Harry Vital

Birds & Cattle

1972

Component 1
30 Questions
1. Who is the artist? 2. What is is painted out of? 3. What are the creatures? 4. What is the title? 5. Why are the birds and the cattle combined? 6. Why are the forms so broken up? 7. Was the artists inspired by Cubism? 8. Why are all the cattle looking in the same direction? 9. Do birds and cattle have a significance to the artist? 10. When was this painted? 11. Was this piece painted in response to any cultural or personal events? 12. Where is the artist from? 13. Where is this painting now? 14. Is there an importance to the use of geometric shapes to make up the forms? 15. Why do the cattle have human-like noses? 16. What is going on in the painting? 17. Where are the cattle standing? 18. How large is it? 19. Is this what it's like when cats eat catnip? 20. Where are the birds? 21. Where are the cattle? 22. Why are there only three cattle? 23. Are there more outside of the picture plane? 24. What is the mood of the painting? 25. Why are some segments treated three dimensionally and others flat? 26. Is there any significance of the colors? 27. What year was this painted? 28. Is there a narrative? 29. How famous is this painting? 30. How well known is the artist?

Component 2
Gathering a Significant Amount of Information about the Work of Art
Bibliography and exhibitions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=1232 Klaasmeyer, K. (2000, July 6). Biggers is better. Houston Press. Retrieved from http://www.houstonpress.com/2000- 07-06/culture/biggers-is-better/ There is no more published information about this work of art.

Component 3
Constructing a Bibliography of Writings about This Work of Art and Artist
Bibliography and exhibitions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=1232 Biggers, J., Simms, C., & Weems, J. E. (1978). Black art in houston: The texas southern university experience. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. Klaasmeyer, K. (2000, July 6). Biggers is better. Houston Press. Retrieved from http://www.houstonpress.com/2000-07-06/culture/biggers-is-better/ Linnee, S. (1978, July 12). Black art covers college walls. Nashua Telegraph. Retrieved from http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=RqorAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Lf0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=5145%2C2519525

Component 4
Showing Examples of Other Works of Art by This Artist

Component 5
Making a Timeline of Important Events in the Life of the Artist
Born March 12, 1941. Revival of the Ku Klux Clan in response to civil rights in the 1950s. 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education rules segregated public schools unconstitutional. Robert Hunt is the youngest African American ever t exhibit in major American museum, the Museum of Modern Art in 1955. Civil Rights Act passed in 1957 Married Bettye J. Moore on June 20, 1970. American universities establish African-American or Black Studies programs in 1970. Student of John Biggers at the Texas Southern University in the early 1970s. Created the sculptures Shrine, Shrine #1, and Shrine #2 in 1972. Painted 4th Ward Neighborhood and Birds & Cattle in 1972. Teaches mural painting at Texas State University. Has art featured in the book Black Art in Houston in 1978. Married Brenedette Glaspey on May 26, 1989. Released the CD People Get Reade with the Joyland Singers in 2002. Died November 3, 2011.

Component 6
Discussing Historical Context that Surrounded the Work of Art and Artist
It is difficult to discuss the historical context that surrounded Harry Vital and his painting Birds & Cattle without making assumptions and generalizations based upon the time period and Vital's race, as there is no published information about either the work or the artist. It is not clear whether or not race was an important issue to Vital when he created his artwork. What is known is that Vital was a student of the muralist John Biggers, who taught at Texas Southern University. Biggers' art was racially, economically, and culturally motivated. Many of the issues that Biggers dealt with concerned issues or racial identity. This did not focus simply on segregation, but legal restrictions that had an even more immediate threat for him and his family growing up. During the worst part of the Great Depression, many cities passed ordinances that prohibited the keeping of livestock and poultry within city limits, which completely transformed the way of life for his community. Vital is quoted as to saying that Dr. Biggers always stressed the importance of our rural backgrounds. Now a lot of the kids have never seen a horse or a rooster in the Nashua Telegram in 1978 to which Biggers replied that kids today are more chaotic. The whole ghetto thing is putting them out of touch with their earth and their beginnings. Biggers felt that as AfricanAmericans, they had a common root in working the lands and livestock, and that AfricanAmerican youth should learn to connect and celebrate their history with nature rather than ignore it. This concept may have been an inspiration for the subject matter in Vital's Birds & Cattle painting. Living in Houston, Vital may or may not have had much exposure to livestock himself. Biggers founded the art department at Texas State University in 1949, the first art department at a historically black Texas university. Texas State University is a historically black

university, being established in 1927 as Houston Colored Junior College and renamed to Texas State University for Negroes in 1947 and Texas State University in 1951. John Biggers struggled to get the art department started because of space and funding issues. Many people did not feel that art was a profession that African Americans could make any money from, so the department was fueled by the passionate instructors and students bringing awareness to black art. Students focused on creating artwork connecting to their heritage and roots in rural areas. While Vital's painting is deemed Cubist, as a TSU student, it is assumed that he probably was not studying from Cubist masters such as Picasso and Braque, but studying the African art that Cubist painters were appropriating. With a lack of examples of Vital's artwork over the years, it is not possible to know if this was a style that he regularly practiced, or simply something he practiced during his schooling under John Biggers. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s made civil rights and equality a hot topic. The issues of racism, segregation, and voting rights were constantly being debated. Many African Americans found their voice in expressing their opinions through art. They could openly discuss their struggles with racism, their culture, their believes, and their pride in being black. They were not trying to appeal to a white audience with their artwork. It is difficult to say with certainty if Vital's Birds & Cattle has a narrative rooted in civil rights, or if it is a statement on the common history that many African Americans had rooted in working with the land. The actual subject matter of cattle and birds in southern Texas has a strong likelihood of being inspired by Texas longhorns and cattle. The mostly unknown history of Harry Vital and his artwork creates a challenge in the teaching of his artworks. Teaching from his painting is largely based on speculation, but it can still be used as a great painting to spark discussion. Used as an example in a classroom setting, a

class could come up with multiple different narratives, themes, and ideas about what the painting's significance is and what the meaning of it could be.

