There’s a reason why authoritarian regimes work so hard to suppress artistic voices: when artists in a free society are able to express what they perceive, they often challenge power. Especially if that power has run amok.
William Gropper was one such artist. I ran across his work in the latest magazine from the De Young and Legion of Honor museums in San Francisco. Amidst all the pleasant images of Monets and Etruscan statues in their current exhibitions, I stopped cold at this image.
William Gropper, "Un-American Committee," 1967
Along with Rockwell Kent, Gropper was one of two visual artists who was targeted by McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (SPSI). Unlike Kent, though, Gropper wasn’t even a member of the Communist party—he simply mocked injustice through his art, and he refused to answer the SPSI’s questions. For that, he was blacklisted, which deprived him of representation and success in the art world for many, many years. Kent experienced the same fate after being blacklisted (and having his passport revoked).
Yet even they didn’t lose their lives at the hands of strongmen sent by our government.
Rockwell Kent, "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty," 1945
There was a time when I painted out of frustration and rage. When I poured onto canvas what I couldn’t voice out loud. I haven’t painted from that place in years—it’s too hard to stay there long—but I’m thinking maybe it’s time to dig in again. Time to depict something that expresses what’s going on right now.
Maggie Parr, "Corporations Have Needs Too"
Art Heals
Somali American Artist Ifrah Monsieur has said that "to live in Minnesota as Somalis at this moment can feel like being skinned bit by bit." And yet, she creates works and performances that focus on community and hope. Perhaps that's the true revolution: refusing to give in to despair even when it's completely justified.
As she says, "My work draws on the tools of the past to heal the present and to design the future. It is rooted in radical imagination; in abundance, in kindness, and in collective care."
