Black women in art-Where for art thou?

When I put up the new template, I was damn proud of myself. I had finally integrated gravatar’s for the authors into the posts, something most of the original writers had asked for. I was hunting around the internets, looking for old art that contained Sirens, or for the males..men that looked noble. Then I realized I couldn’t find a BLACK siren.

This highly pissed me off.. I know that black women have existed as long as white women have. Dez needed a wonderful piece of artwork for her gravatar and I got an excedrin headache staring at my computer screen for hours trying everything I could to find ancient paintings with black women in them. Then, when that didn’t offer up anything..I tried to just find artwork which contained black females..still nothing except modern works. I wanted something beautiful and life-like, just like the John William Waterhouse pictures I found for the white women and even the few males we have on the Sirens staff of writers.

I couldn’t find a damn thing that was as beautiful or elegant for Dez..and I went ballistic. I was typing in all sorts of phrases to google: Black women in Art, Black women, Black feminists, Black artists, African American Art…I found nothing that matched this: -Damn IT! I wanted something this magnificent for Dez, in the same period. Why can’t I find any art from this period that embraces the beauty of African-American women? Why is it so hard to find a comprehensive site that has paintings of women of color that match the detail and vision of Waterhouse’s white woman? If I wanted something brash and bold, I had choices..like this one:

-This one is beautiful and it has the elements of the mythical Sirens, but its a modern painting that lacks detail.

I love this Tony Morrison cover, -but again..its too modern and not the right style. I was getting depressed my dear reader. I finally found a few sites devoted to African-American artists. I paged through many of their featured artists looking for a painting that would rival Waterhouse’s. A sculpture that was truly magnificient caught my eye, but I wanted a painting. Then..I finally found one site that came close..and the painting I felt was just as beautiful and detailed, the artist is Consuelo Gamboa:

Tell me if this one rivals Waterhouse’s women. Its beautiful and I shouldn’t of had to look so damn hard to find it.