Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Curator Discusses Exhibition: "Spiral: Perspectives on an African-American Art Collective"

Spiral: Perspectives on an African-American Art Collective is currently on view at the Birmingham Museum of Art through March 6, 2011, and features work by Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Charles Alston, Hale Woodruff, Reginald Gammon, Richard Mayhew, and Emma Amos.

Spiral was a diverse group of African American artists, originally consisting of 12 members, who met in 1963 seeking to find the Black aesthetic and the extent of their commitment in the struggle for Civil Rights. As an African American collective, the group presented an exhibition, First Group Showing: Works in Black and White, on May 14 - June 4 [1965] with an aesthetic limitation of restricting its palette to the colors black and white. With confidence, it can be stated that the use of this color palette carried some symbolic overtures. The exhibit reflected the different identities and views of the artists included in the group, yet it was unified by its common theme. It was during this period, of the Spiral Group, that Romare Bearden, as one of its founding members, developed his technique of collage.

Further readings.


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for including our video interview from Magic City Post.

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