Malisha Dewalt, the creator of the Tumblr blog People of Color in European Art History - which, as you might have guessed, focuses on highlighting the non-white figures populating centuries of European art - sat down with NPR's Code Switch recently to discuss her project. The blog focuses on artworks dating from after the fall of the Roman Empire to the mid-17th century, and offers perspectives on the multicultural makeup of Europe during that time.
Thanks to the Tumblr platform, readers are welcome to add their own findings to Dewalt's personal research. The blog has consequently become a community project, with readers all over the world visiting their local historical landmarks or conducting interviews to add to the slew of information amassing on the site.
Among the hot topics (and sometimes very long conversation threads) are the many depictions of the Madonna with dark skin, as well as the magi Bathlazar - one of the wise men of Christian folklore - who has been represented as an African since the 1500s, as seen in Veronese 's 1571 painting 'Adoration of the Magi' (above).
Dewalt believes that the 'whitewashing' of European history is deliberate, saying explaining in the site's mission statement that: 'The ubiquity in modern media to display a fictitiously all-white Europe is often thoughtlessly and inaccurately justified by claims of 'historical accuracy'; this blog is here to emphasize the modern racism that retroactively erases gigantic swaths of truth and beauty.'
Perhaps Fox News presenter Megyn Kelly, who recently insisted that Jesus and Santa were both white, came across Dewalt's site before disavowing her earlier comments.
- Meredith Caraher (@Mereditheve)
(Image: Paolo Veronese, 'Adoration of the Magi,' 1571. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden. Via People of Color in European Art History.)
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