ABSTRACT
An important dimension of racial identity is physical distinction.1 Phenotype has played an important role not only in how blacks in the United States have been defi ned by others but also in how they have seen themselves. As a visual medium, visual art is a powerful vehicle through which upper-middleclass blacks can articulate and nourish the physical dimension of their racial identity.2 Many of the upper-middle-class blacks I interviewed yearn to “see” themselves in the visual art that they consume.3, 4
Participants who are older describe a growing supply of black fi gurative art since the 1960s, as well as rising interest among blacks to consume it. Today, some participants seek black fi gurative art to visualize religious and national icons, such as Santa Claus and Jesus, as black. Black fi gurative art is also a medium through which they envision themselves and their family members. Black fi gures in art, such as a black preacher giving a sermon or a black couple dancing on the beach, are viewed as representing them and their relatives.
