Rumors of War
(Written on December 11, 2019)
I stepped out of my house yesterday afternoon, walking west towards the VMFA. Almost immediately, I noticed others—neighbors, strangers—some walking, some cycling—in the same direction. Despite the fine, misting rain, anticipation hung in the air. Expectation. Eagerness.
By the time I arrived at the VMFA, a sizable crowd was already there. Over the next half hour the crowd swelled to over a thousand people; the Richmond City Schools All City Band marched. We were there to see and to celebrate the unveiling of Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of War.
As I watched the ceremony I thought of something my friend and mentor Steve Garber has observed: “Artists get there first.” Artists are the froth riding the wave. Artists have a prophetic role in helping the rest of a society to see.
After too many speeches that all were too long, finally Wiley motioned for Rumors of War to speak for itself, signaling for the shroud draped over the statue to be pulled down. Then, in what felt like a very Richmond moment, the tarp got stuck on the locks of the mounted African American. I worried a drapery miscue would steal the headline from the monumental moment.
But a people who had waited a century for wrongs to be righted was unfazed by a 30-minute delay. They celebrated with one voice as the tarp fell away revealing a heroic African American astride a horse. As Mayor Stoney put it, “It’s taken more than 100 years, but the rest of Richmond residents finally have a monument of a man on a horse that looks like them.”
Richmond Times Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams—himself a modern-day prophet—captured the symbolism of the moment: “You don’t sweep away 400 years of grimy history with the tug of a string. In Virginia, the birthplace of Massive Resistance, the past concedes nothing to the present or future without putting up a fight.”
Backstory
Good art has a backstory. Years ago Wiley produced a series of paintings also called Rumors of War, inspired by, evoking, and re-interpreting historic equestrian portraiture. That series helped build Wiley’s reputation by juxtaposing African American men in a classical style historically associated with wealthy, powerful, and white men.
When Wiley came to Richmond in 2016 for a major exhibition of his work at the VMFA, he viewed the statues of Monument Avenue for which Richmond is notorious. These monuments of “Confederate heroes” were erected at the turn of the 20th century, as part of the prevailing Lost Cause narrative. In particular, the statue of J.E.B Stuart (itself modeled on a statue of British general Sir James Outram), served as muse for Rumors of War.*
I walked home from the unveiling with certain civic pride in Richmond, thinking, “This is a statue I am eager to take visitors to see.” Through it Wiley proves himself a modern-day prophet, helping all of us to see. Through it he demonstrates that the prophet’s role is not merely to tear down, but to create, to imagine something new, something better.
Further Backstory
Further backstory of Rumors of War that I, as a pastor, am especially interested in comes from a story from further back. The monument’s title comes from the story of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Towards the end of his life, friends approach Jesus privately and ask him, “What will be the sign of your coming?” to which he responds, “You will hear of wars and rumors of war….All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:6-8)
As I read those verses last night I realized that they are an Advent reading. Advent is the church’s four week liturgical season leading to Christmas. It’s the season we find ourselves in right now. Advent is a time when the people of God anticipate his coming—not just his coming as a sweet baby born in a manger, but also his coming as powerful, regnant king in the Last Days.
How appropriate, then, for Rumors of War to be unveiled during Advent. Through it, Wiley—the modern-day prophet (the artist who gets there first)—offers a window into what will come: hope that one day, even in the face of monumental opposition, the high will be brought low and the proud will be scattered; and an invitation for all to live with prophetic creativity now as a foretaste of the peace Jesus will bring fully at his return.
*You can see a clever mash-up of the Stuart statue and Rumors of War here.