Titus Kaphar: Difference between revisions

In 2014, Kaphar painted ''Behind the Myth of Benevolence'', which depicts [[President of the United States|President]] [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[Sally Hemings]], a slave owned by Jefferson and the mother of six children fathered by Jefferson.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.culturedmag.com/titus-kaphar-artist-of-the-times-paints-with-eyes-open/|title =TITUS KAPHAR, ARTIST OF THE TIMES, PAINTS WITH EYES OPEN|date=23 September 2020|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=Cultured Magazine|author=Jacob Urist}}</ref><ref name="stockman">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/sally-hemings-exhibit-monticello.html |title=Monticello Is Done Avoiding Jefferson's Relationship With Sally Hemings |last=Stockman |first=Farah |date=16 June 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2020-10-02 |language=en}}</ref> Kaphar painted the canvas in such a way as to create the illusion that the portrait of Jefferson painted by [[Rembrandt Peale]] in 1800 is being pulled back like a curtain to reveal a seated Hemings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/10/04/654476095/meet-the-macarthur-fellow-disrupting-racism-in-art|title=Meet The MacArthur Fellow Disrupting Racism In Art|date=4 October 2018|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=NPR|author=Mary Louise Kelly}}</ref> The portrait is effectively a painting within a painting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wnpr.org/post/painting-new-haven-artist-makes-cover-time-magazine|title=Painting By New Haven Artist Makes Cover Of Time Magazine|date=11 June 2020|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=WNPR|author=Ray Hardman}}</ref> Kaphar, speaking about the painting and its subject, Sally Hemings, said, "This painting is about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, and yet it is not. The reason I say, ‘And yet it is not,’ is because we know from the actual history that Sally Hemings was very fair. Very, very fair. The woman who sits here is not just simply a representation of Sally Hemings, she’s more of a symbol of many of the Black women whose stories have been shrouded by the narratives of our deified founding fathers."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.culturetype.com/2018/03/28/titus-kaphar-and-ken-gonzales-day-explore-unseen-narratives-in-historic-portraiture-in-new-national-portrait-gallery-exhibition/|title=National Portrait Gallery: Titus Kaphar and Ken Gonzales-Day Explore 'UnSeen' Narratives in Historic Portraitur|date=28 March 2018|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=Culturetype|author=Victoria L. Valentine}}</ref>

 

 

==Exhibitions==