Godfried Donkor (Ghanaian, born 1964) St Bill Richmond - The Black Terror, 2010
Provenienza : Provenance Acquired from Gallery 1957, 2017; A private collection. Exhibited Accra, Gallery 1957, Godfried Donkor Battle Royale-The Last Man Standing - Part I, (24- Aug - 5 Oct 2019). The imagery of the present lot is immediately extracted from Robert Dighton's (an English 18/19th century painter) work A striking view of Richmond (1810) which is currently in possession of the National Portrait Gallery, London. Bill Richmond, nicknamed the 'Black Terror' was a famous boxer of the time who was born in New York. Taken as a servant by Lord Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland, during the American Revolution. Percy, before taking Richmond back with him to England, would orchestrate boxing matches with British soldiers at the expense of Richmond who remained undefeated before a match in 1805 against Tom Cribb, the British Champion. His celebrity status led him to be selected to be an usher in the coronation of King George IV before establishing his own boxing academy in London. Set against a background of what could be likened to William Hogarth's (1697-1764) satirical caricatures, the presence of the 18th century western gaze is ever heightened. Donkor's addition of the halo around Richmond's head elevates his saintly status and is iconic of the artist's work. Godfried Donkor encapsulates the historical and social issue of humans as tradeable commodities. Historically, with his observations of the slave trade, to the present day in which the variation of this concept of humans as commodities are still present in the sport and entertainment industry. The subjectivity of the work is layered and significant. Richmond's is not only a story of victory, strength, and physical and notional concepts of fighting for racial equality but, given Donkor's re-mastering of the work, also one of displacement, appropriation, and commodification. This story, Donkor notes, is notional to the present-day realities of this concept, still very much present in society. Bibliography National Portrait Gallery website, Bill Richmond, (NPG D10726).
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