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'Daylight Come… Picturing Dunkley's Jamaica'

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'Daylight Come… Picturing Dunkley's Jamaica' NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA DAYLIGHT COME... Picturing Dunkley’s Jamaica NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA CONTENTS 02 Daylight Come... Picturing Dunkley’s Jamaica 12 Catalogue List 16 Credits Detail of The Millers’ Tool Box (n.d.), ONYX Foundation DAYLIGHT COME... Picturing Dunkley’s Jamaica By Monique Barnett-Davidson, Assistant Curator This exhibition Daylight Come...Picturing Dunkley’s Jamaica is inspired by the life and work of Jamaican Intuitive artist John Dunkley, who was born in Savanna-La-Mar, Westmoreland and lived from 1891 to 1947. It offers an opportunity to explore the world of Dunkley beyond his own creative output, in order to illustrate the wider social and cultural contexts that he would have contended with as a turn-of-the-century Jamaican in the British Colonial Empire. The title: Daylight Come..., is symbolic of the transition of a suppressed mindset that – in spite of obstacles to social progress – becomes empowered and capable of envisioning new possibilities. John Dunkley, Banana Plantation (c. 1945), National Gallery of Jamaica (not included in exhibition) PG 2 NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA This exhibition complements John Dunkley: Neither Day nor Night, which is a once-in-a-lifetime display of the largest gathering of Dunkley artworks since his posthumous retrospective at the NGJ in 1976. Curated by Diana Nawi, independent curator formerly of the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), and Nicole Smythe-Johnson, independent Jamaican curator and writer; John Dunkley: Neither Day Nor Night first opened at PAMM from May 26, 2017 to January 14, 2018. Guided by themes such as tourism, immigration and the emergence of cultural nationalism in Jamaica during the early 20th century, Daylight Come... explores the period of Dunkley’s lifetime as a specified historical time span; characterized by the previously mentioned transition of Jamaica’s socially marginalized, from the John Dunkley, ending of the 19th century up to the first few decades of Sandy Gully (1941), the 20th century. Illustrated with a selection of artwork National Gallery created by various image-makers – both itinerant and of Jamaica Jamaican throughout the period - this exploration includes (not included in photography, paintings and sculptures along with other exhibition) associated artifacts. NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA PG 3 Dunkley’s time period was only a few decades after the Morant Bay War of 1865. Among its many outcomes, the War had led to the renouncement of the local House of Assembly system and transformed Jamaica into a ‘crown colony’, ruled directly by the British Government. Factors including the stagnation of the plantation economy due to indebtedness, lack of technological improvements for the sugar industry and the diminished ability to import immigrant labourers, as well as devastating forces of nature - hurricanes, droughts, and earthquakes - persisted well into the late 1800s. These factors created an environment which kept many black Jamaicans and other ethnic groups impoverished. The situation forced many Jamaicans, including Dunkley and also Marcus Garvey, to emigrate during the early 1900s in pursuit of better employment opportunities, generated by lucrative agricultural and economic developments outside of Jamaica. Adolphe Duperly and Sons, Loading Steamer, Port Antonio (c1908) National Gallery of Jamaica PG 4 NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA Adolphe Duperly and Sons, Sugar Cane Cutters (c1908-1909) National Gallery of Jamaica This reality is only hinted at in early 20th century photography, developed by the likes of Adolphe Duperly and Sons, Sir Harry Johnston and H.J. Hood-Daniel. In the main, the photographs presented a commoditized gaze of Jamaica’s idyllic landscapes and burgeoning modernity, for curious visitors looking to partake of an island paradise. But the photographers’ gaze also sanitized the social and racial disparity between various groups; the impoverished in particular were depicted with an expression of passivity and awkward compliance. Other media and devices of the period, including postcards and the lantern slide projector, were modern innovations in the dissemination of such images, designed to accommodate foreign consumption and subverting the realities of the colonial island. By extension, the proliferation of such imagery implied that a kind of social dominance may have been at play, as there was rarely any evidence to support the idea that these ‘noble natives’ and indentured workers had any kind of agency in determining how they were to be depicted in relation to the more pervasive narratives concerning the character of the colony. Anonymous Golden Vale, Banana Plantation (n.d.) ONYX Foundation PG 6 NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA Lantern Slide Projector with Lantern Slides, (n.d.) National Museum Jamaica It is one of the reasons that Dunkley’s legacy is that of a pioneer: