This is the seventh in a
continuing series, highlighting either recently published books or those
that are forthcoming, that have an
African American art focus. When building a personal library that has
some focus on African
American visual art, it is
advisable to make your book purchases shortly after the book or
catalogue has been published. Making an early purchase more readily
assures you that the titles you are interested in have not gone
out of print. When a title does go out of print, the secondary market
becomes a viable option; however, you must then weigh cost and condition
differences among the few dealers that may have a copy for sale. I can
not over emphasize that fine art books are published in smaller print
runs than books in other subject disciplines.
The following post is simply a few new titles that have been released since the last
Booklist, consisting of a compilation of reviews from various
publishers' notes and other source materials:
1. Art for Equality (Jenny Woodley, author; published by University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky).
"The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) is the nation's oldest civil rights organization, having
dedicated itself to the fight for racial equality since 1909. While the group
helped achieve substantial victories in the courtroom, the struggle for civil
rights extended beyond gaining political support. It also required changing
social attitudes. The NAACP thus worked to alter existing prejudices through the production of art that
countered racist depictions of African Americans, focusing its efforts not only
on changing the attitudes of the white middle class but also on encouraging
racial pride and a sense of identity in the Black community. Art for Equality
explores an important and little-studied side of the NAACP's activism in the
cultural realm. In openly supporting African American artists, writers, and
musicians in their creative endeavors, the organization aimed to change the way
the public viewed the Black community. By overcoming stereotypes and the belief
of the majority that African Americans were physically, intellectually, and
morally inferior to whites, the NAACP believed it could begin to defeat racism.
Illuminating important protests, from the fight against the 1915 film The Birth
of a Nation to the production of anti-lynching art during the Harlem
Renaissance, this insightful volume examines the successes and failures of the
NAACP's cultural campaign from 1910 to the 1960s. Exploring the roles of gender
and class in shaping the association's patronage of the arts, Art for Equality
offers an in-depth analysis of the social and cultural climate during a time of
radical change in America"
2. Common Wealth: Art by African Americans in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Lowery Stokes Sims, author with contributions by Dennis Carr, Janet
L. Comey, Elliot Bostwick Davis, Aiden Faust, Nonie Gadsden, Edmund Barry
Gaither, Karen Haas, Erica E. Hirshler, Kelly Hays L'Ecuyer, Taylor L. Poulin,
and Karen Quinn).
"The story of African Americans in the visual arts has closely
paralleled their social, political, and economic aspirations over the last four
hundred years. From enslaved craftpersons to contemporary painters,
printmakers, and sculptors, they have created a wealth of artistic expression
that addresses common experiences, such as exclusion from dominant cultural
institutions, and confronts questions of identity and community. This
generously illustrated volume gathers works by leading figures from the nineteenth
century to the present—Henry Ossawa Tanner, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden,
Lois Mailou Jones, Gordon Parks, Wifredo Lam, Kara Walker, Glenn Ligon, Kerry
James Marshall—alongside many others who deserve to be better known, including
artists from the African diaspora in South America and the Caribbean. Arranged thematically and accompanied by
authoritative texts that provide historical and interpretive context, this book
invites readers to share in a rich outpouring of art that meets shared
challenges with individual creative responses."
Lecture: Join the writers for the launch of this new Museum of Fine Arts, Boston publication on January 14, 2015, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm @ Harry and Mildred Remis Auditorium (Auditorium 161). Tickets required
3. Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage Jamaica (Ekow Eshun, essay; Kehinde Wiley. Published by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London).
"The painting of New York-based Kehinde Wiley fuses
portraiture and pattern, situating modern subjects in traditional heroic poses
against richly patterned backgrounds. Despite the multitude of layers, the
abundance of allusions both traditional and contemporary, the results are conceptually
clear and impressive. In the works reproduced in Kehinde Wiley: The World
Stage Jamaica, the artist paints young, urban Jamaican men and women, in
poses appropriated from colonial-era British portraiture. They are placed
against and intertwined with backgrounds from British textile designer William
Morris. Wiley thus restages history: the race and gender of the colonial hero
have been transformed. The dignified, strong pose refers not only to the
conventions of the genre, but also to the symbolism of Jamaican culture and its
particular ideals of style and beauty. Within a single frame, Wiley combines a
traditional mode of portraiture, the ongoing complexities of colonialism and a
proud, unique, modern culture--a narrative of contemporary Jamaica. Alongside
full-color illustrations and installation images from Wiley's exhibition at the
Stephen Friedman Gallery, an extensive essay from leading British-Ghanaian
cultural commentator Ekow Eshun explicates the symbolism at play in Wiley's
work." This title is a continuation of the World's Stage series and consists of 59 pages with chiefly color illustrations.
4. Kerry James Marshall: Painting and Other Stuff (Okwui Enwezor, Navc Haq, Dieter Roelstraete, Sofie Vermeiren (authors/contributors); Kerry James Marshall. Published by Ludion, Antwerp, Belgium).
