American artist Jeff Donaldson’s title invokes Shango, a ruler of the Oyo empire and a major Yoruba spiritual figure associated with thunder, lightning, power, and justice. The three strong women represent his wives: Oshun, Oba, and Oya who fought beside him. Donaldson reimagines them in the language of Black pride and liberation in 1969. They are not distant mythic figures, but modern, self-possessed women whose beauty, dignity, and readiness suggest spiritual authority as well as political power. They connect Yoruba memory to Black self-determination during the Black Arts Movement, making the painting a vision of women as protectors, cultural anchors, and agents of resistance.
The three Black women stand close together, like a shared monument. Their skin is modeled in deep browns, amber, copper, and gold, and the watercolor surface flickers with warm oranges, reds, and yellows, making the whole composition feel radiant and heat-filled. All three wear natural Afro hairstyles that expand their silhouettes with pride and presence. The woman at left turns her face outward in profile, wearing a pink-orange dress, an ankh pendant, and a belt of bullets slung low across her hips. A long firearm hangs vertically beside her shoulder. The central figure wears white, a necklace of large beads, and a cross pendant. The woman in profile at right, in a yellow dress with patterned trim, holds an open fan. Donaldson presents them not as passive muses but as dignified, alert, and formidable women.
Painted just after Donaldson helped found AfriCOBRA in Chicago, the work reflects his commitment to a proudly Black, community-centered aesthetic that celebrated beauty, power, and African diasporic connection. Rather than placing women at the margins of revolution, he centers them as intellectual, spiritual, and political equals. The glowing palette intensifies the sense that these women feel iconic and almost sanctified like a vision of Black resilience and sovereignty.
“Wives of Shango” by Jeff Donaldson (American) - Watercolor with mixed media on paper / 1969 - Brooklyn Museum (New York) #WomenInArt #1960sArt #artText #art #JeffDonaldson #Donaldson #Yoruba #BrooklynMuseum #BlackArtsMovement #BlueskArt #BlackArtist #BlackArt #AfricanAmericanArtist #AfriCOBRA