an early 20th century black Jamaican exercising his creative agency in a way that was so unique, especially after his path-defining encounter with H. Delves Molesworth, Secretary of the Institute of Jamaica. It was inevitable for his artwork to form a part of the cultural revolution that birthed the emergence of the Jamaican art community by the late 1930s. He was not however, alone in this regard, considering contemporaries such as the Millers, Carl Abrahams, Albert Huie, David Pottinger, Ralph Campbell and Henry Daley among others. They highlight for us the emerging desire by a number of persons of that generation to reshape, reform and in some cases revolutionize the images that were used to depict and define the majority of the Jamaican people and their environment. Artworks such as Huie’s Girl with Beads (1938) or Daley’s The Artist (1945) invite us to utilize different categorizations for the black Jamaican. Other artworks such as David Miller Jnr’s sculpted heads encourage us to consider the technical sophistication and depth of expression achieved by the artist. Early nationalist ideologies such as Garveyism – which preceded the Jamaica’s cultural revolution by over a decade – motivated Dunkley and many Albert Huie Carl Abrahams, Girl in Pink Dress Mr. Molesworth of his countrymen to strive for self-reliance and independence (1945) (c.1938) of thought and insight. National Gallery of Jamaica National Gallery of Jamaica PG 8 NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA David Miller Snr Detail of Rasta do not touch I, (1955) National Gallery of Jamaica NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA PG 9 Collectively, these developments fuelled Jamaican self-definition, energizing the Jamaican modern art movement as well as the political developments, which propelled the leadership of the early trade unions, and later the political parties to form an independent state, no longer under direct colonial authority. It is our hope that this exhibition adds another dimension to our understanding of the creation of the Jamaican artist and their ability to embody not only inspiration but also time and insight in their works. Edna Manley Detail of Prayer (c. 1937) National Gallery of Jamaica PG 10 NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA In the words of Jamaican scholar Philip Sherlock, There are mountain-top times in the Jamaica story when “day da light” and sunrise comes, as if we were standing on the peak in a clear dawn … Quote taken from Phillip Sherlock and Hazel Bennett, The Story of the Jamaican People, (Ian Randle Publishers et al, 1998) NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA PG 11 CATALOGUE LIST David Miller Jnr., Detail of Male Head, (1949) National Gallery of Jamaica PG 12 NATIONAL GALLERY OF JAMAICA “Greatness could not exist in the backwoods. Adolphe Duperly & Sons Sir Harry Johnston Adolphe Duperly & Sons Nor anywhere in the colony. To them and to all Jubilee Market, 1901 Country Girls, c1908-1909 Arrival at the Exhibition, 1891 islanders greatness was a foreign thing.” Silver Gelatin print Sepia toned photograph Digital Print - Claude McKay, Banana Bottom, 1933 16.6 x 21.5 cm 21.5 x 16.4 cm 43 x 65 cm National Gallery of Jamaica National Gallery of Jamaica ONYX Foundation Anonymous Chinese Family, c. 1905 Adolphe Duperly & Sons Adolphe Duperly & Sons Attributed to E.E. Grant Digital Print King Street showing Victoria Market, 1901 Loading Steamer, Port Antonio, c1908 Touring Party Arriving at Castleton, c.1910 20 x 25 cm Silver Gelatin Print Sepia toned photograph Digital Print ONYX Foundation 19 x 24 cm 16.4 x 21.5 cm 43 x 65 cm National Gallery of Jamaica National Gallery of Jamaica ONYX Foundation Anonymous Montego Bay to Williamsfield, Jamaica, 1913 Adolphe Duperly & Sons Sir Harry Johnston Herbert H.J. Hood-Daniel Film Footage Sugar Cane Cutters c1908-1909 Jamaican Negroes, c1908-1909 Boiler Drawn by Steers, Copse n.d. Duration: 7 minutes Sepia toned photograph Black and White photograph Photographic Print 15.5 x 20.7 cm 21.5 x 16.4 cm 36 x 28 cm John Cleary National Gallery of Jamaica National Gallery of Jamaica National Gallery Collection Walder- Hicks Picnic, c.1898 (Detail on front page) Digital Print Adolphe Duperly & Sons Herbert H.J Hood-Daniel 20 x 25 cm Orange Street, 1901 Sir Harry Johnston Donkeys: Mandeville Market n.d. ONYX Foundation Silver Gelatin print A Jamaican Negro, c1908-1909 Photographic Print 19 x 24 cm Black and White photograph 36 x 28 cm John Cleary National Gallery of Jamaica 21.4 x 16.3 cm National Gallery Collection At Home, c 1895 National Gallery of Jamaica Digital Print A. Duperly and Sons Herbert H.J Hood-Daniel 20 x 25 cm Road to Rockfort, c1900 Sir Harry Johnston Copse Factory n.d. ONYX Foundation Silver Gelatin Print Negro Peasant Woman, c1908-1909 Photographic Print 15.5 x 20.7 cm Black and White photograph 28 x 36 cm John Cleary National Gallery of Jamaica 21.5 x 16.4 cm National Gallery Collection Portrait of Chinese Woman, c.1905 National Gallery of Jamaica Digital Print Adolphe Duperly & Sons Herbert H.J Hood-Daniel 20 x 25 cm Coolies, 1901 Attributed to Adolphe Duperly & Sons Montego Bay Panorama n.d.
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