 William J. Blackmon is primarily known as Prophet Blackmon
|
|
Ad Code: 4
|
from Auction House Records.
The Family Tree Representing Four Genereations
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
|
|
|
This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Obituary. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 19, 2010
They called him Prophet Blackmon. By Amy Rabideau Silvers
A self-styled preacher, healer and seer - someone who called himself "God's bum" - William Joshua Blackmon also became an accidental artist later in life.
"Prophet was one of the great Milwaukee characters - and among the best self-taught artists ever to come out of Milwaukee," said Jeffrey R. Hayes, professor of art history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
For his part, Blackmon regarded his art as a heaven-sent way to share his message and support his ministry.
Blackmon died of natural causes Feb. 8 at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Detroit, where he moved only weeks earlier. He was 89. Blackmon was buried with military honors Feb. 25 in Michigan.
His career as an artist began unexpectedly in 1982, after Paula Giannini, wife of then-Milwaukee Art Museum director Gerald Nordland, saw the Prophet's distinctive hand-lettered signs in his storefront display. To Blackmon's amazement, she quickly bought one for $100.
Later, he made another sale to Barbara Bowman, wife of the museum's chief curator, Russell Bowman.
Perhaps God meant for him to become a painter, Blackmon thought. If so, then God would inspire him.
"His art went from being commercial signs to the visual representation of his preaching," Hayes said. "They were visual sermons."
"Whatever the reason, he was incredibly gifted," Hayes continued. "He had an intuitive intellect when it came to line and form, dark and light, colors and words."
Others also were struck by Blackmon's work. One such moment came in 1985, after he was evicted from the old Sydney Hih building downtown. A photographer friend, Bill Tennessen, arranged to have Blackmon's paintings stored at the Wright Street Gallery in Riverwest.
Kent Mueller at the gallery couldn't believe his eyes. The story was retold in the catalog for Blackmon's Signs of Inspiration exhibit at Marquette University's Haggerty Museum of Art.
"What he left behind were 12 or so works, all wrapped in newspaper that was attached with Elmer's glue to the very front of the paintings," Mueller told Hayes, curator for the exhibit. "I experienced my very first epiphany in the art world. Here was the real thing . . . the undiscovered genius. Here was what most true art dealers live for."
The Prophet's art sold there and at other galleries, with shows elsewhere in the community. His paintings are included in the collections at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, the American Folk Museum in New York, and the Milwaukee Art Museum.
He grew up in Albion, Mich., one of 12 children. Blackmon served with the U.S. Army during World War II, mostly in the Pacific Theater. He later recalled bargaining with God in the heat of battle.
"I learned to pray during the Second World War," he told Hayes. "When the Japanese planes came over, I'd say: 'Lord, if you get me over this hill, I'll get over the next one myself.' "
Much of his life was something of a hardscrabble existence, including foundry work, carnival work and a stint as a "hitchhiking man of God." Along the way, strange things happened and he came to believe that he was a modern-day Apostle. Blackmon believed that he could heal with prayer and was sometimes moved to speak prophecies about those he met.
And so he became Prophet Blackmon.
"That was him, that was Bill," said his sister, Lyla Washington of Detroit. "He believed very sincerely in what he was doing."
Blackmon's first wife died in childbirth, and he was later estranged from his second wife. In 1974, he settled in Milwaukee. He ran his own little businesses, including the Revival Center Shoe Repair and Shine Parlor in the Sydney Hih building. There people could find his laundry service, tailoring, goods to rummage through or just help, if that's what they needed.
"I'm a street preacher," he told The Milwaukee Journal in 1982. "I stay in the streets. The greatest theology is in the streets. The troubles are in the streets. I go to areas where buildings have been torn down, where there are vacant lots and I minister to those people."
Both his preaching and his painting warned of the evils of drugs, sex education, premarital sex, homosexuality and abortion. Family, education, school prayer and discipline were values to be embraced.
"When he saw his paintings later, he seemed to be honestly surprised," Hayes said. "He didn't recognize them. He didn't own them. They weren't his."
"I'm amazed! And I know it's not me," Blackmon said. "I know it's inspiration from God, so I end up giving God all the praise and all the glory."
| Source:
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|