Mario Moore: Responding to History Gallery Guide

GALLERY GUIDE

MARIO MOORE Responding to History

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THE CANNON

SEPTEMBER 17, 1862

Mario Moore’s During and After the Battle takes viewers to a scene of conflict. In the background image, Moore paints a cannon as the focal point, placed between the Confederate and United States flags, implying division.

The date September 17, 1862, the day of the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest battle on American soil, is written on a piece of paper in Moore’s painting.

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THE BATTLEFIELD Several soldiers fight on an open landscape; others are decapitated, with dismembered limbs scattered across the battlefield. Moore portrays some of the soldiers as Black, since this was the first time during the Civil War that African Americans were allowed to fight for the Union army. The battlefield is engulfed in cannon smoke and gunpowder, the heavy air colors the sky dark blue and gray.

Through the smoke in the upper right corner is a large green field with more soldiers, indicating that this is only a small portion of a much larger battle scene.

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BATTLE OF ANTIETAM This Civil War battle took place in Washington County, Maryland, where the Union army was victorious against Confederate soldiers.

IMAGES: (1–4) Mario Moore, During and After the Battle (details), 2020. Oil on linen. Purchased with funds from the Winifred and Kevin P. Reilly Initiative for Underrepresented Artists; (5) Antietam Battlefield Board, Atlas of the Battlefield of Antietam, 1904. Courtesy of the United States Library of Congress’s Geography & Map Division.

INFLUENCE & MEANING PETER PAUL RUBENS Moore is influenced by the great Flemish Baroque artist Peter Paul Rubens in his depiction of movement and conflict. Rubens, who lived and worked in the seventeenth century, was notable for painting large-scale hunting, mythological, and religious scenes. Rubens’ painting Wolf and Fox Hunt is the first of his hunting canvases created as an alternative to a hanging tapestry. Both Mario Moore and Mark Gibson used this work to influence their approach on formal and compositional challenges. Moore chose to apply Rubens’ methods by adding texture with enveloping smoke to represent the Battle of Antietam.

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MARK GIBSON Moore juxtaposes the battle scene with a rendering of fellow artist Mark Gibson sitting in a chair with his dog, Fido, in the foreground. Gibson wears contemporary clothing and is seated next to device chords plugged into the wall behind him, bringing viewers into the present. The artist captures Gibson in the comfort of his studio, with the sitter gazing directly at the viewer.

Moore is deliberate in his composition, contrasting a large Black man with his small, precious companion. A pairing not often seen in the depictions of men of color. This scene directly addresses assumptions about Black masculinity.

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THE PAST & THE PRESENT The Battle of Antietam was the first instance Black men in the United States were allowed to fight for their freedom alongside the Union army. Without this battle, African Americans would not be able to enjoy the rights and liberties exercised in current times. However, Moore wants viewers to understand that the struggle to maintain rights and liberties in the United States for African Americans is constant—the battle scene a symbolic reminder of that modern fight. Gibson represents a current, living result of the battle as he occupies a space of independence, respect, and equality.

IMAGES: (1) Peter Paul Rubens, Wolf and Fox Hunt, ca. 1616. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art through the John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1910; (2–4) Mario Moore, During and After the Battle (details), 2020. Oil on linen. Purchased with funds from the Winifred and Kevin P. Reilly Initiative for Underrepresented Artists.

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STUDIES & STYLES STUDY DRAWINGS Both Moore and Gibson created smaller study drawings before creating the largescale artworks. Their drawings, including Moore’s below, are reminiscent of works completed by Civil War artists such as Edwin Austin Forbes, who sketched on-site during the Battle of Antietam.

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GIBSON’S APPROACH Mark Gibson takes a contrasting approach to Moore’s work—his illustration of the battle is completed in a style used for modern graphic novels. Gibson’s Battle of Antietam concentrates only on the campaign. He draws the viewer’s attention to the soldiers in the center, with visible facial features and emotions. The surrounding battlefield is less delineated due to the smoke and gunpowder; soldiers fighting in the background, colored in muted grays and greens, are faintly visible. The central figures, wearing the traditional Civil War blue (the Union) and gray (the Confederate) uniforms are shaded with black, smeared with the colors of ash, dirt, and blood.

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CIVIL WAR ARTISTS Below are works completed by Civil War artist Edwin Austin Forbes, who sketched on-site during the Battle of Antietam. This style influenced Mario Moore and Mark Gibson’s study drawings.

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BAT TLE SCENE DEPICTION Gibson’s illustration is a more realistic assessment of the conflict, although no actual battle scene photographs exist.

While photography was widespread throughout America at this time, and many photographers followed battalions throughout the Civil War, it was impossible to capture a clash as it took place due to the limitations of early cameras and immense amount of blinding smoke, gunpowder, and dust.

Photographers such as Alexander Gardner, regularly documented the scene before and after the skirmishes, taking advantage of the calm to create thoughtfully composed images, sometimes moving bodies and weapons to fit artistically within the final frame.

IMAGES: (1) Mario Moore, Study for the Battle, 2020. Graphite on paper. Courtesy of Pauline and Alex Shender; (2) Mark Gibson, Battle of Antietam, 2021. Ink on canvas. Courtesy of Arthur Roger; (3) Edwin Austin Forbes, General McClellan Riding the Line of the Battle at Antietam (detail) from Abraham Lincoln and the Battles of the Civil War, 1887. Courtesy of Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection; (4) Edwin Austin Forbes (1839-1895), The Battle of Antietam–Charge of Burnside 9th Corps on the Right Flank of the Confederate Army (detail), 1862. Pencil drawing. Courtesy of the Library of Congress; (5) Alexander Gardner, Dead by the Church, September 1862. Courtesy of the National Park Service.

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ABOUT THE ARTIST Mario Moore creates realistic and frequently life-sized paintings of family, friends, and acquaintances. His works evoke physical presence and highlight the individual, while cementing the subject as a part of both history and art history. Moore lives and works in Detroit, Michigan. He received his master of fine arts in painting from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and a bachelor of fine arts in illustration from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT Support for this exhibition and all LSU MOA exhibitions is provided by the generous donors to the Annual Exhibition Fund: Louisiana CAT; The Imo N. Brown Memorial Fund in memory of Heidel Brown and Mary Ann Brown; The Alma Lee, H. N., and Cary Saurage Fund; Charles “Chuck” Edward Schwing; Robert and Linda Bowsher; Becky and Warren Gottsegen, LSU College of Art + Design; Mr. and Mrs. Sanford A. Arst; and The Newton B. Thomas Family/Newtron Group Fund. Mario Moore’s painting During and After the Battle was acquired in 2020 with funds from the Winifred and Kevin P. Reilly Initiative for Underrepresented Artists.

This exhibition was organized by LSU Museum of Art Curatorial Fellow, Clarke Brown.

LSU MOA is supported in part by a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, funded by the East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President and Metro Council.

LSU MOA is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council.

Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. LSU MOA Free First Sundays and Free Friday Nights sponsors: Louisiana Lottery Corporation; IBERIABANK, a division of First Horizon; and Louisiana CAT.

COVER: Mario Moore, During and After the Battle (detail), 2020. Oil on linen. Purchased with funds from the Winifred and Kevin P. Reilly Initiative for Underrepresented Artists.

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