More Than a Likeness by Mary Whyte

Author:Mary Whyte
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press

Close-up of Red Umbrella

Sneaker and Acorn resemble Wyeth's work in other ways, namely the depiction of African Americans, the generalization of the backgrounds, and figure placement. Just as Whyte found her models in her adopted community along Bohicket Road, so Wyeth had turned to his neighbors. Many were descendants of slaves who settled in Chadds Ford, which had been a stop on the Underground Railroad. In his numerous depictions of his black neighbors, Wyeth documented a community that was fast disappearing, just as Whyte recorded the Gullah residents of Johns Island. Wyeth most often turned to older men who served as surrogates for his deceased father, the painter N. C. Wyeth. On the other hand, Whyte's models are usually women: the elders at the Hebron Center who embraced her so warmly, younger women such as Tesha, and girls. Most important, Alfreda and her circle were models for Whyte's paintings as well as role models for life, love, and loss.

Sneaker is exceptional in Whyte's oeuvre as it depicts a teenaged boy. He stands against a telephone pole, a light shape that is mirrored in his white T-shirt; both serve to alleviate the overall darkness of the painting. He looks off to the right somewhat suspiciously or apprehensively, as the eponymous shoe dangles from a rope. The imagery of the pole, rope, and positioning of the sneaker suggest lynching, the horrific practice of executing black people and their white supporters, which Alfreda had alluded to during the visit to her childhood home. Only afterward did the artist learn that a hanging sneaker signals a place to buy drugs. The device of items hanging from a line recurs in Socks, but the model here is joyous and sweet.

The mood of Acorn is harder to assess. It is enhanced by the large expanse of charred wood—the result of a lightning strike—that looms above the young girl. She is simultaneously coy and shy, an indication of her preteen status. Her facial expression seems flirtatious, but the positioning of her left arm over her breast suggests that she is uncertain about her budding sexuality. The same young girl, again wearing jeans and a striped shirt, reappears in Dog House, another essay in adolescent moodiness with greater narrative potential. Here, at least, she has company, although the dog provides her with little solace and companionship. Both, it seems, contemplate their literal and figurative positions on/in the doghouse.

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