Select African American Art Exhibitions: Highlights for 2013

This highlight features a few exhibitions that are either currently on view or will be opening in the near future. Presenting the exhibitions as they approach their opening dates or shortly after opening, assures a freshness and currency of information for visual art enthusiasts. A number of important traveling exhibitions that opened earlier in the year are still being featured across the country and are accessible from the Blog page entitled: Select Art Exhibitions in 2013. This page is updated on a weekly basis by either adding newly discovered exhibitions or removing those that are approaching their expiration date. Its intent is to provide comprehensive coverage of current ongoing exhibitions on view for the current quarter of the year.

Black Art Project (BAP) welcomes any information or leads that you might have relating to Black art exhibitions, particularly regional exhibitions that are not traditionally marketed on a national scale. BAP will verify the accuracy of any information submitted. Thank you for any assistance that you provide.

Boston, Massachusetts

Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Loïs Mailou Jones, La Baker (detail), 1977, Acrylic and collage on canvas. Gift of the Lois Mailou Jones Pierre-Noel Trust.

Loïs Mailou Jones presents 30 paintings and drawings by the distinguished, internationally acclaimed graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. "This exhibition presents works from every stage of Jones’s artistic career, beginning with her early copies after objects in the Museum’s collections, her teaching career at Howard University, and the travels that shaped her distinctive vision and contributions to American art." 

The exhibition, Loïs Mailou Jones, will be on view through October 14, 2013 in the Bernard and Barbara Stern Shapiro Gallery (Gallery 231) at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Read more at Boston's NPR news station.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Hunter Museum of American Art 

 

Whitfield Lovell,

Kin LII (Pie in the Sky), 2008, Conte on paper, plaster sculpture with base,

Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York

Whitfield Lovell: Deep River was organized by the Hunter Museum of American Art. The highlight of Deep River is a large, site-specific installation that Lovell specifically created for the Hunter that explores the history of Camp Contraband, which was located just across the river from the Hunter Museum. Contraband camps became the foundation for postwar African American neighborhoods, facilitating the process that produced rapid urbanization of former slaves, most of whom had lived in rural areas. 

Whitfield Lovell, Pago Pago,

2008, conte crayon on wood with radios 

and sound, 97 x 66 x 13 inches, 

Courtesy of the artist and 

DC Moore Gallery, New York

"The Hunter Museum exhibition features artwork created since 2008, including the artist's signature tableaux that are constructed of intricate charcoal drawings on vintage wood juxtaposed with found objects. Lovell prefers to leave the history of his salvaged wood intact, never removing the layers of age paint, adding only his Conté crayon drawings and the objects he has collected over the years."

Also included in the exhibition are a number of mixed media drawings from Lovell's ongoing Kin series. Each of the Kin works features a portrait along with a single object; see image of Pie in the Sky (Kin LII) above, center.

Deep River will be on view through October 13, 2013.

Greensboro, North Carolina

University of North Carolina Greensboro

Weatherspoon Art Museum

Willie Cole, Shoe Bouquet, 2009, Shoes, wood, and wire, 65" x 56" x 61".
  Courtesy of Alexander & Bonin Gallery. Photo: Jason Mandella.

Complex Conversations: Willie Cole Sculptures and Wall Works will be on view in the Bob and Lissa Shelley McDowell Gallery, The Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, September 14 - December 15, 2013. This exhibition covers more than thirty years of the artist's work, including three-dimensional sculpture to drawing and printmaking.

The exhibition establishes thematic consistencies and intense interactions of Cole’s art and its focus on key consumer objects like hairdryers, high heel shoes, and, above all, the steam iron, transforming these everyday mass-produced objects into precious icons or symbolic representations that explore ideas of diversity, identity, and commercialization.

In the words of Patterson Sims (Western Michigan University), Curator of Complex Conversations, "Willie Cole grew up in post-industrial Newark, N.J., and sees himself as an urban archaeologist." Inner-city African-American life and family have been the underpinnings of Cole’s work. He has lived most of his life in or near Newark, NJ, a city fraught with racial tensions and violence in the late 1960s.

Read more about Willie Cole.

An Artist Talk will be held on Friday, September 27, 2013 at 5:30 pm. Seating for this event is limited; up to two seats may be reserved beginning August 19. Details: Event Calendar. Reception follows. Free.

Houston, Texas
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

LaToya Ruby Frazier, Momme, 2008. Gelatin silver print. 20 x 24 inches. Courtesy the
artist and Galerie Michel Rein, Paris.

