Docuartist DeVon Cunningham--a Detroit Art Treasure--has Left this Vale of Tears

DeVon Cunningham and his partner Rose Johnson

Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on February 21, 1935, DeVon Cunningham began his art training at the tender age of eleven when he won a scholarship to the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis, Indiana. Part of his training was a two-week, all expenses paid seminar to study in Italy.

He continued his art training at the Detroit Center for Creative Studies and the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center. Cunningham went on to complete a bachelor's degree from the Detroit Institute of Technology and a master's degree from Wayne State University.

While he was working as a community outreach and public relations executive for Detroit Edison, DeVon was painting. Over his long career, DeVon's paintings have appeared in many galleries including eleven one-man shows, and his work hangs in many private and public art collections. His work is digitally archived and indexed in the catalog for the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute.

In 1969, DeVon Cunningham achieved national recognition when he painted the mural of the Black Christ on the dome of St. Cecelia Catholic church at Livernois and Burlingame in Detroit. This work featured a twenty-four-foot, brown-skinned image of Jesus with six multiethnic angels beside him serving high mass. The church's parishioners were mostly African Americans from the neighborhood. The mural was a welcomed addition to this French Romanesque church built in 1930 before the ethnicity of the neighborhood changed.

A national controversy erupted when the mural appeared on the cover of Ebony magazine in March 1969. Twenty-five years later on December 25th, 1994, the mural once again became the topic of controversy when the New York Times featured the church mural on Christmas Day. Reverend Raymond Ellis, rector of St. Cecelia's, responded to the criticism in a Detroit Free Press interview.

"Black parishioners have a legitimate complaint when they walk into a church to worship and everything is white. Christianity forces people to accept Western European culture.

"The historical Christ was Hebrew, a Jew from the Middle East. He might have had dark skin; he might have been fair. But Christ is the head of the church, he is God, and he is any color people want him to be."

Cunningham's commissioned portraits of prominent Detroit community leaders include Martha Jean "The Queen" Steinberg, a WCHB radio personality active in Detroit's African American community; Coleman Young, the city's first black mayor; Abe Burnstein, Detroit's reputed Purple Gang boss during Prohibition; and many others.

The most mysterious portrait Cunningham has painted is of Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. It was unveiled at Gordy's Boston-Edison mansion as a birthday present from his sister Anna Gordy Gaye--the wife of singer Marvin Gaye. Berry was quite moved and lauded the painting of him dressed up like Napoleon. Somewhere along the line, someone suggested that it might not be a compliment to be compared to Napoleon, and the painting disappeared. (More on that story appears in the link at the end of this post.)

Cunningham's portraits gave way to what he calls docuart that informs, instructs, and involves the viewer. His work combines symbolism with cultural iconography that leaves the viewer with a montage of images to ponder. DeVon's art not only appeals to the eye but also to the mind.

DeVon's jazz musician series typifies much of his later work. Historically, Detroit was instrumental in the 1920s through the 1950s for providing African American jazz and blues musicians venues to perform and make a living through their music. To document the historic relationship of Jews and African Americans, Cunningham painted legendary performers like Theolonius Monk, Louie Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Miles Davis, who performed in Detroit's legendary nightclubs owned by Jewish impresarios who hired Black acts when other venue bookers would not.

Billie Holiday docuart

 

DeVon Cunningham has produced significant art that remains relevant in our changing times. The Spill the Honey foundation commissioned a series of paintings that emphasizes the shared legacy of Jewish people and African Americans seeking historical truth and social justice through educational and artistic programs. The theme of Cunningham's last body of work deals with the environment and the pollinators--both endangered.

Mr. Cunningham passed away at 1:00 am Monday morning, July 31st at the age of eighty-eight after complications from a prolonged illness. Only two weeks before, DeVon and Rose Johnson went to Cafe D'Mongo's in downtown Detroit for his last outing where he enjoyed meeting with some of his fans, my wife Sue and I among them.

Berry Gordy's Lost Portrait

 

Fornology Blog Reaches Two-Million Hits

Doing a radio interview in Ypsilanti, Michigan (2016).

I began writing my Fornology blog in April of 2011 in support of my full length books found in the left and right sidebars. All of my 535 posts have been free from the start to anybody who cared to read them. Each post is a mini-history covering Detroit and Southeastern Michigan topics about important historical events including notable personalities, both famous and infamous. 

Because of the regional subject matter of my writing, I thought my audience would be well-defined, but I was wrong. As I was approaching this personal milestone of two-million hits, I took a look at my All Time analytics to see what the statistics revealed. 

First, my Fornology blog is fourteen and a half years, so I'm no overnight success, but my blog's growth has been steadily growing. Second, what surprised me is that just over half of my total hits are from the United States. That's one-million, three-hundred thousand hits, mostly from Detroit and Michigan. It turns out that just under half of my total hits are international.

The top five countries that comprise my All Time audience are:

1. The United States - one-million, three-hundred thousand hits - mostly from Detroit and Michigan.
2. Singapore - one-hundred, twenty-three thousand hits.
3. Hong Kong - sixty-nine thousand hits.
4. Brazil - sixty-three thousand hits.
5. Russia - fifty-three thousand hits.

Why and how so many people from around the world are reading my blog posts, I wish I knew. But it pleases me that they do. When it comes to the free exchange of ideas - the more, the merrier.

For anyone interested! My top five All Time posts are:

1. Detroit's Greektown Stella - seventy-one thousand hits.
2. Ottawa War Chief Pontiac Attacks Fort Detroit - forty-three and a half thousand hits.
3. Alex Karras (Detroit Lion) and Dick the Bruiser's (Pro-wrestler) Detroit Bar Brawl - thirty-one and a half thousand hits.
4. Detroit's Liquid Gold - Vernor's Ginger Ale - twenty-three and a half thousand hits.
5. Detroit's Baby Boomer Kids' Show Hosts - twenty-one thousand hits.

A heartfelt thank you to my core domestic audience and to the many Facebook share sites that have allowed me to distribute my writing and reach so many people worldwide.