The Essay: Discovering Black Portraiture

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The Essay: Discovering Black Portraiture: The man with the French horn

The man with the French horn

Discovering Black Portraiture

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Peter Brathwaite takes us into the world of his Rediscovering #BlackPortraiture project

Opera singer Peter Brathwaite takes us into the world of his extraordinary lockdown project Rediscovering #BlackPortraiture, bringing art history’s forgotten black subjects to life

Opera singer Peter Brathwaite used lockdown creatively. Responding to the Getty Museum’s social media challenge to reproduce a work of art using only household items, he embarked on an extraordinary project: to recreate as many artworks depicting black people as possible, posting the results on social media using the hashtag #BlackPortraiture. Over 80 artworks later, Peter’s remarkable recreations of art spanning eight centuries have made a huge impression, particularly in their relevance to the Black Lives Matter movement.

As part of Black History Month on BBC Radio 3, Peter explores five of his recreations in depth, digging deeper into the stories of the black people he has brought to life. He also shares discoveries he has made about himself, his Barbadian heritage and ancestry, through the processes of researching and recreating each portrait.

In this third episode we meet Emmanuel Rio, horn player and gardener in the employ of Emperor Francis I of Austria, as depicted by Austrian artist Albert Schindler in 1836.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Peter Brathwaite takes us into the world of his Rediscovering Black Portraiture project.

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