About the Project
Hi Everybody! My name is Andrea, and as my first English 328 Project, I was assigned the task of researching the legendary John Henry and building a website about the information I found. The finer points of John Henry were boiled down to five categories.
I chose to research John Henry from the Art aspect. But as I began my search, I came to realize how vague and generalized it was, as I could not find many ways to compare and contrast two different pieces of Art that portrayed John Henry. So I began looking up biographies and other writings on John Henry, hoping to find illustrations of him. Eventually I came across a website constructed by R. Q. Hobbs. His website contained information he acquired through his own research so he could write his biography and novel on John Henry, as well as his own art, which includes paintings and sculptures. (You can view his art by clicking on the first link from the list below.) You can also view his sculptures of John Henry by going back to his main page under his main menu.
Note: Since I can't make a direct link to Hobb's sculptures (I tried it but it didn't work) you can locate his main page by scrolling all the way to the top of the page (from the page with his paintings) and clicking on the 'go to main page' link. Then scroll down a bit and you will see the 'main menu' heading in blue, where you can click on Sculptures.
R. Q. Hobb's Paintings
Other John Henry Art
For More John Henrys by Keith Sheridan
One of the things I love about art is that there are no set answers when asking questions about a certain piece of art. The only thing a person can draw from the definition of Art, is that it is anything that is appealing to the eye of the viewer. Having that said, it is easy to say that my opinion of what art is, might be different from your idea of what art is. After viewing R. Q. Hobb and Keith Sheridan's art, I can definitely see some differences between them. Hobb's various mediums (choice of art supply used) are oil paints, pencil, and pen & ink, whereas most of Sheridan's are done in pencil. Hobb's work also seems to come from a more realistic look, in contrast to Sheridan's abstract drawings. What I mean by abstract, is that some of Sheridan's art is distorted from a proportional human figure. An example of this distortion, can be found in his piece called, JOHN HENRY BUILDING A RAILROAD. If you click on the thumbnail for a closer look, you can see that his face is elongated, and his fingers and toes are rather snake-like. In Hobb's ON HALLOW GROUND, the two human figures are perfectly proportioned, in contrast to Sheridan's JOHN HENRY BUILDING A RAILROAD. But if you take a look at the other Sheridan's drawings, you might notice that his distortions are a style of sort, as to how he portrays John Henry. Unlike Sheridan, Hobb doesn't seem to have a specific style, but merely depicts the symbolism and inspiration he finds in his paintings. But that's a good thing right? That's like having the sypnosis to a story on the book jacket. What are your thoughts on the art of John Henry? Do you like R. Q. Hobb's pieces of Art, Keith Sheridan's, or both? Do you know other artists who create illustrations and other artworks of John Henry? If you do have more information on the art of John Henry, or know of other artists who use him as a subject, it would be great to hear your thoughts!
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