Samella S. Lewis The Preacher Analysis

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Throughout history art has been used as a platform for artists to express their views, cultural concerns, and or to re-illustrate historical events in a modern scene. Samella S. Lewis used her platform, particularly in her piece entitled "The Preacher" as a medium in which she is applying the story of Jesus in a modern day context. Although the story of Jesus and his twelve disciples have been told for decades, it is often difficult for the preaching’s and teachings of Jesus to be applied in our present day in age. In Lewis’ 1943 painting entitled “The Preacher” (S. Lewis) a modern and more relatable scene of Jesus and his followers are depicted in which the viewers can find more relatable. Through the use of color, proportion, and symbolism, Lewis is able to still keep the historical context in her piece, but shows that though many African American pieces are not created we can still identify with the stories.
When you step back and engulf the full masterpiece that Lewis created nothing but warm colors fill your eyes. In the picture all of the men are wearing hues of red, blue and brown. As you continue to examine the picture your eyes are bound to find one man who is clearly the main focus of the artwork. This man has on the brightest and warmest color of them all. The warm colors that fill the canvas is one that you can associate with comfort and happiness. These colors convey a sense of comfort and a bond that the people pictured must have to one another. When reading the bible the disciples and Jesus are depicted as welcoming people that outsiders clung to. Although they were well known and popular they were still humble. These characteristics are being brought out in this very image, but through the sense that are associated with warm colors. As examination of the image continues, the proportions that Lewis arranged the subjects in cannot go unnoticed for long. Out of all of the African American men pictured, there is one who your eye naturally finds. This African American man has broad stern shoulders and big, firm, yet soft hands. He is the only man who’s entire face and upper half is shown. It is obvious that for some reason he is the focus of all of the attention. No matter where you look at the picture your eye will always somehow make its way back on him. When your eyes finally return back to
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The man and the middle symbolize Jesus and the twelve men are his disciples. The men round him are all different ages because Jesus welcomed everyone with open arms. The men are captured being close to him because the disciples relied upon Jesus heavily and shared a close bond with him. In the portrait there is little to no room in between the men. This suggests that all of the men are comfortable enough to stand arm to arm to each other. therefore, it can further be determined that the men all share a close bond. As you examine the picture only one prop is placed on the entire canvas and that is of some type of book. By the title we can infer that it is a bible and expresses scared and holiness because only the middle man is touching it and everyone else is only looking at

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