#believeinyourself — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Emerson

   A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his.
   In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

More about this quote: wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #emerson #ralphwaldoemerson #belief #believeinyourself #confidence #creativity #ego #genius #humility #idea #opinion #originality #pride #selfappreciation #selfapproval #selfbetrayal #selfcensorship #selfconfidence #selfconsciousness #selfcriticism #selfdefeating #selfdeprecating #selfeffacing #selfesteem #selfjudgment #selfquestioning #selfreproach #selfsabotage #selftrust #spontaneity #trustyourself

"Girl in a Green Cap," Laura Wheeler Waring, 1930.

Waring (1887-1948) was THE great portraitist of the Harlem Renaissance, painting many of the notable Black people of the era.

Born in Hartford, CT, the daughter of a minister, her family was educated and cultured, and her ancestors had been part of the Underground Railroad. She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, graduating in 1914. She traveled briefly in Europe, returning home when WWI started, but returned in the 20s, where she honed her style and exhibited in Paris galleries.

Returning to the US in 1927, she was commissioned to do portraits of figures of the Harlem Renaissance; this project, along with her work teaching at Cheyney University, an HBCU outside Philadelphia, was to consume the rest of her life. Her work is now featured in some of the country's top museums and galleries.

The subject of this portrait is unknown, but her calm confidence and self-assurance, and that knockout outfit, are beyond question.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

#Art #LauraWheelerWaring #Portrait #PortraitMonday #HarlemRenaissance #BlackHistory #MLKDay #BelieveInYourself