Rebel US Artist Puts Black Lives in the Renaissance Frame

THE GUARDIAN 
Jesus Noir, a picture by Ingres modified by Titus Kaphar, right. Photograph: Courtesy Maruani Mercier and the artist/Christian Hogsted
In his painting for the cover of the June edition of Time magazine, published in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, American artist Titus Kaphar portrayed the pain of the grieving African-American mother. Eyes closed, a black woman in a pose evocative of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus, holds an outline where her child should be. The painting made Kaphar a figure of hate for some, who felt it had no place on the front of the prestigious publication. “It became a place to put their anger and frustration,” he says. “It was another example of how Black Lives Matter was destroying the country.” [More