Norman Lewis Reproduction

Artist Information

Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979), born and lived in Harlem, was a prominent African-American abstract artist. Throughout his career, his artwork had political tones, but around the time of 1940, Norman began to focus more on the aesthetic aspects of his work. Norman’s artwork largely features earthy tones, along with black lines and black backgrounds. Some of his artwork draws on a more natural origins and other parts draw on the lighting that Normal was able to see. One of Norman’s more famous works was Migrating Birds which won an award at the Carnegie Museum in 1955.

Untitled (Alabama)

1967

Untitled (Alabama), created in 1967, contrasts a black background with sharp triangular white lines. The piece itself is incredibly geometric, but creates the idea of figures, whether in a celebratory or menacing light isn't clear. There is also the likelihood that the piece reflects the civil rights conflict at the time, with the white figures to some degree representing the KKK. The image has a large triangle filled with figures, along with the longer less defined triangle that also is filled with white figures. The piece, while being abstract are also closely tied to Norman’s ideals of tying artistry with politics.

Response

The idea of this image connecting to a social and political movement at the time, made me want to recreate this image.  This made me relate to the ongoing movement today to create equality not only for all races, but for women withing all races.  

Product

The piece that I created used square shapes more so than triangle shapes.  The triangle shapes seemed to relate to the triangular hoods of KKK members.  I chose to change those triangular shapes to squares and rectangles, a shape that I view to be more masculine.  While Norman chose a black background with white lines, I chose pink as the background color, a typically more feminine color and then blue and the foreground color.

Reflection