LaToya Ruby Frazier: WITNESS will be on view in the Zilkha Gallery at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston through October 13, 2013. The exhibition features photographs, videos, digital works, and a recent photolithograph series that speak to the economic issues surrounding her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania as it struggled to weather the country's shift from a manufacturing economy (steel plants) to an information economy. Frazier documents   "Braddock's deterioration with an unflinching eye and a gift for communicating through documentary images that connects her to other socially engaged practitioners like American photographers Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks." 

As Frazier sees it, her work is "the story of economic globalization and the decline of manufacturing as told through the bodies of three generations of African American women." The primary players in this story are Frazier's Grandma Ruby (1925-2009), her Mom (1959-) and the artist herself (1982-). This exhibition includes a selection of more than 20 black-and-white photographs from the artist's renowned Notion of Family series.To learn more about the back story of what drives and motivates Frazier to action as an artist and activist read Contemporary Arts Museum. 

The exhibition, LaToya Ruby Frazier: WITNESS, is accompanied by a bound, illustrated catalogue.

Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville Museum of Art

    Thornton Dial, Lady Holds the Long Neck Bird, 1991, Watercolor, 29 5/8 x 22".                                                  Ackland Art Museum, Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, 2011.                                                               

Thornton Dial: Thoughts on Paper is on view at the Knoxville Museum of Art through August 25, 2013. Although Thornton Dial is widely recognized for his large-scale, multimedia assemblages, his most abundant body of work is his drawings, which he began producing in the early 1990s. This exhibition of Dial's drawings from 1990-1991, represent a pivotal moment in his artistic career
and reflects his characteristic and broadly coherent iconography of women, fish, birds, roosters, and tigers, rendered in a variety of media. Thornton Dial: Thoughts on Paper "offers a fresh look at the artist’s achievements as seen through the medium of drawing and provide a touchstone of Dial’s creative process."
 
A publication which offers the first sustained critical attention to Dial’s works on paper accompanies this exhibition.

Thornton Dial: Thoughts on Paper was organized and circulated by the Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For additional exhibitions featured across the country see: Select Art Exhibitions in 2013.

Nick Cave: Artist Talk / Sojourn

Nick Cave: Sojourn is on view at the Denver Art Museum through September 22, 2013. The exhibition features dozens of new artworks including 24 new Soundsuits. Listen to the artist discuss his work.

Quality     Process    "Object provokes image of idea"     

Alternative World      Transported        Symbolism       

Playground       Otherly World       Masquerade        

              Soundsuit     New Vocabulary     Construction                       

       

Christopher Carter: Artist Talk

Christopher Carter, an artist from ricardogenzon on Vimeo.
This piece was produced for the California African American Museum's The Art of Christopher Carter exhibition (March 17 - May 15, 2011).

Sculptor           Artist           Wall Hangings          Rope

Found Objects         Poetic Images          Recycled Lumber

          Totemic Columns          Essence of Materials               

The Milton 510 Experience: Artist Talk

Community    Journaling     Celebration    Iconic Figures    

Hip Hop    Motown     History      Sports    Music    

Spiritual    Shared Conversation    Documentation

Harlem Renaissance   Oakland    Richmond 

"Visual fine art is the preservation of culture."

 

 More information regarding The Milton 510 Experience and the series of five (5) exhibitions will be featured in the coming weeks.

 

   

      Milton Bowens (Milton 510)

Listen to: http://www.milton510.com/510Exp.html regarding The Milton 510 Experience.

African American Art, Cultural, and Historic Venues: Selected Highlights

Over the past two years at least four new or renovated venues have been added to the list of African American art, cultural, or historic destinations. Visit and support these institutions, and share with me the names of others.  


The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture exists to present, preserve and promote African American art, culture and history for the education and enlightenment of all. The Gantt Center held its official grand opening on October 24, 2009. The Center occupies 46,500-square-feet and is located in the heart of Charlotte's central business district in the area once occupied by the historic Brooklyn neighborhood, the once-thriving center of the Black community which was razed in the 1960's. Visit the Web site: http://www.ganttcenter.org/index.php

551 South Tryon Street

Charlotte, North Carolina 28202

704/ 547-3700

The African American Library at the Gregory School officially opened its doors on Saturday, November 14, 2009. “Located in the building that housed the first public school for African Americans in Houston, this historic building was reconditioned to serve as a repository for use by historians, researchers, and the general public. Through the Gregory School the Houston Public Library will provide an incomparable collection of multi-type resources including reference books, rare books, archival materials, exhibits, artifacts, oral histories, and innovative programs to document the history of the African American experience in Houston and its surrounding areas.

