Newspaper Page Text
Monday, March 30, 1998
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 4
Morehouse Professor Publishes Second Book
save the Far East, is game for
her to study drawings.
Dr. Zatlin discusses her new book with her
colleague James Richardson.
By Brian L. Thompson
Editor-In-Chief
She is known to
Morehouse students for her
unorthodox frankness in her
teaching methods. But she is
also the foremost authority on
artist Aubrey Beardsley's
works.
And last month she
merged her two loves when
she returned to Morehouse to
sign copies of her just
published second book
Beardsley, Japonisme and the
Perversion of the Victorian Ideal.
Dr. Linda Zatlin, once
described as the "high
priestess" of Beardsley art by
the New York Times, first found
her love for Beardsley after
reading an illustrated copy of
Aristophanes' play Lysistrata
in her World Literature class.
Dr Joseph Agee, head of
the Morehouse Foreign
Language Department, saw
Zatlin showing her students
the pictures and invited her to
his office after class. There, he
showed her a book full of
Japanese drawings and made
the connection in style with
Beardsley's illustrations. The
rest, as they say, is history.
Zatlin’s new book is based
on Beardsley's art which
breached impermissible
subjects in the 1800's. By the
time he was eighteen,
Beardsley had digested
Japonisme and forged his own
style with which he attacked
British chauvinism and
colonialism: the Victorian
ideal.
"Japonisme [can be
described as] Japanese
pictures in two dimensional
form instead of three. [It
became] a phenomenon in
America and France," said
Zatlin.
In the late 1800's, there
was a call for Japanese culture
to Europe, America and Asia.
The Japanese responded by
sending middle class art that
focused on the theater and
courtesan areas.
"[Japonisme. became] a
rage similar to Kente cloth —
everyone had to have one,"
Zatlin said.
Although the art was
described as "quaint" by an
English critic, even Pablo
Picasso (who was still painting
still-life while Beardsley was
creating masterpieces) had to
acknowledge Beardsley's
depth and influence, which
had huge implications on
modernism.
Zatlin began her extensive
research of Beardsley in 1986,
finished it between 1990 and
1991 and spent the next three
years polishing it. Although
Beardsley died at twenty-five,
he left over 1100 drawings that
he created in just over six
years.
Unfortunately, they are
scattered across the globe and
the owners often do not want
to send her the information
she needs. Therefore, Zatlin
must travel from place to place
to do the detective work
herself.
Major Beardsley
collections exist at Flarvard
University, Princeton
University and Victoria and
Albert in London, England,
where Zatlin visits regularly.
Much of the rest of the world,
"Australia has about
seven or eight [drawings] and
there's one in Japan that has
not been found," she said.
Currently, Zatlin is on her
second sabbatical in her thirty-
one years of service to
Morehouse, and is working on
her third book, Aubrey
Beardsley: ACatalogue Raisonne,
which she has been
researching since 1994.
"[Raisonne concentrates]
on not only the.
description of
physical
information
about each
drawing [size
and medium],
but also on the
past owners and
where it is now,
the auction
records, exhibits,
when it was first
published [and]
a discussion in
detail of what the
original critics
said," Zatlin
said.
While Zatlin
works on Raisonne — hoping
to complete research and a
portion of the writing this year
— she continues to set up
Beardsley exhibitions
worldwide. After completing
her most recent one in Japan,
she hopes to set up the next
one in New York. She will
return to teaching at
Morehouse in the fall.
Forum Deconstructs Rap, Hip-Hop and the New World Order
By Deisha Galbreth
Contributing Writer
"Negativity perpetrated under
the banner of white supremacy
must be challenged and defeated
by African people - it is our God-
given responsibility and right to
do so."
—Corey Johnson
A forum exploring the
apparent conspiracy engulfing
popular black culture was held
in King Chapel last month.
Entitled "Rap, Hip-Hop
and the New World Order:
Who Shot Biggie and Tupac?"
the talk featured Morehouse
professor Larry Crawford,
Corey Johnson and Keidi "The
Conscious Rasta" Obi Awadu,
founder of the Los Angeles
Coalition Against Racist Child
Experimentation and author
of Missing Assets .
Crawford said that the
speakers came to gave the
AUC a "more balanced
presentation of reality" while
testing the students' ability to
judge. Before introducing
keynote speakers Johnson and
Obi Awadu, he also discussed
the concept of "Rolehouse" and
the shutting down of the
students' voices.
Johnson began by
encouraging AUC students to
make "righteous" moves to
success. He then told the
audience that "these two
nights [February 24 and 25]
will be critical for the
education of black people."
His lecture included facts
about the Mafia, infiltration of
the black community and
"conspiracy for global
control."
Johnson's speech ranged
from information on the first
black fraternity (Sigma Pi Phi)
to more incendiary topics such
as documents from the FBI's
Secret Wars Against
Dissension in the United States
and the Cointelpro Papers.
He also discussed Tupac
Shakur's fight to make
politicians listen, his protest
against California's
Proposition 209, as well as the
history of Death Row CEO
Marion "Suge" Knight and
details concerning Shakur's
and the Notorious B.I.G.'s
death.
Morehouse sophomore
Shaun Caldwell found
Johnson's discussion of Suge
Knight one of the high points
of the evening.
"All the implications that
can be made from Suge
Knight's background and the
possible conspiracies were
eye-opening and
enlightening," he said.
Students who left on the
first night missed Keidi Obi
Awadu's speech that was
geared towards empowering
Generation X. He took the
stage and began sharing what
he called "new ideas that
would lead to new actions and
new results."
He backed his opinions
with facts on basketball's
Dennis Rodman as well as
entertainers Bill Bellamy,
Madonna, Easy-E, Snoop
Doggy Dogg and Foxy Brown.
As the students begged for
more, Obi Awadu detailed
how Brown got her "Ill Na
Na" from what he called "the
killer condom."
Clark-Atlanta sophomore
Eiko Harris said, "'The
Conscious Rasta' suggested
that we stop using latex
condoms because of their
possible effects. He said we
should use a brand of
condoms called Avanti
because they are safe[r]. I'm
trying to share that with
everyone I know."
Awadu further spoke
about demonic messages in
song lyrics and commercial
marketing of rap and hip-hop
entertainers. He also cited a
chilling example of population
control: 440,000 black babies
were aborted in one year.
Awadu also advised against
tattooing, saying, "Where does
the ink go and what is it going
to do to your immune
system?"
Before concluding, Awadu
instructed AUC students to
stop accepting the behavior of
celebrities and to not take on
the culture of those who
oppress them.
Morehouse sophomore
Caldwell said, "The seminar
was very good. Plans of the
New World Order,
innuendoes, morbid titles of
the rap albums...and just
[destructive behavior of] our
people are all things that I took
from it."
It was this type of
feedback that made 'The
Conscious Rasta' feel he was a
step closer to reaching his
audience.
"There is, in the body of
written literature, all of the
experience needed to create
the reality that our nature
demands," Obi Awadu said.
"Spending too much time on
sports, celebrities and
decadent American culture
like Ricki Lake and Jerry
Springer...tolerates the
degradation of our cultural
values."
"These two nights will be critical for the education of black people"
-- Corey Johnson, at the "Rap, Hip-Hop" forum last month.
