BlAcKBuRn

http://newdeal.feri.org/magpie/images/dwc063.htm (Refugees)

Robert Hamilton Blackburn is an African American artist born in 1920 in Summit, New Jersey. Blackburn is most well-known for his mod imagery printmaking, as well as being an educator. He died in 2003 in New York where he spent most of his life. He was an art educator and lecturer at Columbia University, Cooper Union Art School, New York School for Social Research, and School of the Visual Arts (New York).

During his lifetime, Blackburn was awarded with the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and the Whitney Fellowship. His methods included easel painting and printmaking., but his is most known for his development of abstract color lithography. Overtime, his art has been on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Whitney Museum of Fine Arts.

Blackburn’s piece, Refugees, is a lithograph that depicts a very tiny, overcrowded boat of men covered in darkened shadows. The image is dark and dreary, allowing the viewer to assume it is night time and this boat is an escape mechanism for the people in it. One man is hanging over the side of the boat, possibly because he is sick from the cramped, tiny rowboat. Another man, at the head of the boat, is rowing, but has his head down, which could infer exhaustion or even sadness. He may be leaving behind family and friends in order to escape his past life.

The water is full of ripples from the rowboat, but still seems smooth. Upon viewing this, I could imagine the small boat gliding through the water, producing no sound, except for when the paddles enter the water and the sound of droplets hitting the water as the oar comes up out of the water. Because of the title, I can guess these men are escaping from somewhere, but I do not know where. The sky is ominous, but may be that way to allow the viewer to feel the emotions of the refugees in the boat. There is sadness, but hope.

In this image, Blackburn is depicting the social issue of refugees and what they must go through to get to a better life. This is not a happy image by any means. It produces a sense of sadness, but could foster a sense of hope for what lies ahead.

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