Untitled (work of art)

Key Ideas

• North Carolina artist John Biggers was one of the first African American artists to spend a significant amount of time in Africa. He traveled between Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, and Togo. 
• Untitled depicts a community of Black men, women, and children coming out of a shallow body of water. They are framed by two monumental Black women holding a hair pick.
• The two women framing the painting represent “Mother Africa.” The other figures in the painting represent the thousands of Africans who were forced to move to America, Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. 
• Biggers originally worked in a European modernist style. After he traveled to Africa, his work became heavily influenced by African symbolism and sculpture. 

Learn More

North Carolina artist John Biggers was born and raised in Gastonia. His interest in art began at the Hampton Institute in Virginia, where he took an art class with a man named Viktor Lowenfeld. Lowenfeld was a Jewish refugee who was forced to leave his home due to Nazi persecution. He inspired Biggers to explore his own experiences and racial prejudice, and to embrace his African heritage. During this time Biggers became friends with artists Elizabeth Catlett and Charles White, who influenced his art style. He received a grant from UNESCO in 1957 that gave him the opportunity to travel throughout West Africa and study art and culture in different countries. This experience caused a significant shift in Biggers’s style and technique. His work began to explore the connections between African and African American cultures.

Additional Resources

Resources for Teachers: