Discuss the merits of DuBois’s idea that art should always be “propaganda”.

“An artist’s duty as far as i’m concerned is to reflect the times…We will shape and mould this country or it will not be moulded and shaped at all…That to me is the definition of an artist”

Nina Simone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7sBojD-cfs&feature=emb_logo

In 1926 at the time of writing “Criteria of Negro Art” Du Bois was deeply engaged with the struggle for racial equality. Critical of the Harlem Renaissance and bourgeois intellectuals like Alain Locke whose philosophical perspective was in opposition to his own more politically urgent stance, Du Bois did not think that arts for art’s sake was a luxury that could be afforded considering the socio-political injustices that prevailed. To Du Bois, the struggle for equality had to remain front and centre; “I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for propaganda. But I do care when propaganda is confined to one side while the other is stripped and silent.” (Du Bois 1936, p.7) In discussing the merits of this assertion it is imperative to take into consideration the conjunctural context of 1920s America, and the urgent sense of political disenfranchisement caused by the social hierarchies of the time.

The use of the word propaganda points to Du Bois’ belief in the function of art as a didactic tool for social change. In working to “dignify blackness” (Mallocci. 2013, p.1), Du Bois considers the psychological influence of art on mainstream perspectives; “again artists have used Goodness…not for sake of an ethical sanction but as the one true method of gaining sympathy and human interest.”(Du Bois 1936, p.6) Here, the function of art as propaganda demonstrates an opportunity for artists to use their craft to humanise their lived experience, debunkung reductive and nefarious narratives used to reduce their existence to stereotypes. By highlighting the function of self-identity as a form of resistance in opposition to white supremacy, “Du Bois used the concept of racial responsibility to inspire his African-American readers to undertake the task of ‘uplifting the race,’ while at the same time assessing their dignity as individuals.” (Mallocci. 2013, p.7) The criticism that this could be reductive, leading to a black artist’s work being defined by their race disregards the fact that this was true regardless in 1926, when perception was far from being colourblind. Du Bois brings it back to self-empowerment, insisting that “the ultimate judge has got to be you and you have got to build yourselves up into that wide judgment” (Du Bois 1936, p.7). On this, Locke and Du Bois are philosophically aligned, “Art in the best sense is rooted in self-expression” (Locke, 1928). But if the Foucauldian notion that democracy is “a willed political community” (Dyrberg, 2016, 285) is true, then Du Bois’ call to disrupt this ruling discourse is justifiable, arguably more so than Locke’s less radical and more diplomatic stance which sits within the paradigm of racial subjugation.

Du Bois vehemently opposed white hegemony of the cultural industries, and criticised the adulation of a small group of black artists as illusory. Recognition within the context of what was expected was not the goal; “the white public today demands from its artists…racial prejudgment which deliberately distorts Truth and Justice.” (Du Bois 1936, p.7). He challenged the artist to dismantle the meta-narrative created by structural prejudice. Whilst Locke asserts that art should be “free individualistic expression” (Locke, 1928) that did not necessarily connect

the artist so intrinsically to the politics of the times, Du Bois “felt a dire need to publicly expose and interrogate the presumptions protected by the domain of ‘pure art’” (King Watts, 2001, p.197). Du Bois resists the confines of the white gaze, seeking to create a new, more universal set of values. His motivation was for black art to expand and re invent the narrow conceptions white people imposed on their community; “there is still small place for us.” (Du Bois, 1926, p.5). If black art is only accepted within a white aesthetic, it cannot be considered “an emancipated impulse of pure art” (King Watts 2001, p,195). This sociological instinct, that there is no free creation if the people themselves aren’t liberated, is omitted by Locke’s less combative stance.

It is not only artists to whom Du Bois is speaking in his address. By its very nature, “propaganda requires participation” (Kidd and Jackson. 2010, p.561), and so Du Bois activates artistic creation as well as its consumption. In declaring that all art should be propaganda, Du Bois issues forth a rallying cry that encompasses the artist and the consumer, identifying purchasing power as a key element in the cycle of change. Again, this socio-economic perspective demonstrates a practical logic that Locke avoids, preferring to remain within the realms of appeasing social discussion.

In “Criteria of Negro Art” Du Bois not only identifies the black artist as the keystone to the advancement of race relations, but imbues his call to action with a strong sense of purpose that art must carry with it a message of Truth. Given the realities of white hegemony, it follows logic that black art was obliged to act didactically in order to provide a balanced perspective on race. Du Bois provides a more combative tone to Locke’s “polite, waif like words of racial accommodation” (Fitchue, 1996, p.2), though the two men are aligned in their admiration of Beauty and their hope for African American self-actualisation. Du Bois’ suggestion that art should always be informed by both Beauty and Truth grounds his argument in the reality of the time that he was living in; a decade after the racist film Birth of a Nation, 5 years after the Tulsa Riots and nearly 40 years before the Voting Rights act. Whilst the definition of propaganda could be seen to diminish the quality of pure art, Nina Simone makes for an eloquent example of a black artist who used her classical music background and adoring white audience to tell black stories that included pointed political statements. The expression of her reality was propaganda for black liberation, but this did not compromise the quality of her art. Maybe in a perfect world “Beauty sits above Truth and Right” (Du Bois. 1926, p.3), but until then Du Bois’ idea that; “the apostle of Beauty thus becomes the apostle of Truth and Right” (Du Bois. 1926, p.6) was understandable. And whilst Locke’s idealism can sound more reasonable, Du Bois’ radical stance seems justifiable given the continued need, nearly 100 years later, for emancipatory action inspired through art.

Essay written as part of Masters course entitled Global Culture and Creative Industries at SOAS university.

Module : Analytical Approaches to Global Culture & Creative Industries.

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