Answer to Question #236922 in History for NEO

Question

a portrait of the Haitian Revolutionary leader, and former slave, Toussaint Louverture painted by John Kay in 1805. Describe, with reference to at least two visual clues in the portrait, how the artist has represented the future ambitions of the black revolutionaries. What does the source tell us (or not tell us) about the historical context and period?  

Answer 1

Newly discovered contemporary portraits are abundant, but the many later visual representations are just as crucial for comprehending Louverture's afterlives. These include works by Kimathi Donkor, Edouard Duval-Carrié, and Ulrick Jean-Pierre, which date from Cham's caricatures in Le Punch à Paris in 1850 to far more recent works by Kimathi Donkor, Edouard Duval-Carrié, and Ulrick Jean-Pierre. Jacob Lawrence's seminal The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, produced in 1938 in the closing years of the Harlem Renaissance and in the aftermath of the US occupation of Haiti, is one of the most stunning contributions. The set of 41 photos exemplifies Haiti's ongoing global impact on discussions about African-American identity. Lawrence's work is in conversation with older depictions of the Haitian Revolutionary leader, some of which the artist studied at the New York Public Library's 135th Street branch (now the Schomberg Center). Lawrence's use of a comic-book aesthetic foreshadows contemporary depictions of the Haitian Revolution and the lives of its leaders in comics such as Adam Murphy's Corpse Talk, Guyanese creative Barrington Braithwaite's Drums of Freedom, and Rocky Cotard and Laurent Dubois' new graphic history. Louverture's growing recognition as a global revolutionary figure means he's on his way to obtaining a transcultural icon that only Che Guevara has attained.