harvardcollegeyale: medievalpoc: Caravaggio The Incredulity of Saint Thomas Italy (c.1601) Oil on Canvas, 107 cm × 146 cm. Sanssouci Palace Museum, Germany Since Caravaggio’s paintings are all about lighting, contrast, and of course, chiaroscuro, differen

harvardcollegeyale: medievalpoc: Caravaggio The Incredulity of Saint Thomas Italy (c.1601) Oil on Canvas, 107 cm × 146 cm. Sanssouci Palace Museum, Germany Since Caravaggio’s paintings are all about lighting, contrast, and of course, chiaroscuro, different photographs of the same painting can look rather different. In any American art history or history of Western Civ classroom, you’re practically guaranteed to hear of and see works from Caravaggio. But this work is less likely to be seen in PowerPoints and textbooks as an example because it includes a man whose race appears ambiguous to Americans-the man with brown skin who represents one of the Apostles accompanying Doubting Thomas to examine the wounds of Christ. Here is an image from caravaggio.org of people viewing the painting in a museum, to hopefully offset the illusion that any one specific photograph can capture its colors and contrasts perfectly. We are encouraged to assume that because he is “from history” he must therefore be white; he is white because he is from history.Sometimes we are even prompted to imagine the people in these paintings as someone we know, perhaps they look like us, or a relative of ours. But if the works we see are limited to only white or white-appearing people, how does this affect our sense of identity and connection to history? Are students of color discouraged from identifying with the people in paintings like this one, and why or why not? Further analysis and examination in this direction is discouraged in most classroom environments and disciplines, although this is beginning to change. My focus is on examining our expectations of these works, and how we as viewers categorize and identify with the people depicted in them. “But this work is less likely to be seen in PowerPoints and textbooks“ LOLWUT, go right ahead presenting this painting as some ~obscure~ artwork. I’m amused at this, just because you’re assuming that every person in the world, or in the U.S. particularly, has even heard of Caravaggio. I’ve actually gotten a few more replies to this post that have a problem with that particular line. I don’t think I’ve seen a textbook with that painting in particular in it as an example of Caravaggio’s work, although I imagine there are a few that exist. But I’ve read, seen, and processed/edited a LOT of textbooks. And powerpoints. And handouts. And entire undergraduate art history and history of western civ curricula, assigned reading, syllabi, and online modules. But that is MY personal experience, right? And we’re all individuals. But hey, the idea here is to doubt, right? Don’t take my word for it. Let’s see, what is something accessible to most of the people reading this, that can be measured and analyzed? Alright, how about a google search for “Caravaggio painting”? He’s famous enough that google will autofill artworks at the top of the search. Hmm, doesn’t seem to be there yet. Let’s scroll a little more, cause we’re really, super interested, right? We’re not gonna just grab the very first painting we see for our school project, we’re being diligent. Not yet… Hmm…. ^ oh, there it is. 28 images in. Good thing we were looking for it specifically, so we’re definitely gonna click that one to get a better look, but first let’s check out something else. Let’s go back and have a gander at the Caravaggio Wikipedia page, which is the first web link that shows up for “Caravaggio” in a google search, because we wanna learn more. The page has 19 paintings on it as examples of Caravaggio’s work beside the text, like this: None of those paintings are The Incredulity of Saint Thomas. You see, this post isn’t about what a given individual may or may not know. It’s about what we are encouraged to look at, how we define our sense of aesthetics, and how this is affected by the society and culture we live in. MPOC is meant to be accessible and enjoyable even to people who don’t care too terribly much about art history from an academic perspective, or have any interest in academia in and of itself. History is important, even to people who aren’t historians, and have no plans to become one. In fact, a lot of people who don’t have much interest in higher education enjoy doing google searches and reading Wikipedia articles to learn more about something that catches their fancy, as a hobby or just a way to relax. But for the casual learner, are they getting the tip of an iceberg, and what exactly rises to the top? What are we encouraged to look at and learn? Google searches can be rather revealing once you start to really analyze and consider what kind of “default” results you get. For example, consider the World White Web project begun by Swedish Graphic Design student Johanna Burai: “This work started when I searched for ‘hand’ on Google and the search results showed only white hands,” Burai wrote on her portfolio website. “Then I noticed that the themes of white hands were recurring every time I visited a portfolio or blog about graphic design.” Burai’s campaign aims to add more diverse images featuring people of color in searches like “hands,” “legs” and other body parts. Currently, when a user searches for a hand they’ll get hundreds of results of white hands. In order to get a different skin color users have to be more specific and include other keywords like, “African” or “Latin.” Burai uploaded six different non-white hands to her online campaign site that can be shared on all social media platforms. Burai said the more people share the images on her site, the higher the ranking they’ll be on Google, and the higher the probability of coming up as a top result when people search for “hand.” Speaking of what images are available for use by creative types, consider the need for Mosaic Stock, a stock image company that focuses on providing more diverse images of people for book covers: Mosaic is a stock photography site created by an author, for authors, publishers, and cover artists. After years of frustration over the lack of diversity on stock photography sites, romance author Elise Marion (who also pens young adult novels under the pseudonym Alicia Michaels), decided that the void needed to be filled. After all, if she were frustrated with the lack of diversity, there must be other authors, publishers, and cover artists out there feeling the same frustration. With that in mind, Mosaic will team up with photographers and models to provide quality images for use on book covers, websites, and other media pertaining to books. By not following trends, or the status quo, we hope to offer something new and fresh for the publishing market: models that portray our world realistically by incorporating people of all races, sizes, and backgrounds. You see, it’s not *only* about certain images being actively kept hidden, or when people of color are cropped out of images in textbooks and powerpoint slides; it’s not only about paintings including people of color having the PoC painted over, or when a masterpiece featuring a Black man sits moldering in a basement for centuries because racist art historians believe it has no value. It’s ALSO about what we are and are not subtly encouraged to value, to deem as “more beautiful”, what traits are seen as desirable and “good”. Believing that your individual preferences and sense of aesthetics are formed in some kind of sociocultural vacuum, completely unaffected by the people around you and the media you consume, is foolishness. We’re all affected by the society we live in, including how we react to its norms and dictates. Even our color choices and preferences are affected by culture, politics, and history. So, no, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas isn’t a particularly “obscure” artwork to art history buffs, art historians, or people who have a persistent, research-based interest in Caravaggio. The internet is an amazing thing, with more information available than any one person could hope to ever absorb. But how is this knowledge curated? What arrows point us in our next direction? What are we encouraged to value, and what are we subtly encouraged to devalue? I mean, it’s all well and good to scoff and dismiss what I’m saying as some kind of flim-flam, and you can do that. In fact, you just did. Or you could listen, and wonder, and inquire, and think about whatever neatly labeled box this work occupies in your headspace, and consider revisiting it, like it was completely new to you. Analyze it. Appreciate it. Love it, and think about what it means to you, and what it could mean to other people. Because I’m not here to make fun of people who’ve never heard of Caravaggio, or never seen this particular painting. I’m thrilled, I’m excited, and I share that joy and that newness. I’m working against the cynical hoarding of knowledge, and the smug and supercilious manner in which it is often disseminated. I want to help others feel empowered to look into things on their own, to feel entitled to grasp knowledge for themselves, and to trust their own, internal Doubting Thomas that might wonder if what everyone “just knows” about the supposedly ubiquitous whiteness of history is closer to a fantasy than we’ve been told.

Done