"And in American culture in particular, Black Americans have contributed a disproportionate amount of what defines American culture. But what I wanted to say, it was part of my personal philosophy in the making of this book that artists play a really important role in defining culture wherever they are. There are quite a few more artists than another person would have selected. You know, this book reveals some of my own internal biases. And so it became just a very emotional and intuitive process. "There was something in their telling, in their hardships, in their joys and pains, their accomplishments that I wanted to reveal, I wanted to dig into. I kept looking at the people whose stories I was drawn to, whether they were well known or whether the audience would be learning about them for the first time. And it was a very difficult process at first, but it became easier because it was a really organic, emotional process. And my publisher basically said, you decide. And it was overwhelming at first to think about how I was going to pare it down. George McCalman: "As I was making my list initially, I had close to 500 names. On how he chose the subjects of this book And communing, making the art, sitting with the subjects, getting to know their accomplishments, their hardships, their challenges, their essences, that carried me through this entire experience." "And the art basically took me through the entire thing, I made the entire book in four years. So it was a really all-consuming process. And I'm also the writer of the book, and the designer of the book. But there are several that are with us now. It was a very, I've called it in my internal life, a very spiritual experience of communing with these pioneers, most of whom have passed. George McCalman: "The making of the art of this book was just pure magic the entire time. On the process of creating 'Illustrated Black History' Co-curator of the exhibition Black American Portraits at the LA County Museum of Art, which will tour the country starting this February. Liz Andrews, executive director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. Author, illustrator and designer of Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen. George McCalman, artist, graphic designer, and creative director. Today, On Point: Painting Black Americans back onto our nation’s canvas. Now, with a collection of 145 portraits of America’s iconic and unsung Black heroes - one artist is setting out to change that.
Portraits are about far more than pencil or paint.īut for most of our nation’s history, Black Americans were denied that public honor.
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