Shifting the Gaze

About this Brooklyn Icon

The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.

Titus Kaphar has a bone to pick with art history. He has publicly shared that in his first class on the subject, among the hundreds of pages in his textbook, only a handful were dedicated to Black artists and subjects. When his professor skipped the material despite Kaphar’s protests, the artist felt compelled to explore dynamics of race and power by examining whose histories are studied and whose are disregarded in the United States. Since then, Kaphar has become known for altering historical images to uncover hidden narratives relating to Black history.

To produce Shifting the Gaze, Kaphar took a copy of a work by Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals and obscured the white subjects with white paint, leaving the Black figure uncovered. Kaphar has said that more research and writing has been devoted to the clothing and jewelry Hals painted than to the sole Black subject; this work pushes the subject to center stage by adjusting the viewer’s perspective. Kaphar also produces canvases that have been cut, collaged, and—like this one—painted over, each affirming the presence and influence of Black people throughout time.