Alvia J. Wardlaw

John Biggers came to artistic maturity in an academic setting far from the art centers of New York. Indeed, he was repulsed by the New York art scene that had so summarily dismissed black art when he had participated in a MOMA black student art exhibit while a Hampton Institute student. Perhaps his avoidance of the centers of art commerce were as responsible for the late acceptance of his genius as was the segregationist mindset in the United States during Biggers's early career. He holds B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in art education from Penn State. His work as an educator was as important to him, if not more important, than creating a body of work. As well as producing important paintings, drawings, and sculpture, Biggers is one of this country's most important muralists, creating more than twenty major murals in fifty years. As Biggers's official biographer, Wardlaw had the advantage of extensive personal interviews with the artist and members of his family. Wardlaw's emotional reaction to her subject is evident, yet the analytical tone of typical art history writing seems out of place in a life such as Biggers's, dramatic in both content and context. Wardlaw draws a clear portrait of African-American life in the black section of a sharply segregated Gastonia, North Carolina, where Biggers grew up in the 1930s, and the rich family and community life of rural black America of the time. The other essays, written by noted scholars, are more polished in style, tracing the history of Biggers's artistic career through a careful study and analysis of his body of work. (January 1997)… (más)