individual. Her extremely darkened eyes prevent the reader from identifying a precise woman, which enables the viewer to accept her as a symbol of the beauty of all African-American women (Brigham: 31).
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