Edited with text by Jennifer Farrell, Leslie King Hammond, Patrick Murphy, Edward Saywell. Text by Michele Cohen, Leslie and Lisa Farrington, Destinee Filmore, Edmund Barry Gaither, Elisabeth Hodermarksy, Ekua Holmes, Shelley R. Langdale, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins, Theresa Leininger-Miller, James Manigault-Bryant, Martha Richardson, Lowery Stokes Sims, James Stroud.
Through paintings, sculptures, drawings and more, John Wilson's work foregrounds the human experience and refuses invisibility
American artist John Wilson was not only a master draftsman, printmaker, painter and sculptor active for over seven decades, but he was also a keen observer and social activist. In his representations of Black Americans in particular, he sought to pay homage to the beauty and truths of ordinary Black people in such a way that all viewers, across race and culture, might see themselves reflected. His multidisciplinary works include unflinching representations of racial violence and war, tender family portraits, monumental bronze heads and landmark commissions such as the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr., which stands in the United States Capitol. The first major retrospective of the artist’s work, Witnessing Humanity sheds light on Wilson’s life and artistic evolution. Reproductions of artworks and photographs accompany critical essays and personal reflections, including analyses by art historians, interviews with Wilson’s peers, remembrances from fellow Black creatives and a full chronology by the late artist’s gallerist. The varied voices which resonate through this catalog illustrate that it is long past time to recognize Wilson’s art—to celebrate his lifelong dedication to depicting what he described as the "reality of being Black in this impossible world." John Woodrow Wilson (1922–2015) was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tufts University. He lived in Mexico for five years and became a friend and colleague of artist Elizabeth Catlett. Wilson taught fine art at Boston University from 1964 until 1986.
Featured image is reproduced from 'John Wilson: Witnessing Humanity.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The Boston Globe
Murray Whyte
In his rough gestural swipes of charcoal and oil stick, charged with dynamic fury, you can feel him in the room with you, spectral, urgent, defiant. I don’t hesitate to call the show a landmark; it pays respect, definitively, to an underacknowledged master of his form, and to his irrepressible devotion to justice. In its intense, often dark beauty, it leaves no question about Wilson’s consequence — only about how long it took to get here.
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Perhaps best known for the bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that he produced for the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in 1986, Boston artist John Wilson was a master draftsmam, printmaker and painter, as well as a sculptor. And yet, his work is only now getting the attention that it deserves with the opening of John Wilson: Witnessing Humanity, the first major retrospective of his work, ever. On view now at MFA Boston, it will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in the fall. Featuring approximately 110 works across all media, it explores the many ways Wilson called attention to racial, social and economic injustices through his art. “I am a [B]lack artist,” Wilson is quoted in the substantial, beautifully designed, clothbound exhibition catalog. “I am a [B]lack person. To me, my experience as a [B]lack person has given me a special way of looking at the world and a special identity with others who experience some injustices … I don’t sit down and think, ‘Well, I have to do a picture on [B]lack people today.’ What I’m doing to some extent in my art is exercising some of these conflicting kinds of messages that this racist world has given me. … Some of the themes I have dealt with are not because I sat down and said I wanted to make a political statement but because of emotional experiences.” continue to blog
“Two months before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, he gave a sermon on the Drum-Major Instinct that ominously presaged his death and defined how he wanted to be remembered—not for his Nobel Peace Prize, nor his hundreds of awards, but for his dedication to serving others,” Michele Cohen writes in forthcoming staff favorite John Wilson: Witnessing Humanity. “He intoned, ‘Yes, if you want to say I was a drum major, say I was a drum major for justice, I was a drum major for peace, I was a drum major for righteousness …’ Sixteen years later, during the planning of the Martin Luther King memorial for the U.S. Capitol, Coretta Scott King told Architect of the Capitol George White that the bust ‘should be a good likeness’ and show her late husband as the ‘paster and clergy-man— serious minded, concerned, compassionate, and with humility.’ And she invoked the ‘Drum Major Instinct’ sermon, saying it ‘tells how he wants to be remembered.’ Artist John Wilson embodied this vision in his bronze likeness of King, unveiled in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 16, 1986. … The memorial is the first statue or bust honoring an African-American person to be displayed in the United States Capitol and the first Congressional sculptural commission awarded to an African American artist.” Pictured here from the catalog, a1973 black pastel and ink study for the bust. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 10 x 11.5 in. / 224 pgs / 150 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $55.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $82 GBP £47.00 ISBN: 9780878469024 PUBLISHER: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston AVAILABLE: 4/1/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Edited with text by Jennifer Farrell, Leslie King Hammond, Patrick Murphy, Edward Saywell. Text by Michele Cohen, Leslie and Lisa Farrington, Destinee Filmore, Edmund Barry Gaither, Elisabeth Hodermarksy, Ekua Holmes, Shelley R. Langdale, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins, Theresa Leininger-Miller, James Manigault-Bryant, Martha Richardson, Lowery Stokes Sims, James Stroud.
Through paintings, sculptures, drawings and more, John Wilson's work foregrounds the human experience and refuses invisibility
American artist John Wilson was not only a master draftsman, printmaker, painter and sculptor active for over seven decades, but he was also a keen observer and social activist. In his representations of Black Americans in particular, he sought to pay homage to the beauty and truths of ordinary Black people in such a way that all viewers, across race and culture, might see themselves reflected. His multidisciplinary works include unflinching representations of racial violence and war, tender family portraits, monumental bronze heads and landmark commissions such as the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr., which stands in the United States Capitol.
The first major retrospective of the artist’s work, Witnessing Humanity sheds light on Wilson’s life and artistic evolution. Reproductions of artworks and photographs accompany critical essays and personal reflections, including analyses by art historians, interviews with Wilson’s peers, remembrances from fellow Black creatives and a full chronology by the late artist’s gallerist. The varied voices which resonate through this catalog illustrate that it is long past time to recognize Wilson’s art—to celebrate his lifelong dedication to depicting what he described as the "reality of being Black in this impossible world."
John Woodrow Wilson (1922–2015) was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tufts University. He lived in Mexico for five years and became a friend and colleague of artist Elizabeth Catlett. Wilson taught fine art at Boston University from 1964 until 1986.