Through this new research library, all residents of Houston, students and researchers, will be able to explore and learn about the contributions of African Americans to the development of the city of Houston in all areas of life, including the arts, education, business, and sports.” Visit the Web site: http://www.thegregoryschool.org/library.html 

1300 Victor Street

Freedmen’s Town, Fourth Ward

Houston, Texas 77019

832/ 393-1440

The August Wilson Center for African American Culture (AWC) is a world-class cultural center, housed in a 65,000-square-foot complex in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Center presents, interprets and preserves the art, culture, and history of African Americans in Pittsburgh and of people of African descent throughout the world. With exhibition galleries, a theater, an education center, a café and gift shop, and multipurpose spaces for community programs and events, the Center joins a select few African American cultural institutions presenting visual and performing arts, the humanities and educational programs in a state-of-the-art venue. The Center opened to the public in September 2009.
Learn more, follow this link: http://www.augustwilsoncenter.org/home.php

                                        

980 Liberty Avenue

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222

412/ 258-2700

The Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) celebrated its opening day on March 8, 2008 at its home in the historic Colman School at 2300 Massachusetts St in Seattle, Washington. Through programs and exhibitions NAAM will focus on the history and traditions that people of African descent have established in the Pacific Northwest. The Museum’s 19,000 square foot floor plan includes four principal galleries. Explore the site: http://naamnw.org/

2300 South Massachusetts Street 
Seattle, Washington 98144
206/ 518-6000

© 2010 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact:blackartproject@comcast.net.

BLACK... the exhibit

The Black Artists of D C and the D C Arts Center present an exhibition, BLACK. The curators, Amber Robles-Gordon and Daniel T. Brooking, were successful in their goal to encourage the participating artists to define black in all of its splendor. I have always been fascinated by the successful use of the color, black on black, as a positive force of power in the creative process, but was proud to see the various ways in which those artists, that I know as friends and colleagues, have interpreted the color, the concept, the image, and various subtexts of black culture within expected societal constructs as well as not so readily expected constructs. Beauty, grace, economics, racism, slavery, discrimination, language, education, history were all incorporated, yet diversely different, and unified into the single theme of BLACK either specifically stated or implied. The message through color, use of language, selection of or creation of representational images all shouted, documented, and celebrated black. 

The image above, incorporating the theme of the exhibition, BLACK, includes the works, from left to right, of Claudia Gibson-Hunter, The Diva and the Carpenter; from the estate of Harlee Little, Every Shut Eye; and Amber Robles-Gordon, Cosmic Black 1. According to Amber's exhibit statement, "We are indebted to ...the late Harlee Little, one of the founding members of Black Artists of D C, for the concept of the exhibit." This concept, for such an exhibit, has now been realized and beautifully executed.


The following are a couple of additional images from the show:

Sonya Clarke, Afro Abe II, paper (currency) and thread, 8"x1"x4"

Afro Abe transcends the concept of race and transports the traditional image of Lincoln to a Black world with an embroidered afro on an unexpected medium, currency... a statement on hair culture and race politics in America.

Gloria C. Kirk, For Hire, giclee print, 25"x19"

For Hire captured what was obviously standard language used in the sale and rental of Blacks as human commodity. The sentence fragments are simple, straightforward, but powerful in the use of language superimposed on the image of six young faces with expressive eyes peering through and emerging from the wood background, seemingly imprisoned by the words which surround them... FOR HIRE, white woman, 18 years, 16 years, Jefferson County, servants; sentences not complete but message easily understood.

Visit the exhibit and support both the Black Artists of D C and the D C Arts Center. Again, congratulations to Amber, Daniel, and all the artists included in the BLACK exhibit. BLACK is on view through January 10, 2010 at the District of Columbia Arts Center, 2438 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 2009. 

© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

CALL for ARTISTS: Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition

January 13 through February 28, 2010

The Museum of Science and Industry commemorates Black History Month with the Black Creativity program, which includes one of the country’s oldest African-American art exhibitions. Prominent artists from around the globe submit their work to the Juried Art Exhibition in the categories of ceramics, drawings, mixed media, paintings, photography, print media, sculpture, textiles, and video. Participants are recognized at the annual Juried Art Reception, a gathering celebrating the diversity of African-American participation in the applied arts.

CATEGORIESCeramics • Drawings • Mixed Medium • Paintings
Photography • Sculpture • Textiles • Video

AWARDS

A panel of judges will choose artists to receive prizes. Prizes will be distributed

as follows:

1st place: $3,000
2nd place: $2,000
3rd place: $1,000
Best of Media Prize Ribbons
All artists whose work is featured in the 2010 Juried Art Exhibition will receive a certificate of recognition.

