Unseen, beautiful - (C. Quick)

Isidanga focuses on a South African Woman wearing what appears to be traditional formal wear with cooler color patterns. These colors contrast with the warmth in the highlights of the woman’s skin, as well the earthy tones in the background. The piece draws the viewer’s attention to the women as the background contains orange flowers that coincide with the women’s attire creating a pull towards the foreground/lower region of the painting. The viewer’s gaze is also drawn to the women’s face due to the almost halo-like aura created by the tan background.

Sunday Morning in Virginia focuses on a group of primarily young African girls, with the exception of an older African woman looking off into the distance, as well as a young African boy observing the girls. The composition of this piece contains very warm and earthy colors. The horizontal format draws the viewers attention to the group of children with the help of the slightly cooler green tone of the wall behind them. The flow of this painting draws the viewers eye first over the older women, then to the children. This painting contains a heavy sense of community.

Series of the Four Parts of the World. Africa shows an African woman surrounded by young toddlers either greeting or conversing with white soldiers. The woman’s demeanor appears to be diplomatic and relaxed, and her vibrant headpiece suggests that she is a leader of sorts. The piece uses heavy shading/shadows in the foreground of the painting to draw the viewer’s attention to the woman and the people surrounding her. This heavy shading contrasts with the rest of the painting, which contains very light and vibrant earthy tones.

Mama Plastic shows an African woman seated near, what appears to be a wide array of techicolored pots and containers. The shading within this piece avoids dramatic shades of black, and instead utilizes varying shades of energetic colors. The composition of this piece is not limited to one color spectrum, as it consists of both warm and cool colors. The background contains dull and dismal colors, thus placing the focus on the colorful foreground.

Sunlight and Shadow shows a group of African Women and African children in what appears to be a public park. The women vary widely in age ranges, thus instilling a sense of familial-based community. The composition of this piece focuses heavily on the lighting and shading on the women. The colorful and stark colors of yellow and white bring the viewer’s gaze to the foreground. There is also an essence of movement within the piece motivated by the two children riding a bike together. This perspective pulls of the sense of movement and activity without making the piece too busy.

African Women show three African Women with varying skin color. This piece contains very vibrant colors, but maintains a sense of contrast between the dark background and the bright foreground. There is a distinct parallel between the seated woman’s shawl and the red-colored tree details. These distinctions point in the same direction creating a sense of movement and assembly.

Africa shows an African Woman, in formal attire, with European influences. The piece consists of primarily cool colors, which contrast with the vibrant blood-orange hues of the woman’s blouse and jewelry. The stark white headpiece introduces a focus on the woman’s animated face. The woman’s joyful expression makes the piece quite rare in comparison to other works with focuses on African Women, as these pieces typically show the women with grim or neutral demeanors and expressions.

The Laundress shows an African Woman in casual attire, hanging laundry on a clothesline. The composition of this piece is very heavy with compositional flow stemming from the movement of the woman. The piece draws the viewer’s eye to the woman’s upper body using a vertical technique where the lower and top region of the paintings contain dark colors that lighten as they move towards the focal point (the woman hanging laundry.) The stark white of the women’s blouse is balanced and united by the bit of white revealed at the bottom of her rising coral dress.

The Cotton Pickers shows two African Women in a cotton field. Based on historical injustices, the viewer may conclude that the two women are slaves doing manual labor. The piece contains very dim and dismal colors with a warm overlay. The lack of light instills a sense of gloom and despair contrasted with the heavy and warm tones of the women’s clothing. Some might interpret, the women looking into the distance, as symbolism for the African Slaves looking forwards to a brighter future.

Near Andersonville shows a woman in the doorway of a building, looking outside into the distance. Her expression is neutral, however, the manner in which she holds onto her apron instills a sense of worry/stress. This piece contains very dark colors and shading that contrast with the bit of light blue sky in the background. The curvature of the sidewalk draws the viewer’s gaze towards the focal point, the woman in the doorway.