Front Porch Therapy

John L. Newman, artist

1948–2022

Front Porch Therapy, 1987

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: acrylic; canvas

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 1943 x 2115 mm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 76 1/2 x 83 1/4 in

Credit line: Bequest of Richard M. Hollander

Accession number: 1991.0164

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Label texts

The Power of Place: KU Alumni Artists

“Where I grew up, the front porch was a place used for therapy for African Americans. It was a space for gathering, talking, and relaxing. Residents of the property invited friends, neighbors, relatives, and sometimes complete strangers to participate in discussions on a variety of topics—finding a job, politics, the ‘hood,’ family strife, religion, finances, love, death, race, etc. Advice was given, chewed on, and sometimes accepted. Interruptions were frequent, ideas challenged, and arguments erupted. You needed to be thick-skinned because criticism was rampant. Problems were never completely resolved, but emotions were soothed for a moment, front porch therapy to resume later.”
—John L. Newman

The Power of Place: KU Alumni Artists

Exhibition Label:
"Big Stuff: Contemporary Art from the Collection," Jun-1998
John Newman has a BA and MFA from the University of Kansas and now teaches at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Front Porch Therapy, painted the same year Newman left the Kansas City area, depicts a group of people on a porch. Newman’s subjects are people he knows. He paints them broadly so that the luscious texture and color of the paint contrast to what he describes as his somewhat chaotic subjects and sad situations.