Portland Museum of Art
Seven Congress Square
Portland, Maine
Through January 17
A phenomenon in art — as in life — is that we often go back
to our roots. We turn back in wisdom or familiarity or just a sense of “going home.” This very human trait is evident in this collection of 75 works by David Driskell, executed
between 1952 and 2007.
For more than 50 years, Driskell, one
of Maine’s most distinguished artists,
has been a creative force — in his
art and his academic career — in
marrying the Modernist movement
with the African Diaspora. An
educator, painter, sculptor, author,
art historian, printmaker and curator
(he curates Bill Cosby and Oprah
Winfrey’s art collections), Driskell
was born in Georgia.
He is one of the most respected and
influential scholars of our national
culture, and his extensive body
of work is in museums across the
United States and internationally.
Early in his career, Driskell went to
the Skowhegan School of Painting
and Sculpture and fell in love with
Maine. Fifty years ago, he and his
wife bought a cottage in Falmouth
where they still summer and cultivate
their garden. The nature and serenity
that Maine offers still imbues his
art. His 1956 lithograph “Night Owl”
is rendered with subtle, fine strokes
that create the evergreen’s needles
and the trunky texture of the owl’s
feathered chest. Most outstanding
are the creature’s eyes — soft and
imploring with the accent of white
around the irises.
Driskell’s father was a Baptist pastor
and consequently Christianity is an
important influence on Driskell’s work, as are the strong family ties of
his childhood. His prints are further
inspired by family activities, cultural
rituals, homelike interiors, the Maine
landscape and a panoply of world art
— especially African sculpture and
textiles.
His work is also a product of the
modernist ideas that grew out of
the work of Picasso, Matisse, Braque
and others, many of whom were
strongly influenced by the African
art they observed in Paris. And other
artists made their mark — like the
great northern Renaissance artist
Albrecht Dürer, with his woodcuts;
and photographer (and husband of
Georgia O’Keeffe) Alfred Stieglitz.
Driskell’s “Evolution” showcases
five decades of his printmaking
prowess. Driskell is careful to explain
that although printmaking implies
multiple “pulls,” this is not usually
his process. Even with woodcuts
and linoleum cuts, he predominantly
creates monoprints — one-of-a-kind
impressions.
However, he has revisited some of
those earlier prints and revised them.
One such work is the woodcut “Eve
and the Apple II” (1968), where the
figure reminds one of Picasso’s “Les
Demoiselles of Avignon.”
In the early prints — several
black-and-white iterations — a
composition of Eve, the first woman
from the Biblical story in Genesis,
has a bifurcated face, her body flat,
yet sculptural. She is flanked by a
stylized tree and apple.
In 2006, Driskell revisited the “Eve
and Apple” piece and reinvented it in silkscreen form (called “Eve and
Apple IV”). Although the original
print offers a lyrical portrait of Eve,
the updated work is all the more
stunning in its profusion of colors
— rich blue and harvest gold,
punctuated by dabbles of bright reds
and pinks and squiggles of white. It’s
nearly unrecognizable as the original print. The transformation is dramatic
and emphasizes the beauty of both
pieces — and the growth of Driskell
as an artist. It demonstrates his
ability to capture emotion through
the relief printing process.
In the late 1960s, Driskell’s art
path was forever changed by a trip to Nigeria. The exposure to African
masks, sculpture and ultimately his
African roots was deeply felt. The
African mask became a fundamental
motif around which much of his
imagery evolved. This shift in
the aesthetic focus of his work
is evident in such pieces as the
aforementioned “Eve and Apple.”
Driskell would sometimes use
gold gilt and halo effects in his
prints, along with segmented
jewel-tone colors to imply stained
glass — referencing early Christian
art — along with his trademark,
recognizable knife-stroke designs.
Driskell explored a similar process
of reinvention with the 1986
lithograph “Spirits Watching,” a magnificent, black and white
composite of five faces. In
sumptuous color, he has more
recently hand-colored the work.
Again, the contrast with the
original piece is arresting.
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