Anthony Antoine's got good bones, that's for sure! In a previous life, he even played the bones! In 1856, an artist named William Sidney Mount called him the The Bone Player and captured Anthony right inside of his very own Dorian Gray-type portrait for all posterity. Seriously though, don't you think Anthony Antoine is a dead ringer for the handsome musician who posed for Mount's painting? Except for the fact that he's not dead and hasn't aged. All jokes aside, ever since I started this blog, I've always wanted to feature Mr. Antoine in one way or another. It's taken three years, but I've finally found a unique way to do it; connecting him to the past is just soo Corey @ I'll Keep You Posted!
Back in the day, the musical instruments known as bones consisted of sections of the large rib bones & lower leg bones of animals. They were usually curved and about 5" to 7" in length. If you examine the portrait, you'll see how the player held them between his fingers with the convex surfaces facing one another while holding his wrist in such a way that the bones knocked against each other. There is absolutely no reason to think that this musician was not as popular in his community as Anthony Antoine is in his.
Just look at that lovely bone structure! That AA is a super FINE looking black man is a given, but you can trust that he's more than just a handsome face!
Antoine has aptly been referred to as "a pop, hip-hop and R&B infused artist who has taken his music to a bold level of empowerment and affirmation." Indeed, this is the man who boldly answered the Chante Moore hit, Chante's Got a Man with DANTE'S GOT A MAN! On his last full CD, Closets on Fire, he talked about curiosity and blaming it on the Hennesy long before Jamie Foxx ever really thought about it, and led us to the dance floor with his Ass Remixes.
The musical evolution and "edutainment" of Anthony Antoine actually began in Newark, New Jersey where he grew up listening to the classic sounds of Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin. Finding success in Europe, he worked with some of the industry's best producers, and as lead singer for the 80's group Swing, he's seen his singles chart on the Billboard charts and his videos played on MTV. Anthony currently resides in Atlanta, GA where he continues to make music and occasionally appear in films. He is a leading community activist especially as it relates to HIV/Aids prevention, and he is the proud father of one beautiful daughter.
The Bone Player may have been the hero of the slave quarters or maybe the free black Virginia community that he lived in 150 years ago, but today Anthony Antoine is the toast (and envy) of Facebook. One can often see countless photos of the man and his "friends" like Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Lewis, Fantasia and Loretta Devine. Humph! I know I'm jealous - 150 years of canvas and camera readiness on top of bone playin' dexterity & musical brilliance is nothing to side-eye or sneeze at.
On the flip side, I must note that the artist known as William Sidney Mount (1807-1868) seemed to have a great talent for painting good-looking 19th Century black male musicians. In fact, he is known as one of the first early American artists to present black subjects without the gross physical & racial stereotyping that was so common during his time. I would be remiss if I did not share the above paintings. The top portrait of the brotha on the fiddle is simply known as Right and Left (1850) and the The Banjo Player (below) looks as though he could be related to the The Bone Player (both from 1856).
The violin player in "Right and Left" is either left-handed or no violinist at all. Maybe the artist used the violin as an excuse to paint a picture of the handsome man.
Posted by: Lester Knibbs | July 08, 2011 at 04:31 PM
Lovely!
Posted by: Greg | July 08, 2011 at 06:03 PM
I am so intrigued as to how these damn bones sounded when played....I wanna learn.
Posted by: Spellbound By The Fudge | July 08, 2011 at 08:15 PM
@Spellbound: Forgive me for not including that in the text of this post, but they supposedly made a clickety-clacking sound - one that is much sharper than the sound that comes from a zydeco washboard (which mimics the sound of rattling a bone up and down a fixed ribcage). They say a skilled practitioner can produce a wide variety of sounds similar to those made by a tap dancer.
Posted by: Corey | July 08, 2011 at 08:43 PM
What I find fascinating about these portraits is that they aren’t in any way condescending, they aren’t demeaning, and although they are a bit sentimental, they aren’t excessively so. And yes, all the men are painted as handsome.
To stick in the “Things that make you go ‘Hmmmm...’” file, here’s a blog entry I found on this painter by Siong Chin:
“Mount participated in the life of his community, but his unmarried status probably prevented him from being fully integrated into it. His diaries are full of accounts of boating trips, attending socials, and musical events, and participating in local spiritualist meetings. After his mother’s death in 1841, he inherited a partial ownership in the family homestead, along with his other siblings. But he never fully settled in there, moving in and out, often after disagreements with members of his extended family, who also lived in the house.”
On the other hand, according the Museum of Fine Arts Boston site, “Mount was fervently pro-slavery,” this despite his living all his life on Long Island. It is difficult to believe the man who painted these three men like this could have also believed in their enslavement. Then again, these were actually painted for the European market, and maybe he just thought caricature wouldn’t sell there.
Humans truly are a mess—past, present, future and in all places...
By the way, in investigating Mount for this post, I found many versions of the Bone Player, and Corey, you really must go out of your way to get photo files with the best possible colors. Everything on your site always looks so good, and people probably don’t realize how much effort that is.
Posted by: Jim | July 09, 2011 at 01:13 AM
@Jim, I always look forward to the energy you bring to the comments section. Thank You!
"Humans truly are a mess—past, present, future and in all places..." Well, my friend, that pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? With that in mind, I can see perfectly well William Sidney Mount presenting African Americans (especially men) on canvas as normal & natural without any opposing views at all. From where I sit, there is nothing contradictory about it.
Jim, I can see you now having read this post, and then going on the internet to google, or "investigate" Mount. I LOVE THAT ! ! ! You are correct in assuming that I try to find the best images available for my site. You are MORE than correct in noting that it takes EFFORT, indeed!
Thanks again for your comments, and thanks for NOTICING!
Posted by: Corey | July 09, 2011 at 11:34 AM
NOTE: A few of you have sent me emails asking if Anthony Antoine has seen this post and what he thought of it. We actually spoke of it beforehand, and he has seen it since it went up.
His reply? "OMG...that pic is spooky. WOW! Thanks for the love Corey! Thank you."
- Corey.
Posted by: Corey | July 09, 2011 at 11:43 AM
Anthony Antoine is one of my favorite indie artists! Thanks for featuring him here!
Posted by: Roger Poladopoulos | July 09, 2011 at 05:30 PM