ELIGIBILITY:All African-American artists are eligible to enter. Each artist may submit up to four entries. Work must have been completed in the past three years and not previously shown in the Black Creativity exhibition.

FORMAT:Do not submit actual artwork at this time. Only JPEGs will be accepted for consideration, with no more than two JPEGs for each item entered. Identify each JPEG with title of work, dimensions of work and date completed. JPEGs will be returned at the time of notification. Please write the art titles and your name on the CD.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
The completed entry form, artist statement and biography accompanied by JPEGs and fee,must be received by the Museum of Science and Industry no later than Friday, November 6, 2009.

FEES:A non-refundable entry fee of $50, payable to the Museum of Science and Industry, by money order only, must accompany the entry form and JPEGs.

ACCEPTED WORKS:
The Museum will not accept works that are not ready for hanging or installation suitable for final presentation. Drawings, paintings, photography and prints must be framed under plexiglas or glass, and wired for hanging. If work is accepted into the exhibition, all work must be delivered to the West Entrance (west parking lot) of the Museum. Deliveries will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (CST) on December 18 and 19. The artist is responsible for the cost of crating, shipping and delivery to the Museum. Sculptures and other fragile pieces should be delivered in person or shipped with special handling instructions. Because of the potential for artwork to arrive damaged, work shipped in cardboard boxes and nailed crates will be returned unopened at the artist’s own expense. Shipped work must be sent in prepaid wooden crates screwed together suitable for return. At the close of the exhibition, shipped work will be returned and insured at the Museum's expense. Work delivered in person must be picked up in person from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 5 and 6, 2010 at the West Entrance (west parking lot). The Museum will not store or be responsible for artwork not retrieved by these dates. Submission of entry form indicates acceptance of these conditions.

At the close of the exhibition, shipped work will be returned and insured at the Museum’s expense. The Museum will not be responsible for any damage,delay or loss in shipping; the only recourse will be against the shipping
company or insurer.

Both the Museum of Science and Industry and the Black Creativity program disclaim any responsibility for any offer, purchase, sale or any other transaction between visitors of the Juried Art Exhibition and artists featuring works at the exhibition. In no event shall the Museum of Science and Industry or the Black Creativity program be liable for any damages (whether special, incidental, consequential or otherwise) with respect to any such transaction. For further information, call (773) 947-4161.

ENTRY FORM: Apply online: www.msichicago.org/bc2010 or mail to: Black Creativity, Juried Art Exhibition Museum of Science and Industry 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60637-2093

CALENDAR:
November 6 Deadline for receipt of all items December 7 Jury notices mailed to artists of accepted workDecember 18, 20 Accepted artwork delivered to MuseumJanuary 13 Artists’ reception, press preview and awards ceremonyJanuary 14 Juried Art Exhibition opened to the publicFebruary 28 Final day of exhibitionMarch 5, 6 Deadline for pick up of artwork

Captured Memory: The National Black Arts Festival 2009

Two exhibitions, Streams of Social Change and Abstraction in the CAU Art Collection, opened at the Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries during the recent National Black Arts Festival 2009 (July/August). The exhibitions will be on view through spring 2010.

Noting the collection's significant history, Clark Atlanta University’s (CAU) permanent collection is replete with social commentary works that were acquired through annual art exhibitions held between 1942 and 1970. The Atlanta University Art Annuals, which were launched by Hale Woodruff, visionary artist and teacher, were a direct response to the overt exclusion of African-American artists from the contemporary art scene during that time period. Streams of Social Change clearly demonstrates and reflects the strength of CAU's collection relating to the theme of social commentary.

Streams of Social Change "features work that reference episodes in American history that have adversely affected African Americans—racial conflict, oppression, alienation, protest, politics, war, and displacement." One painting was particularly poignant because of the strength and pensive gaze of its sitter, a Black serviceman. I am referring to Mark Hewitt's Spirit of 366th, 1943. The Spirit of 366th was a Second Purchase Award in the 1943 Annuals.

Viewing this piece was a learning experience simply because I was not familiar with the artist, Mark Hewitt, so this has led me down a path of discovery and exploration, which is always an exciting experience.

