Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most impactful men in history and what he was able to accomplish for the African-American community during the hardest times of race relations in this country’s history. The visual of Martin Luther King Jr. by John Wilson is a piece I selected because it immediately attracts the attention of the viewer by depicting one of the most important people in American history. This piece has a lot of deeper meaning that the artist is trying to convey to the viewer. Wilson uses only black pastels making the portrait is entirely black and white. This represent the struggles that Dr. King fought for; to have white people and black people to live in harmony and in this piece of art work they are. There are also many other factors of this portrait that are able to enhance the meaning of this visual without words. The use of pastels in areas where it is darker, lighter or missing all together each help to represent the theme of the art. While the interpretation of this piece can have many potential meanings there is one very prevalent theme present. The use of dark and light on various areas of Dr. King’s body in the piece represents the responsibility and pressure he faced to gain equality for all African-Americans.  

Various areas of the portrait where the pastel is darker make many details of Dr. King stand out over others. This style of art is seen on Dr. King’s shoulders and the lower half of his face and neck, where the black pastel has been shaded more heavily. In the areas where Dr. King’s shoulders are darker represent the responsibility Dr. King to help the countless people who were relying on him to improve their lives. With this responsibility resting on Dr. King’s shoulder’s Wilson does an excellent job portraying this. The darker shading of the shoulders has the effect of adding pressure onto Dr. King’s body allowing the viewer to see the weight of stress and hard work that Dr. King had to put forth for others. Dr. King’s shoulders also show this pressure with more than shading. Wilson depicts Dr. King unlike someone who is considered a hero or a revolutionary is. It is incredibly common for people of great importance to be depicted in artwork with broad and square shoulders to symbolize power and yet in this piece Dr. King’s shoulders are not square and his posture overall is rather poor. This has the effect of essentially making Dr. King seen not as a hero or sorts but rather a common person. What Wilson is trying to say by portraying Dr. King in this way is that he wasn’t a hero but rather a common man that had the drive and ambition to achieve what seemed like unreachable goals. 

Along with the shading and posture of his shoulders another very important aspect of this piece to focus on is the expression on Dr. King’s face. With closed lips, no smile and Dr. King’s eyes facing slightly downward gives a great amount of meaning to the visual. This is because the look on Dr. King’s face is that of someone who is tired, weak, and suppressed. The reason that this gives such meaning to the visual is because it is to show that all the work that Dr. King did was not easily obtainable and there was hard work and sacrifice that had to be made in order to get the colored community equality in this country. This again shows how Dr. King was human and that years of fighting take their toll on everyone. However, while Dr. King may look depressed and close to a breaking point he continued to fight for the determent of the country as a whole. With constant pressure of leading the fight against oppression this piece shows how Dr. King was effected and yet was still able to preserver and achieve equality for the African-American community. 

The white in the piece doesn’t show what Dr. King had to go through but rather what he achieved. While the pastel adds a dimension of what Dr. King went through the black in the middle of his chest that fades into white shows how all responsibility, pressure and hard work that Dr. King had to endure, was in the end worth it for the betterment of society and especially the African-American community. Without Dr. King and his ability to take hardship and use it as his motivation to led the fight for civil rights would have been a much harder and longer fight. Thankfully Dr. King was able to do exactly what was needed to grant equality to countless oppressed American’s. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will forever be one of the most important people in American history because of his ability to lead and make change through his words. With the responsibility of leading the African-American community, Dr. King was able to fight through pain and suffering and turn it into his motivation to lead the fight for equality in this country. John Wilson is able to depict one of the most important people in American History in an incredibly simple way and yet at the same time say so much. Areas where Dr. King is shaded darkly to where there is no color at all helps to resemble how Dr. King was under constant pressure and still able to take responsibility to lead the African-American community. Wilson’s depiction of Dr. King is an excellent piece and reaches brilliant levels of meaning and is a thought provoking work of art. 
