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John Thomas Biggers (April 13, 1924 – January 25, 2001)〔(Jason Sweeney, "Biggers, John Thomas" ), Texas State Historical Association.〕 was an African-American muralist who came to prominence after the Harlem Renaissance and toward the end of World War II. Biggers was born in Gastonia, North Carolina, and attended the Lincoln Academy, the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), and then Pennsylvania State University, from which he earned a doctorate in 1954. From 1954 to 1955, he was in his home town, working on the many paintings that are now very well distinguished. His works can be found at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, primarily in the campus library. In Houston, Texas, Biggers served as the founding chairman of the art department at Houston's Texas State University for Negroes (now Texas Southern University) in 1949. Biggers received a fellowship in 1957 from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, allowing him to become one of the first African-American artists to visit Africa. Biggers studied under Viktor Lowenfeld, first at Hampton Institute and later at Penn State. Lowenfeld significantly influenced Biggers's artistic development. Biggers later created works that reflected his perspective of the anguish that people have suffered merely because of their race or religious beliefs. ==Work== John Biggers studied African myths and legends and was particularly drawn to the creation stories of a matriarchal deistic system, contrasting with the patriarchal images of the European world. As his ideas and images of Africa melded into the memories of his rural Southern life, his work became more geometric, stylized and symbolic.〔Eglash, Ron. (2004). “A Geometrical Bridge Across the Middle Passage: Mathematics the in Art of John Biggers.” The International Review of African American Art, Vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 29-33.〕 Quilt-like geometric patterning became a unifying element of his work and color became richer and lighter. Robert Farris Thompson calls attention to Biggers’ iconic treatment of household items associated with everyday domestic life, reinforcing the representation of the shotgun house as a symbol of collective dignity and cultural identity.〔Farris Thompson, Robert. (1995) "John Biggers’s Shotguns of 1987: An American Classic, The Art of John Biggers: View from the Upper Room." Houston, TX: The Museum of Fine Arts, 108.〕 The recurring symbol of the simple shotgun with a woman standing on the porch can be interpreted not only as the simplest type of housing but also as a reference to women, through whom all creation comes. The repeated triangular roof shape reminds one of the pieces of a quilt, a beautiful whole cloth made from many irregular and useless pieces, another symbol of the creative force. His papers, including correspondence, photographs, printed materials, professional materials, subject files, writings, and audiovisual materials documenting his work as an artist and educator are located at Emory University's Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library in Atlanta, Georgia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John T. Biggers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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