CNN – Dressed in an ivory white leotard and tutu, a tall Black figure poses in retiré. Arms and legs angular, chest turned towards the light. It’s a traditional oil on linen — the frothy movement of the ballerina skirt almost like an Edgar Degas. The image, a self-portrait of Chicago-born figurative painter Thelonious Stokes, is haunting and formidable. The composition appears split in two: In the dancer’s right hand extended towards the shadows, he holds two thirds of watermelon, while a chicken stands at his feet. His face, turned away from the light, is painted coal black — a recurring reference throughout Stokes’s work to the racist practice of blackface.
Worth Reading at CNN