Can art amend history? | Titus Kaphar

Summary

Titus Kaphar describes a moment at New York’s Natural History Museum. His nine-year-old son notices a sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt depicting Roosevelt riding while a Native American figure and an African-American figure walk beside him. The child challenges the “fairness” of that arrangement, prompting Kaphar to ask whether public monuments and sculptures can be amended—rather than erased—to address historical imbalance.

Kaphar then shares his personal path into art. Though he didn’t grow up around museums, he took an art history class at junior college and realized his “visual intelligence” helped him learn. Later, in a survey art history course, a chapter on black people in painting was skipped. When he couldn’t persuade the professor to teach it, he taught himself by studying artworks in museums. He learned that painting works like a coded language: composition, hierarchy, and fine details (such as jewelry, lace, and fabric) communicate social and economic status.

He also demonstrates an art technique designed to “shift the gaze” without removing evidence. Using oil and linseed oil—which remains transparent over time—he allows underpainted or altered faces to gradually re-emerge. His goal is to reframe how viewers interpret depictions of marginalized people in museums, encouraging questions like “Why do some have to walk?” while maintaining the historical record rather than erasing it.

He concludes with an analogy to constitutional amendment: instead of deleting the past, add context that reflects both historical reality and present understanding.

Artistic techniques, concepts, or creative processes shown

• Self-directed visual study from museum artworks

  • Learning through closely looking at paintings and reproducing/altering what he observes.

• Understanding painting as a “visual language”

  • Composition and hierarchy as meaning-makers (e.g., who is placed “highest”).
  • Material details as coded signals
    • For example, gold jewelry indicating wealth
    • Lace and fabric indicating social/economic status

• Non-destructive or non-erasure “amendment” approach

  • Reworking paint layers using linseed oil so underlying forms become visible over time.
  • Re-framing perception (“shift your gaze”) rather than obliterating the original image.

• Curatorial/ethical framing through analogy

  • Amendments instead of eradication, similar to changing law by adding context rather than erasing an earlier version.

Creators or contributors mentioned

• Teddy Roosevelt (subject of the museum sculpture)
• Frans Hals (referenced; a painting by him is discussed)
• Vincent van Gogh (mentioned as an example related to visual identification in art history)
• Jackson Pollock (mentioned as part of survey art history)
• (The unnamed) art history professor (the teacher in Kaphar’s story)
• Kaphar’s children: Sabian and Dabith