"Kerry James Marshall is widely admired for his
painterly and sculptural explorations of Afro-American identity and history,
and his attendant critiques of art history and the art economy. Among his
well-known works are Rhythm Mastr, a comic book that transposes African
mythology to a contemporary city; the Garden Project, which draws on the
idyllic-sounding names given to housing projects; the Lost Boys series,
which portrays young, disenfranchised black men; and his gigantic stamps of
Black Power slogans. 'I've always wanted to be a history painter on the
grand scale of Giotto and Géricault,' he once said, and he has created
many mural-sized canvases interweaving heroic and everyday aspects of recent
Afro-American history. This monograph offers the largest retrospective of his
works in all media, from painting and sculpture to collage, photography and
installation.
Seen through the filter of Afro-American identity and
history, Marshall's work critiques the assumptions of the art system and art
history. This publication of old and much new work also includes a selection
from the artist's sculptures, such as the series of gigantic stamps with Black Power slogans, as
well as collages, photographs and installations. It accompanies a major
traveling exhibition in Europe." Kerry James Marshall: Painting and Other Stuff includes a 190 pages and color illustrations.
5. LaToya Ruby Frazier: The Notion of Family (Laura Wexler and Dennis Dickerson (authors), Dawoud Bey (contributor), photographs by LaToya Ruby Frazier; published by Aperture)
The Notion of Family includes 156 pages, 100 duotone images and 32 four-color video stills. "In
this, her first book, LaToya Ruby Frazier offers an incisive exploration of the
legacy of racism and economic decline in America’s small towns, as embodied by
her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. The work also considers the impact of
that decline on the community and on her family, creating a statement both
personal and truly political—an intervention in the histories and narratives of
the region. Frazier has compellingly set her story of three generations—her
Grandma Ruby, her mother, and herself—against larger questions of civic
belonging and responsibility. The work documents her own struggles and
interactions with family and the expectations of community, and includes the
documentation of the demise of Braddock’s only hospital, reinforcing the idea
that the history of a place is frequently written on the body as well as the
landscape. With The Notion of Family, Frazier knowingly acknowledges and
expands upon the traditions of classic black-and-white documentary photography,
enlisting the participation of her family—and her mother in particular. As
Frazier says, her mother is 'coauthor, artist, photographer, and subject. Our
relationship primarily exists through a process of making images together. I
see beauty in all her imperfections and abuse.' In the creation of these
collaborative works, Frazier reinforces the idea of art and image-making as a
transformative act, a means of resetting traditional power dynamics and
narratives, both those of her family and those of the community at large."
6. Mark Bradford through Darkest America by Truck and Tank (Christopher Bedford, Susan May, Honey Luard, authors/contributors); Published by White Cube Gallery, London.
"Mark Bradford uses materials found in the urban
environment such as billboard sheets, posters and newspapers to create
expansive, multi-layered paintings comprised entirely of paper. Focused on
Bradford's recent body of work inspired by the interstate road network, this
new monograph takes its title from a chapter in the memoirs of President Dwight
D. Eisenhower about his experience as a member of the Transcontinental Motor Convoy of 1919, which
informed his support for a nationwide highway system in the US in the 1950s.
Topographical points of reference shift in and out of focus in Bradford's
abstract compositions, characterized by ruptures, fractures and incisions that
echo the social disruption that followed when interstate highways ripped through
communities like Bradford's own in south central Los Angeles. Designed in
collaboration with the artist, this volume includes an interview with Susan May
and a new essay by Christopher Bedford."
7. Represent: 200 Years of African American Art in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, author; Richard J. Powell, introduction); Published by Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
"This publication highlights nearly 140 plus objects in the
collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art that were created by American
artists of African descent. Introduced with an essay by the distinguished
scholar Richard J. Powell, the volume includes paintings, sculpture, works on
paper, decorative arts, costume and textiles, and photography by some 100
artists, from classically trained painters such as Henry Ossawa Tanner to
self-taught artists such as Bill Traylor. Informative, thematic essays by the
consulting curator, Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, are followed by individual object
entries as well as texts spotlighting areas of collecting strength, many of
them written by members of the museum’s curatorial staff.
The first major publication to focus on the museum’s diverse collection of
works by African American artists, this volume also offers a fresh scholarly
perspective on African American art from the early 19th century to the present."
8. The Visual Blues (edited by Natalie A. Mault ;
essays by R.A. Lawson, John Lowe, Natalie A. Mault, Margaret Rose Vendryes ;
with artist biographies by Lauren Barnett and Natalie A. Mault. Published by University of Washington Press, Seattle).
The
Visual Blues, a traveling exhibition, explores the enormous impact that blues and jazz music emanating
from the Deep South and moving north had on artists associated with the Harlem
Renaissance. The Visual Blues shows how the artists and musicians of the Harlem
Renaissance blurred artistic boundaries, drawing inspiration from each other and
contributing to each other's art forms. The art scene in Harlem from 1919 to
approximately 1940 encouraged a melding of art, music, literature, and poetry,
providing a creative haven and outlet for transcending hardships and shattering
racial stereotypes. The exhibition features a wide range of artists, some of
whom already have established reputations and art markets, and others who are
under-recognized and are rarely seen publicly. The exhibition comprises
sixty-four paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and sculptures by some of
the most recognized and celebrated African-American artists of the Harlem
Renaissance." This catalogue accompanies the exhibition.
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