Samella S. Lewis The Preacher Analysis

Throughout history art has been used as a platform for artists to express their views, cultural concerns, and or to re-illustrate historical events in a modern scene. Samella S. Lewis used her platform, particularly in her piece entitled "The Preacher" as a medium in which she is applying the story of Jesus in a modern day context. Although the story of Jesus and his twelve disciples have been told for decades, it is often difficult for the preaching’s and teachings of Jesus to be applied in our present day in age. In Lewis’ 1943 painting entitled “The Preacher” (S. Lewis) a modern and more relatable scene of Jesus and his followers are depicted in which the viewers can find more relatable. Through the use of color, proportion, and symbolism, Lewis is able to still keep the historical context in her piece, but shows that though many African American pieces are not created we can still identify with the stories.
When you step back and engulf the full masterpiece that Lewis created nothing but warm colors fill your eyes. In the picture all of the men are wearing hues of red, blue and brown. As you continue to examine the picture your …show more content…
The man and the middle symbolize Jesus and the twelve men are his disciples. The men round him are all different ages because Jesus welcomed everyone with open arms. The men are captured being close to him because the disciples relied upon Jesus heavily and shared a close bond with him. In the portrait there is little to no room in between the men. This suggests that all of the men are comfortable enough to stand arm to arm to each other. therefore, it can further be determined that the men all share a close bond. As you examine the picture only one prop is placed on the entire canvas and that is of some type of book. By the title we can infer that it is a bible and expresses scared and holiness because only the middle man is touching it and everyone else is only looking at