I got a negative comment, included in the previously posted page on Frost from a history of illustration instructor who took me to task for a typo where during what can only be described as a senior moment I identified A.B. as Arthur Burnett instead of Arthur Burdett. I got that right just below the photo of Frost but I failed to do an edit before I uploaded the page. The history of illustration instructor thought I was unkind to post what he described as Frost's lesser work, but I thought I praised his seemingly genuine line drawings as well. I was making a point.
I'll confess that I don't like Frost because I think he was a racist besides being a boring illustrator so much of the time. In my opinion, the two illustrations below are perfect examples of his unkind stereotypes of black people.
From The Century Magazine of March 1905.
Detail of the above illustration.
From The Century Magazine of December 1903.
Detail. Click on images to enlarge them.
This business of making fools of former slaves carried well into movies made well into the last century with many depictions of their abject terror upon hearing strange noises. It was supposed to be wonderful comedy.
It's your blog so you do as you please. However it is my opinion that criticising a man based on work you refuse to post is not only biased but very unfair. If he was a racist he was not alone during this period of time. Most of the depiction's of African Americans were racist caricatures and there were many artists that produced commercial work that we cringe to see today. That does not however invalidate their entire portfolio. If you contend his work is boring and has little value you should post a broad selection of his best pieces and let your readers judge if you are correct.
Posted by: Michael Mynatt | October 19, 2009 at 02:51 PM