{"id":10720,"date":"2019-03-05T13:33:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T17:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/?p=10720"},"modified":"2019-03-10T18:59:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-10T22:59:06","slug":"robeson-is-othello-in-prof-hostons-100th-anniversary-graduation-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/2019\/03\/05\/robeson-is-othello-in-prof-hostons-100th-anniversary-graduation-tribute\/","title":{"rendered":"Robeson is Othello in Prof. Hoston’s 100th anniversary graduation tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"
When Illustration Professor James Hoston<\/a> was asked to submit sketches for consideration for the Paul\u00a0Robeson<\/span>\u00a0Legacy Project — a year-long tribute to Robeson’s 100th year anniversary of graduating from Rutger’s University — he was ecstatic. “Paul\u00a0Robeson<\/span>\u00a0is a personal hero of mine.\u00a0 His life and career are poignant to the African-American community and American history.”<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"
James Hoston’s Paul Robeson as Othello (detail below with actress Uta Hagan as Desdemona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

There can be no-one-sketch-fits-all when it comes to Robeson. He was a daunting intellect, stage and film actor, an all-star, two-time All-American athlete. He was a scholar and famed\u00a0baritone\u00a0of classical, spiritual and folk music. He was multi-lingual and a political activist. He was Valedictorian at Rutgers 100 years ago.<\/p>\n

Five themes were given for artists to choose from. When Hoston began researching Robson’s life in depth “it was almost impossible to choose one,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I did sketches of him as an athlete and actor and could have kept going.”\u00a0 He submitted the required color 24″ x 12″ sketch of Robeson as an athlete, but the category had been chosen. Museum Director of Rutger’s Zimmerli Art Museum<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Tom Sokolowski, suggested Hoston complete a color sketch of his original submission.\u00a0 “It was a fantastic way to go” says Hoston.<\/p>\n

\"\"
James Hoston’s initial black and white submission of Paul Robeson as Othello<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“It’s of\u00a0Robeson\u00a0in one of his most famous roles as Othello,” says Hoston.\u00a0 Robeson appears at the top of the composition and at the bottom with co-star Uta Hagen as Desdemona. “The two acted together at the world-famous Shubert Theatre here in New York, in 1943-1944. With this sketch Hoston became one of six finalists to show their work.<\/p>\n

“I added the red Poppy and purple Mandragora flowers to complete the Shakespearian quote in Othello” says Hoston.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“‘Not poppy, nor mandragora, nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep which thou owedst yesterday.’ <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Those flowers were known for their opioid effects even back then! That quote personified the tragedy that Othello felt, once he had realized what he had done.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Houston teaches\u00a0Painting Process: Figure as a Visual Communication and Illustrating the Written Word.\u00a0 His works have been exhibited at galleries nationwide. He has collaborated with artist Jeff Koons, has been a book illustrator and artist at Marvel Comics.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Paul Robeson, college star athlete and two-time All American by James Hoston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
“The portrait of Paul Robeson as Othello by eminent artist James Hoston is a truly memorable expression of the exceptional accomplishments of an iconic performing artist and activist. It is about legacy. A portrait has to be memorable but believable, and that’s what makes this a portrait powerful. It’s what he did that’s being passed down to us. He was moving people. He had the stage.”\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
– Ed Soyka, Chair, Illustration<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

Hoston spoke to his students about competition and showed them the trajectory of sketches.\u00a0 “I won a slot before the fall semester ended and had to complete the twice-as-large painting in less than three weeks,” he said. “The deadline was in the middle of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I didn’t sleep for a week trying to get my painting done!”<\/p>\n

The Paul Robeson commemorative exhibit of portraits at\u00a0Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers<\/a>-New Brunswick will be on display from through April 14.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Images used with permission.<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Illustration Professor James Hoston was asked to submit sketches for consideration for the Paul\u00a0Robeson\u00a0Legacy Project — a year-long tribute to Robeson’s 100th year anniversary of graduating from Rutger’s University — he was ecstatic. “Paul\u00a0Robeson\u00a0is a personal hero of mine.\u00a0 His life and career are poignant to the African-American community and American history.” There can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":285,"featured_media":10734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8986,220],"tags":[59405,59406,59408,59407],"class_list":["post-10720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-work","category-illustration","tag-james-hoston","tag-paul-robeson","tag-tom-sokolowski","tag-zimmerli-art-museum-at-rutgers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/files\/2019\/03\/Athlete-crop.jpg?fit=900%2C1113&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p13xjz-2MU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/285"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}