User:Ravster89/William Edouard Scott

William Edouard Scott was an important artist to Africans in America. The history of the African Diaspora, and the many changes it has faced until today, is represented through the art that has been produced since the beginning. From paintings produced to show the mark of the slave trade, to the many artistic photographs of the Civil Rights movement in America, artists found a compelling way to express the varied situations that the descendants of Africa came across through time. William Edouard Scott was one of these artists, an African-American who sought to take a classic approach when portraying Africans in his artwork. Producing most of his work in the first half of the 1900s, William Edouard Scott was an extremely talented artist who focused his artistic energy on the lives of people in their personal environment. Scott showed the reality of life rather than the hardships of the past, an aspect that was very popular in the works of other renowned artists of the time (Perry). He decided not to focus on the standard portraits of Africans as laborers or slaves. Scott traveled to Haiti for an important expedition where he painted about the domestic life and culture of the Haitian people (Warkel). When returning to America, Scott created murals to push towards a positive future for all African Americans (Gray). He focused on depicting African Americans who received an increased reputation doing righteous deeds for African American rights (Perry). Rather than referring to past experiences and situations, Scott explored African Americans who lived in the societies that were established at the time.

In his early years, William Edouard Scott studied artistic practices in France, and painted about the everyday lives of countryside people doing routine things (Roberts). Under the guidance of the famous artist Henry O. Tanner, Scott learned to look for positive aspects in everything he painted (Warkel). He learned many techniques and ideas in France, which he then brought back to apply to his art in America. Once he returned to the States, Scott began to observe poor southern black families, and how they lived their lives in America. Scott’s, It’s Going to Come (Figure 1) portrays a woman standing in front of her battered home (Perry). Many African Americans lived in an environment similar to what is shown in this painting. However, Scott didn’t search for scenes that only showed poverty and hardship. He had a very positive outlook on life, and tried to capture a more natural sense of the lives of African Americans (Roberts). In this specific painting, Scott shows the woman looking away from the main setting into a different direction. He shows the positivity in this painting by showing a sense of hope in this woman’s stance. With the way she stands and faces the opposite direction of her poor life, Scott shows that the woman feels there’s a way to get around the hard work that comes with everyday life.

In 1928, Scott painted The Maker of Goblins (Figure 2), in which he shows a little boy in front of his home, carving a pumpkin (Warkel). Although this boy is sitting in ripped clothing, Scott took the setting in a positive sense and showed happiness and hope through this painting. He captures the positivity in the painting, which is shown by the boy’s expressions, rather than the negativity, shown by the boy’s setting and clothing. Scott believed African Americans had a positive future ahead of them, and painted so that this belief was shown.

Besides doing paintings showing the experiences of blacks, Scott took part in many mural paintings (Gray). In 1915, Scott painted more than twenty murals in the Chicago area schools. His murals were not just professional by style, but the messages and themes embedded in these murals were inspirational to all African Americans who faced hardship in their everyday lives (Gray). Scott used the murals to inspire blacks throughout Chicago. Especially in the schools, his murals inspired the African American youth to work towards personal goals and a positive future.

In 1931, Scott received the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship in order to visit Haiti (Roberts). Haiti had a great history of hardship, mostly from the Haitian Revolution in order to free themselves from the French. It was the first black republic in the Americas and the people of African descent continued to follow their customs in everyday life. Scott’s goal was to paint about the lives of the commonplace people of Haiti, and the actions they took part in through their daily lives (Roberts). He believed they were one of the few groups of African people who kept their heritage and culture cultivated. In order to catch the traditional lives of Africans, Scott believed observing and painting the Haitian people would be a perfect opportunity. Throughout his stay in Haiti, Scott produced over 140 works that represented the Haitian culture (Perry). Similar to what he had done in France and the southern parts of the United States, Scott painted the country people and scenery of the Haitian landscapes. He painted scenes of the peasant life in Haiti, and throughout this process, produced affection for this “unspoiled” group of people (Warkel). Similar to the method he used to paint the lives of African Americans, Scott painted scenes of Haitian people who lived in poverty. He saw a sort of liveliness in these people rather than those who were part of the higher-class society. Scott painted many traditional aspects of the Haitian culture. In Scott’s Full Moon, Haitian Rhythm (Figure 3), women are shown dancing in the middle of a crowd of people with the men playing their drums (Morehouse).

In a historical context, dance was a major part of the Haitian culture; especially with practices of Vodun, and Scott captures this aspect in his painting. Vodun was a major religious facet of the Haitian culture, and it was one of the customs that the people of Haiti continued to take part in. A simple, almost tribal-like setting is shown with the aspects of nature, the hut in the background, and the clothing on the people. However, even with all of these simple materialistic objects, Scott captures the positivity that fills the Haitian’s simple lives. Again, through the expressions that are shown on the faces of these people, Scott gives weight to the positivity in the painting, compared to the negativity. In most of his work from Haiti, Scott used bright and vibrant colors that he didn’t see in the lives of the African Americans. He compared the settings and realized that the lives of the Haitians were not led by hardship, even though they faced the same forces of poverty. His Haitian paintings portrayed positivity, because that is what he saw in his time spent in Haiti. Even after returning from his trip to Haiti, Scott continued to revel in the scenes he witnessed and painted about in Haiti (Roberts).

Once Scott returned to Chicago, he received many offers to create murals (Morehouse). In 1932, an exhibit was created in the Art Institute of Chicago, along with many other exhibits throughout the United States (Gray). Scott was the first African American to attend and graduate the highly prestigious Chicago Institute of Art. With all of these personal achievements, Scott’s artwork became highly acclaimed and recognized during the Harlem Renaissance (Morehouse). Even with the growing fame, Scott continued to paint with positivity embedded into his work. In 1942, in the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., Scott painted a mural (see Figure 4) depicting Frederick Douglass asking President Abraham Lincoln to allow African Americans to serve in the army (Gray). The look in Douglass’ eyes shows persistence and strength. With Lincoln sitting on his chair and Douglass standing up straight and strong, the painting shows how Douglass kept the respect for the president, and at the same time fought for African American rights. This mural showed the advancement of African Americans’ place in the country, and how their role was being advanced. Scott portrayed positive events for African Americans to see and realize that they also had hope for themselves and the future. Scott provided a sense of positivity within the African Americans throughout the country (Morehouse). He wanted them to realize that there were people who were making great changes for African Americans. He portrayed the leaders who found a way to make a name for themselves in the country. Frederick Douglass was only one example of the many leaders that Scott painted (Morehouse). These images instilled hope and positivity in all African Americans towards their future.

William Edouard Scott was a painter with different ambitions compared to other painters at the same time. His goal was to increase the role, the stature, and the image of African Americans in society. Scott did not follow the abstraction that was shown in other paintings at the time, but rather a realist perception for his paintings. Scott strayed from using old African imagery in his art, and instead used current ideas and customs that pertained to that time. He used the aspects that Europeans had used in the past for white families, and applied the same artistic qualities to Africans and African Americans. As he painted country folk in France, both black and white, Scott used similar techniques to paint country folk in the United States, and country folk in Haiti. He used these negative aspects of life to form a sense of hope and positivity for the future. He painted the traditional black experience and helped African Americans realize that they did have something to look forward to. All of his artwork had messages embedded in them, messages that instilled hope into everyone who appreciated his artwork. Scott created numerous murals to portray a positive future for all African Americans. He wanted African Americans to realize the positivity in the communities they lived in, and the positivity that was to come with the future.