Capturing Writers on Canvas

Passion. Struggle. Family. Survival. These are the qualities that Gilbert Fletcher found united the works of the black writers he admired most, and these were the qualities he wanted to capture in his own work, even as he sought to embody the writing life of his heroes. But Fletcher had set himself a hard task, for he is not a writer but a painter, and if translating these abstractions into plot or verse seems like a challenge, imagine trying to render them in light and dark, line and shape.

Fletcher found a way, as evidenced by the 28 splendid paintings in his new book, Painted Voices: An Artist's Journey into the World of Black Writers. The writers range from Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes to Toni Morrison and Henry Louis Gates Jr., and the styles vary accordingly, from the whitewashed pallor of a barely sketched Ralph Ellison to the riot of colorful images surrounding Calvin Hernton to the near-fantastical portraits of Toni Cade Bambara and Alice Walker. But the paintings have one thing in common: as Fletcher explains in the thoughtful text accompanying the paintings, they are meant "to move beyond traditional portraiture and capture the essence of the writing itself."

The project got its start in the early 1980s, when Fletcher was working as art director for Library Journal. A freelance assignment took him to the Black Writers Conference at CUNY's Medgar Evers College, where he met numerous writers and commenced a serious reading habit that stays with him to this day. Soon he was collecting notes and clippings about his favorites in several oversize notebooks, all the while contemplating the writing process and particularly the pain any writer must face when translating black life in America to the page. These musings led to a bold plan: he would come to understand these artists through his medium so that "their words became my colors, their stories my symbols, their sorrow turned into shadow, their inspirations became light."

Daringly, Fletcher proceeded to contact 100 authors, asking them to help him come up with a list of perhaps 50 candidates for the series he was planning. The response was overwhelming, and he set to work, propping his first 24 blank canvases in his studio and opening up his paints. At first, inspiration was slow in coming—"I had so much wonderful material on the writers but was not using it the right way." Then he began thinking how different writers worked differently, which gave him a key to the entire process, and in one exhilarating, all-night marathon he had his first work.

The paintings that followed form a remarkable group that has toured widely, from New Orleans's Dillard University (Fletcher's alma mater), to Indiana Unversity's SoFa Gallery, to the National Black Writers Conference at the Brooklyn Public Library in March 2000. Fletcher continues his work on the series—he now thinks that the portraits will total about 40—but in the last year he has devoted his efforts to putting together a book that both displays his initial works and documents their creation.

"At first, I thought I would have a few exhibits and then sell some paintings, but this project has really become much more," he explains. "It's taken on another form." He is particularly pleased that the Brooklyn Public Library upgraded its collection to include more works by the writers he had captured on canvas, and he proudly recalls overhearing a mother viewing the exhibit tell her son, "The man in this painting wrote all these books." Having spent time with black writers, however, Fletcher has become chary of the publishing process; he has seen too many black artists get burned by mainstream houses. He thus decided to take control of the book's production and distribution himself.

As viewers, we should be grateful that Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965. Fletcher was at Dillard then, torn between his desire to paint (something he had started doing in elementary school) and an interest in science. Flooding from the hurricane destroyed his science equipment, but he did manage to salvage a junior high school painting of a Roman battle scene, and his course was set. Currently, he paints in an upstairs studio crowded with books, memorabilia, and found objects that serve as inspiration, but he paints mostly from memory: "If you want your work to be successful, you must pull something from your life," he reasons.

His encounters with black writers have obviously deepened his art, allowing him to explore new territory while strengthening his sense of what his medium can do—and words, perhaps, can't. "When you stand in front of a painting, you see shapes and colors that relay a message to you. They can give you a sense of fear or of serenity. When I paint, I am improvising pure feelings and energy." It's an energy that we see throughout his wondrous work.

Note: Painted Voices can be ordered through CNG Editions, 4631 Richardson Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470. The book is $40, plus $4.50 shipping and handling, with a 25 percent discount for orders of ten or more. Checks or money orders should be made out to the author.