William H Johnson

While my magazine was centered around Renaissance painter Albrecht Durer, I found myself much more interested in the small article devoted to William H. Johnson.  I was immediatly drawn to him because his self portrait (above) looked very different from the other paintings the magazine included which were cold and monotone. The use of color in Johnson's piece immediatly gives his painting more life making it more fun to look at.
Another aspect I really liked about the portrait was Johnson's eyes. There shape expressed sincere sorrow to me.While Durer's eyes were very realistic, but all they expressed were boredom.
The article explains that Johnson was an African American painter whose "powerful self-portraits... express the difficulties he faced as a black artist in the early 20th century." It continues on to explain how Johson is able to express his sorry with his "broken planes" and "wedgelike brushstrokes." It also explained how the distortions of his face and body help him to express how he's feeling (in this case frustrated and afflicted.) Hearing about these techniques also really grabbed my interest. I hadn't noticed any of these characteristics before the article told of them, but once they were pointed out to me I found myself appreciating the picture all the more.
Albrecht Durer is able to paint self portraits that look identical to himself, but convey no emotion. Johnson is able to paint self portraits in which he looks very human, and is able to convey a strong sense of emotion. Johnson wins all the way.