Component 7
Listing/Creating Teaching Resources Related to this Work of Art
Bibliography and exhibitions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=1232 Campbell, M. S. (1985). Tradition and conflict: Images of a turbulent decade, 1963-1973 . Harlem: The Studio Museum in Harlem. Otfinoski, S. (2003). African americans in the visual arts. New York: Facts on File, Inc. Patton, S. F. (1998). African-american art. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Powell, R. J., & Reynolds, J. (1999). To conserve a legacy: American art from historically black colleges and universities. Andover, Massachusetts: Addison Gallery of American Art.

Component 8
Writing About Your Artwork
Metaphor: Simile: Limerick: The birds are the cattle. The cattle's faces are like that of lost children in a crowd. The bovine cerberus stares longingly The horns made of birds eye accusingly What is this life Imagine the strife Living with a bird attached to your head so annoyingly. The cattle are brown The birds person on the cows heads They contemplate life The cattle trudge on. The birds begin to yawn. The dusty road stretches far. Dont they wish they had a car. They have a long journey ahead. Before they can rest in bed. One day theyll reach the end. Its just right around the bend. Geometric Angular Unique Neutral Cubist Fragmented Textured Hybrid Analytical Bovine Avian The Rural Hybrid The way in which the cattle and the birds are combined into a single creature makes me appreciate the mutualistic relationship that birds and cattle have, and wonder how they would benefit if the two could somehow biologically combine.

Haiku:

Rhyming Couplet:

Adjectives:

Retitle:

Creative Writing: Texas in the Tropics It's been six months since the crash. Why I decided to take a ship overseas instead of an airplane is still beyond me. I should have learned from watching Titanic to never trust ships on the Atlantic Ocean. It's been lonely, being the only survivor on this island. I was about to resort to drawing faces on inanimate objects and talking to them for company when I saw a large crate had washed ashore. Curious, I drug it onto the beach and began to contemplate how I would open this large watertight box. This task became my saving grace for my humanity for a few days as I hacked away at the box until I could finally look into the dark box. It reminded me of home. It had this inexplicable air of the American South. Although it wasn't naturalistic of photorealist, the subjects were obviously some kind of cattle. Their form was broken up into simple geometric forms, which reminded me of the Cubist artists that I had studied in art appreciation and art history classes. I sat on the beach and simply stared at this large painting for over an hour, trying to understand every shape and form, but failing. I couldn't understand why the faces of the cattle seemed distorted and unsymmetrical. Why do they have horns coming out of the left side of their faces? For a few hours I resisted the urge to touch the paint, to run my fingers along the textures of this painting, because of all the years of museums telling me I wasn't allowed to touch artwork. I felt the brushstrokes and variation of smooth and textured application of the paint. It was a thrilling new experience that I have never been allowed except with my own artwork. I brought the painting inland where I slept as to decorate my home. I propped it against an overhanging rock to protect it from the elements. Sitting with the piece gave me a piece of mind. I could remember more clearly driving down Texas roads and admiring all the cows and steer

grazing on the grass. I never really thought much of the cattle until I came face to face with this painting as I'm stranded on this uncharted island. If I ever get off this island, I think I'll have a newfound respect for every cow and steer I'll see. Permanent Ownership: In my attempts to own the original painting of Birds & Cattle, I would hang the painting on my empty wall in the front room of my apartment. Not only would the painting be the focal point of the room, because of it's large size and it being the first think one sees when they walk into the apartment, the colors of the room would compliment and hight the painting. The dark brown couch and the deep red rug and quilt would bring out the richness of the colors in the painting. Some of the context of the painting would also be able to be retained, as it would remain in Texas, where longhorn cattle can be found on the regular. Central Theme: Culture

Component 9
Drawing From the Work of Art
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Texas longhorns may not be an artifact to be utilized everyday by myself, but they are definitely something that I witness on a semi-regular basis and has deep roots in Texas heritage and a symbol of Texas, itself.

I don't feel that birds are necessarily an artifact to be utilized, but I don't think I've gone a day in my life without seeing or hearing birds. They're notorious moochers, always being able to be found where there's food, which is why some breeds of birds constantly hang around livestock. Birds and cattle have a mutualistic relationship that was obviously observed and commented on by Harry Vital.

Analytical Cubism is all about breaking objects up into their component parts, and when I look at Harry Vital's Birds & Cattle I can't help but feel like I can simply take apart the pieces and put them back together different, just like a Mr. Potato Head.

Component 10
Including Made and Found Appropriations
Made Appropriation: Birds & Cattle puzzle Found Appropriations:

Pablo Picasso, 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon', 1907

left: closeup of 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' right: African mask

left: Pablo Picasso, 'Head of a Woman', 1907 right: Dan Mask from West Africa

Marcel Duchamp, 'L.H.O.O.Q', 1919

Left: Kehinde Wiley, 'Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps', 2005 right: Jacques-Louis David, 'Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass ' 1801