Description
Book SynopsisThe first book analyzing the artistic production and critical reception of Kara Walker, a young African-American artist whose controversial work deals with unsettling themes of racism.
Trade Review“
Seeing the Unspeakable is an extremely important work. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw is the first writer to place this controversial young artist’s work firmly in an art historical perspective. She combines careful scrutiny of the art’s formal traits with wide-ranging iconographic analysis, canny theoretical interpretation, and a revelatory examination of the work’s critical reception. The result is an extraordinary piece of scholarship.”—
Judith Wilson, University of California, Irvine
“It is not easy to write a scholarly work on a living artist whose talent for generating controversy at times obscures her formidable creative talent. However, Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw has done it, with remarkable intelligence and style. She brilliantly contextualizes Kara Walker’s work in terms of art history and African American history in a book that will be of tremendous value to scholars across many disciplines.”—
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard University
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Tracing Race and Representation 11
2. The “Rememory” of Slavery 37
3. The Lactation of John Brown 67
4. Censorship and Reception 103
5. Final Cut 125
Conclusion 153
Notes 157
Index 187
