The Art of Whitfield Lovell: Whispers From the Walls - Book Review

Black Issues Book Review, July-August, 2003 by Clarence V. Reynolds

With an essay by Lucy R. Lippard, Pomegranate Communcations, Inc., April 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-764-92447-8

Whitfield Lovell's drawings and installations are much akin to an open house: In a distinctive and intimate manner, his artwork truly invites the viewer to step inside. Lovell creates august portraiture, using mostly charcoal, on the wooden planks of what might well be the walls of an old house. He then surrounds his subjects with antiquated, found objects that easily could have belonged to them. (Wise Like That, 2000, at left.)

The selection of old furniture, worn shoes, cloudy perfume bottles, used combs and hairbrushes, tattered suitcases and tarnished tea sets all play a central role in giving a voice to the imaginative narrative. Although Lovell combines drawing and painting and objects to lend familiarity to his artwork, his full-length portraits appear like quiet yet "unforgettable" spirits floating among the elements germane to a person's life.

Throughout the pages of The Art of Whitfield Lovell: Whispers From the Walls, the Bronx-born painter clearly expresses his allure for both the personal and cultural richness of family and memory. Inspired chiefly by vintage photographs, Lovell's representation and documentation of black life captures and welcomes years gone by. His artwork, indeed, embraces our collective past.

The exhibit Whispers From the Walls was started in Denton, Texas, and inspired by the African American community that thrived there from 1875 to 1924. Lovell, however, says he was drawn to paint on walls while visiting an Italian villa in 1993 that was owned by a slave trader: "Somehow the experience of being in the villa and knowing its history was so haunting that I could not work the way I was accustomed to working ... I wanted to leave some dignified images of black people in that space."

In this expanded and updated catalog, which was first published in 1999 and now accompanies a traveling exhibit, the reproduction of nearly 80 images relates Lovell's admiration for the folks and heritage that continues to inspire him. His works not only place his portraits in an historical context, but in a cultural one as well.

The writer and curator Lucy R. Lippard provides a well-examined overview of Lovell's work. The artist's conversation with Dr. Leslie King-Hammond, an art historian, brings his emotions and passions to the surface, giving invited guests an in-depth account of what charms and motivates his brilliant aesthetic.