By E. Simms Campbell
Located in Miami, FL
The first Black Illustrator, E. Simms Campbell, paints a complex comic narrative featuring an opulent harem with 14 wives/concubines. The artist caters to a man's fantasy by placing the male subject in the middle of a 360-degree ring of well-endowed beauties. Almost all of the women are chomping at the bit to see if she will be the lucky winner. Each portrait is painstakingly rendered to flaunt its well-endowed feminine charms with gravity-defying breasts. In the center of it all is the male protagonist, vicariously representing the viewer. He is depicted playing spin-the-bottle to see who will be his next lover of the moment. Visually, it's a delight to look at. Technically, it's masterfully designed, with curving shapes, bathed in soft light, and a mouthwatering purple color scheme. It may be one of Campbell's most ambitious efforts because it successfully conceives and executes a large scene populated with 16 people. As with all vintage cartoons...
Category
1960s American Realist John La Farge Art
MaterialsWatercolor, Illustration Board, Pencil
