A Style Pared to Essentials
I Baptize Thee is part of a tradition of religious expression in the black community that includes both trained and untrained artists. Johnson was a sophisticated artist who spent years abroad and knew many avant-garde painters. He even visited the aging Henry O. Tanner in France, where Tanner had moved to escape prejudice. When Johnson returned to America for the last time, in 1938, he deliberately simplified his style to large flat color shapes. He adopted some devices associated with naive artists, like enlarging hands and feet for expressive purposes.
The woman to be baptized is flanked by a praying minister and another man ready to support her when she is immersed in the baptismal waters. This section is a jazzy gospel hymn of gestures; just try to figure out which of the six hands go with each of the three figures. Johnson loved wit and sight games. He deliberately confused us by making the left arm of the minister look like the back edge of the pool, the right arm of the supporting man actually coincides with the pool edge. 
While playing games, Johnson remembered to create a powerful vertical axis in the center, from the hand uplifted in prayer to the woman's echoing gesture at bottom.
While the next person to be baptized waits, eleven friends watch from behind. The horizon line neatly separates their heads from their bodies. We notice how squarely frontal these figures are, because one breaks ranks to stand in profile.
Pictured: William H. Johnson, I Baptize Thee, about 1940; oil, 38 1/4 x 45 1Ž2 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation.
Part 2
Discussion:
I Baptize Thee
(574K)
Get QuickTime
| Next Page |
Back to: Other Director's Choice Tours | Collections & Exhibitions
Home