William Edouard Scott

William Edouard Scott (March 11, 1884 – May 15, 1964) was an African-American artist. Before Alain Locke asked African Americans to create and portray the New Negro that would thrust them into the future, artists like William Edouard Scott were depicting blacks in new ways to break away from the subjugating images of the past. Scott, well known for his portraits, Haitian scenes, and murals, challenged the standard depiction of blacks in art in the first half of the 20th century by utilizing black subject matter in an uplifting way. However, just as his style remained traditional as opposed to abstract, he was relatively conservative in his portrayals of blackness.

Biography

Scott was born in Indianapolis on 11 March 1884 to Edward and Caroline Scott (née Russell). After graduating from Manual Training High School in 1903, Scott spent a year studying drawing under Otto Stark. In 1904 he moved to Chicago and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he won the Frederick Mangus Brand prize for pictorial composition. During his time in Chicago he painted murals around the city, one of which was Commerce, which is still lauded today as "remarkable". He learned much of his palette and impressionist technique, however, during his travels to France. While abroad he studied at Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi and was mentored by Henry O. Tanner, a famous African-American artist who moved to Paris to avoid racial prejudice against his art. Training in Paris, Scott was able to build a reputation for himself more easily than his race would have allowed in America. Perhaps because of this, he seemed to be more conservative in his portrayals of the "New Negro" than others in the movement, and sometimes painted scenes that had nothing to do with race at all. During the years 1910–14, for example, he occasionally visited his former teacher at the Etaples art colony and while there painted local scenes such as the atmospheric Rainy Night at Étaples and others under Tanner's influence.

After his formal education was complete, Scott received a Rosenwald Foundation grant and traveled to Haiti to paint those who had "maintained their African heritage". Later he traveled to Alabama to study blacks in different communities in the South. By refusing to paint blacks as only slaves and laborers (as so many before him had), Scott hoped to "reverse the stereotypical perceptions of African Americans and eventually foster an understanding among the races".

Haitian work In 1931, Scott was awarded the Julius Rosenwald fellowship (Rosenwald Fund) for study in Haiti. During his time in Haiti, Scott truly captured the essence of the society in that nation. One of his more famous paintings from this period is Night Turtle Fishing in Haiti, 1931, which depicts the work of four Haitian men out on the water. Night Turtle Fishing is characterized by the strength of the figures whose labor energizes the work. Scott expressed his desire when visiting Haiti to create types, depictions of various Haitians engaged in labor. In this mural, Douglass Appealing to President Lincoln, 1943, Scott tells the story of Douglass's appeal for African-American participation in the Union armies in the American Civil War. "Scott, in his manner of depicting the exchange between Lincoln and Douglass, suggests that the fiery orator is here the aggressive speaker. Whereas Douglass, hands extended slightly, shifts his weight forward while speaking to Lincoln, the president appears to avoid looking into Douglass’s eyes and concentrates on listening to his words". However, when The Renaissance Collaborative restored the Y, the murals were cleaned extensively and restored. They are now considered a part of a Historic Landmark.

However, just as Scott's artistic style remained traditional and based on the impressionist techniques he had initially learned, his approach to race remained somewhat conservative until his death in Chicago in 1964.