Skunder Boghossian's "Night Flight of Dread and Delight"

"Night Flight of Dread and Delight" by Skunder Boghossian

Skunder Boghossian is from Ethiopia, but he also lived in London, Paris, and the United States during his lifetime. He studied art in London and Paris, then returned to Ethiopia to teach for a few years before moving to the United States. In 1964, Skunder Boghossian painted Night Flight of Dread and Delight while residing in Paris. Through his piece Night Flight of Dread and Delight, Skunder Boghossian challenges views held by whites that African culture is inferior or less than that european culture, just like the Negritude movement in the first half of the 20th century, by utilizing surrealism.

Night Flight of Dread and Delight show two figures; one is dread and the other is delight. These figures represent the negative misconceptions of blacks in contrast to a positive portrayal of African culture. The figure that is “delight” is an owl and appears at the top of the painting in the center with its wings spread. The figure that represents dread, or negative misconceptions, is not a recognizable animal, instead it appears to be mythological. It has wings like the owl, but it also has legs and a different face.

Skunder Boghossian’s Night Flight of Dread and Delight was created as part of the Negritude movement. The Negritude movement took place in France during the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and Boghossian’s interest in it caused him to move from London to Paris to continue his studies. Boghossian studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and lived in Paris from 1957 to 1966, near the end of the Negritude movement. An article on Negritude describes the movements goal as “to dispel denigrating myths and stereotypes linked to black people, by acknowledging their culture, history, and achievements, as well as reclaiming their contributions to the world and restoring their rightful place within the global community.” Just as stated in this description of Negritude, Boghossian’s Night Flight of Dread and Delight seeks to dispel myths and stereotypes about blacks. In his piece dread being the “denigrating myths and stereotypes” is placed below and to the side of delight, signifying a difference in importance. While delight, representing African culture is shown central and importance, dread is shown to be less important. While both remain central to the painting, Boghossian sends the message that delight is more important.

In Brian Niro’s book Race, Niro writes on the Negritude movement stating, “Négritude, interestingly, posits a significant portion of its value on the simultaneous denial and embrace of blackness. On the one hand, race is denied fundamentally as a social construct invented by the white colonizer and (de)valued as such. It is, therefore, insubstantial in that a social construction should be, by definition, vulnerable to dismantling. On the other hand, Négritude embraces the fundamental reality of socially constructed worlds.” This “denial and embrace of blackness” that Niro discusses parallels the dread and delight in Skunder Boghossian’s Night Flight of Dread and Delight. The dread figure is the devalued construct of race while the owl is the embracement of race and African culture. The idea of the “denial of embrace of blackness” is central to the negritude movement, just as it is to this painting.

While Skunder Boghossian’s Night Flight of Dread and Delight is a product of the Negritude movement, it is also an example of surrealism, and the two are closely tied together. In his book, Black Surrealists, Jean-Claude Michel describes this intersection between surrealism and Negritude. He writes, “As one can see, there are some affinities between surrealism and some aspects of negritude. Both movements meet furthermore, in the same impossibility to reach a decisive definition of their specific goals.” The relevance of this piece to the Negritude movement was addressed above, but it is also an example of a surrealist work. The dreamlike feel of the painting is characteristic of surrealism. The abstract style is also often used by surrealists. While surrealism is not often associated with race, the surrealist movement was especially important to black artists. Jean-Claude Michel wrote that “in their rebellion against Western civilization, the European surrealists were contesting their own society. That was otherwise serious for their Black counterparts who were subjected to severe restraints and harsh prejudices from this very society … They would strive to completely eradicate this hostile society, but merely by means of art, of words, and of metaphors.” Using art and words to combat prejudices is exactly what the Negritude movement was about. Those who were a part of the Negritude movement created art and wrote poetry as ways to express African culture in a positive way and change misconceptions. The black surrealists art this time were doing this too.




Sources:

Black Surrealists: http://site.ebrary.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/lib/ncsu/detail.action?docID=10128800

Colored White: http://site.ebrary.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/lib/ncsu/reader.action?docID=10051177&ppg=1

Black, Brown, and Beige: http://site.ebrary.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/lib/ncsu/reader.action?docID=10351558&ppg=21

Race: http://site.ebrary.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/lib/ncsu/reader.action?docID=10076874&ppg=138#

Negritude: http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-negritude.html