I finished the painting of Marian Anderson today ( I think) Below is the process of this painting.
Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to
overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth
century. In 1939, the
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in
Constitution Hall.
The incident placed Anderson into the spotlight of the international
community on a level unusual for a classical musician. With the aid of
First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on
Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial
in Washington, D.C. She sang before a crowd of more than 75,000 people
and a radio audience in the millions. Anderson continued to break
barriers for black artists in the United States, becoming the first
black person, American or otherwise, to perform at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 7, 1955. Her performance as Ulrica in
Giuseppe Verdi's
Un ballo in maschera at the Met was the only time she sang an opera role on stage.
