Forgive Them Father For They Know Not What They Do
I chose the piece “The First One Hundred Years: He Amongst You Who Is Without Sin Shall Cast the First Stone: Forgive Them Father For They Know Not What They Do”, which is by Archibald Motley Jr (1963-1972). In this art piece, it’s more of a representational theme. I claim this because it represents plenty of stories that are told outside of the piece that are well known today. The piece identifies 9 different stories that is majorly influenced in today’s society.
Inside the text, the description reads, “Motley makes Kennedy (whose heads appear in the center and upper left) the victims of white supremacy, as symbolized in the Confederate flag and a Ku Klux Klansman. Before the haunted house are many emblems, including the Statue of Liberty, a woman who combines a fugitive slave and Rosa Parks being marched off to jail, the three crosses of Jesus’s crucifixion, a snake, a scene of brutality, and a ‘whites only’ sign.” As told in the description, and getting a visualization of the piece now, you can see how well Motley developed each story in its own kind of way.
The form of the piece is an oil on canvas painting that shows an emotional color that stands out. Motley uses the identifications that are shown to create a sense of emotion. With the heads of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, it shows an affection of how both leaders have been assassinated, and the hurt, and anger shown. As seen underneath King, it shows a lynching of a fellow African American that Motley uses to express an emotion. From these two leaders, it shows what all has been done before the assassinations. You can view the Ku Klux Klansman along with a Confederate flag. Within Jim Crow Laws, the piece deflects a door that says “coloreds only”, and picket fences that show “whites only”. You can also make out a police officer bombarding a woman who can be viewed as a slave, or Rosa Parks, who was included in the time of segregation....