Emanuel Lutz1816 was born in Germany, and came to the United States as a child, and was later called one of the most representative painters in American history. His crossing through Washington, Delaware is part of the great history of creating myths in our country. A typical example of the art type called "historical painting", when the elites sent their works to commemorate the events that defined the national identity, Lutz's works centered on George Washington, the father of the United States.

But in an exhibition called "Historical Figures" in Seattle, the late African-American artist Robert Colscott played a prank on the painting. George washington carver is named after him. He is the hometown of Oakland, California, and an agricultural pioneer of the Taskey Institute in Alabama. Cole Scott revolves around Carver's central image, namely, the image of African-American chef and banjo player Aunt Jemima. Here, he makes fun of all kinds of cliches, Lutz's iconic image as an American white hero and his contemptuous depiction of African-Americans. Loweree Stokes Simms, co-curator of the Colscott Art Exhibition, which is scheduled to open at the Cincinnati Center for Contemporary Art next year, wrote in the catalogue of Seattle Art Exhibition that Colscott used "satire and imitation of famous works in art history, with the idea of integrating black people into art history and inducing us to talk about what constitutes a classic in art history.

The theme of redefining the mainstream narrative and expression of history runs through the whole history of sculpture, including the exhibition of 26 works by three generations of African-American artists, including Colscott, Kerry James Marshall and Mikaelen Thomas, and the curator of modern and contemporary art in the museum.

Katrina Manhanda said that during the Obama administration, she began to think about historical concepts and artistic expressions. She said: "Suddenly, we realized the historical importance of his presidency. At the same time, racial issues related to all aspects of daily life have become part of the public's active dialogue. The paintings in the exhibition have brought us unexpected enlightenment, a new description of African Americans by African Americans. Since the early art museum, curators have displayed more traditional works with traditional themes, and the Seattle Art Museum ideally represents a departure.

Another work by Colscott has an effect similar to his satire on Washington's crossing Delaware. His natural rhythm: Thanks to Jane Van Eyck (1976) for satirizing the portrait of the Dutch painter Arnold Fini 1434. The original photo shows Italian businessman Giovanni Arnolfini holding hands with his wife. Although she didn't actually look pregnant, she lifted her long skirt in the modern fashion at that time. In Colscott's version, the wife is replaced by an African-American woman, who takes the same posture as Arnold Fini's wife, and her free left hand is draped over her whole skirt. Cole Scott is here to make fun of the inaccurate interpretation of Van Eyck's original paintings by modern audiences and the cliché of African-American birth control practices.

Marshall was born in Alabama, grew up in the Watts community of Los Angeles, and now works in Chicago. His art solves the "catalog description" in "African-American Identity Today" and "western art classics" in various media.

"souvenir I, 1997, Kerry James Marshall, acrylic, collage, flash on unstretched canvas (Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, bernice and Kenneth newberg Foundation, 1997.73,) MCA Chicago, Photo: Joe tsiolkovsky) His souvenir I (1997)-in which a mysterious black character shows his shining wings and puts flowers in a classically decorated room-contains small portraits of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, as well as portraits of heroes and heroes. Sims believes that "the significance and great existence of these images reveal people's understanding of black history and history. However, MLK and Kennedy represent people who have traditionally appeared in historical paintings. The description of them in Marshall's works is even more whimsical, and it also shows their significance to African Americans.

In his other exhibition, "Beautiful School, Cultural School", Marshall said, "By creating a powerful episode of African-American men and women hairdressing, posing and talking. In the past, genre painting described an ordinary scene in family life, but now it is distorted and subverted by modern times.

Thomas, the youngest of the three artists, was born in 197 1 and lives in Brooklyn. Her art uses materials such as diamond, acrylic and enamel, and uses history and modern pop culture to explore how identity, gender, beauty and power are defined and expressed in contemporary culture. The catalogue says:

In "The Book of de Jonah-Herb: trojan women in Black"-this is a rifle of Edward Manette in 1863 "The Book of de Jonah-Herb"-there are three African-American women lying down, all wearing printed clothes, unlike the naked women lying in Manette's paintings. Simms wrote that the behavior of women in both paintings is "challenging, like an audience interrupting a private conversation". Thomas's "20 17 Boycott" is also in the play, which contains what Simms described as "a dazzling collection of photos of theft in which demonstrators confronted the police one after another in the civil rights movement." "The Statue of Liberty on the River Eber: Black Trojans", 20 10, works by Michelin Thomas, rhinestones, acrylic, enamel on the board (collected by Rachel and Jean Pierre Lehmann, artist and Lehmann Maupin, new york and Hongkong, playing poker with Michelin Thomas) "KDSPs" Manchada. This is always difficult. But this is also the reason why this issue needs to be questioned. History is made up of many histories told from different angles.

For Makanda, although Colscott, Marshall and Thomas all have their own art in the great American society where they live and work, they all do so in a unique way. She said that she hoped that this exhibition could "outline who is describing history, who is sketching history and who has problems in description." At the same time, how can we straighten out, reevaluate and continue the artistic, social and political history that we all inherited?

Simms added that the three artists "found a clever way to use the European-centered art history classics and combine them with the content that expressed their fear of exclusion and their determination to expand the parameters of art history."

Boycott, 20 17, mikalin Thomas, rhinestones, acrylic, gold leaves, oil pastels embedded in the board. As Michelle Obama said, she hopes that her new portrait at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, which is collected by American black artist Amy Charade, will arouse the interest of young girls. Manhanda said that the exhibition in Seattle seems to have deeply influenced many visitors. "There are rumors that the guards often see people crying in the corridor. She said: "There is a feeling that people are very involved and they take this topic very seriously.

""We hope to ask a series of questions by depicting history, including who is allowed, who is allowed to represent history and who is defended? Manhanda explained, "This is the beginning of a long series of questions that we have to ask ourselves.

"She thinks that the otolaryngology proposed by Michelle Obama is another step in this process." A former first lady is talking about the concept of representation, which means that people are more and more aware of this and these concerns are becoming mainstream. If so, something very profound is happening.