Kara Walker: White Shadows in Blackface

Kara Walker is a renowned artist who has represented the United States at the São Paulo Art Biennial. Robert Hobbs, a leading art historian, has written extensive essays on her work, exploring themes such as blackface Americana, Harlequin romances, Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection, Stone Mountains racist tourist attraction, and the minstrel tradition. This new clothbound volume republishes these essays, providing a valuable insight into Walker's art.

Format: Hardback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 29 August 2023
Publisher: Karma

In 2002, Kara Walker was honored with the prestigious distinction of representing the United States at the esteemed São Paulo Art Biennial. Curator Robert Hobbs penned extensive essays on her work for this exhibition, as well as for her subsequent show at the Kunstverein Hannover. Regrettably, these essays have not been widely distributed in the United States and remain among the most comprehensive and indispensable examinations of her artistic oeuvre. Consequently, Karma is now re-publishing them in this new clothbound volume. Among the most celebrated artists of the past three decades, with over 93 solo exhibitions to her credit, including a major survey at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Walker is renowned for her bold, critical, provocative, and highly imaginative representations of African Americans and whites, spanning back to antebellum times. In his analysis, Hobbs examines the five primary sources of Walker's art: blackface Americana, Harlequin romances, Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection, Stone Mountains racist tourist attraction, and the minstrel tradition. Robert Hobbs, born in 1946, has authored more than 50 books and catalogs, with a primary focus on artists such as Milton Avery, Alice Aycock, Lee Krasner, Robert Smithson, and Kehinde Wiley. Since 1991, he has held the Rhoda Thalhimer Endowed Chair of American Art at the School of Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University. Since 2004, he has served as a visiting professor at Yale University. Currently residing in New York, Kara Walker was born in Stockton, California, in 1969. She earned her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994, and shortly thereafter, Walker gained widespread recognition for her large, provocative silhouettes, which were installed directly onto the walls of exhibition spaces.

Dimension: 235 x 165 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781949172737