Abstraction in the CAU Art Collection features older as well as recently acquired works of Sam Gilliam and Felrath Hines. "In this exhibit, the long standing debate between Modernism and Realism in which artists express their inner most concerns for formal and spatial elements of art are explored. After exploring the human figure early on in their careers, some African American artists were compelled to navigate between the expectations of the African American cultural establishment and their own creative freedom. When African American artists began exploring their African ancestral legacies, they were forced to reconcile the contradiction of European artists embracing non-European cultural expression while simultaneously being excluded from the discourse." A fine example from this exhibit is Felrath Hines (1918-1993), Intermission, 1989, oil on linen. (see image above) Intermission is one of six pieces donated to the Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries by Felrath Hines' widow, Ms. Dorothy Fisher.

The Galleries are located on the second floor of Trevor Arnett Hall on the corners of James P. Brawley and Greensferry Streets in Atlanta, Georgia. They are open from 11:00 am – 4:00pm, Tuesday – Friday and by appointment on Saturday. For more information call 404/ 880-6102, ext.6644.

© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

Welcome To My Global Hood

How does one create a blueprint for urban environmental activism through art that appeals to inner-city youth? The blueprint for achieving that goal was successfully realized and accomplished by Oakland, California artist, Milton Bowens in his 2009 Artist in Residency Program, Arts Change.

Can environmental justice and fine art work together to empower youth, community, and the world abroad? This is simply one of the questions posed and eventually answered during Bowens' Artist Residency. The success of the program was based on Bowens being an attentive listener in his conversations with the youth and through that listening he found the ingredients to map out a story line that would lead to the blueprint for his urban environmental artist activism that led to Welcome To My Global Hood.

As a result of being a part of this program, a group of 15 inner-city youth were motivated and excited about creating art and being a part of a global movement towards environmental change. They were empowered and the tangible outcome was the creation of a body of work by both Bowens and his students that spoke to the issue of environmental justice and the creative use of fine art as an effective tool for change through activism. Testimonies from a number of the students will appear on YouTube...stay tuned for that release.

An on line catalogue was produced for Welcome To My Global Hood and will be featured on http://www.milton510.com/, www.facebook.com/milton510bowens, and http://www.artschange.org/.

Listen to EPISODE 14 - Go Green Sangha Radio-"Art and Environmental Justice" with artist Milton Bowens: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/21325

© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

The Black Exhibit

The Black Artists of DC (BADC) and the District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC) are sponsoring a juried art exhibition, The Black Exhibit, beginning November 20, 2009 through January 10, 2010. The description, as outlined by the sponsors, offers many opportunities for creativity, activism, or simply afford participating artists an opportunity to be a part of an exhibit that will embrace, celebrate, and document the Black experience.

According to the promotional material, artists are asked to "reach deep into the emotional, theoretical, spiritual, cultural, intellectual, or physical aspects of blackness. The objective is not the absence of colors; it's the predominance and use of the color black in your creations. Relish in the concept and color of black...its elegance, depth, and dizzying sensation of infinity... ."

For details that include submission guidelines, fees, deadline; delivery of materials; notification of selected artists; delivery of work to DCAC Gallery; and other particulars, see images above.

Visit the DCAC at the following address: http://www.dcartscenter.org/

Validate Yourself...Questions 6 and 7

This is a continuation, parts 6 and 7, of the series of questions posed by the Black Artists of DC (BADC). Why did you start collecting black art exhibition catalogues? Why did you establish the Guide to Black Art Exhibitions?

Collecting black art exhibition catalogues was a gradual and evolving process. As a collector of black (African American) fine art, I strongly believe that a collector of art should be familiar and knowledgeable about the literature surrounding that art. I'll refer to this as the history and documentation of fine art. Very early on, I had a keen interest in learning about the fine arts and became very active in the gallery and museum world. As a learning experience, I slowly began collecting catalogues, simply by purchasing them from the various exhibits I attended locally and when traveling. The main purpose was to learn more about black art and artists and to be knowledgeable and able to speak intelligently on the subject. The more I read and learned, the more I wanted to know. There was a natural curiosity of how individual artists fit into the whole picture of American art.
As my knowledge base increased, my library skills kicked in and I recognized that there was a gap in the literature focusing on black art/artists. There simply did not appear to be enough information out there in the key journals and monographs, and in a naive sense, I wanted to attempt to fill that gap by creating a repository containing documentation of ephemeral materials, monographs and exhibition catalogues. In comparison to other cultural fields, including the performing arts, I recognized that printed material in fine arts literature was less available. I began to refer to these gaps in the literature as the missing links in our black cultural heritage. As I began to study and use the collections in the various black repositories and even major libraries in general, I realized that so much was missing in those collections. Even when books and catalogues had been published, they seemed not to exist in many of our libraries. A great part of the problem probably stems from the fact that most of the catalogues are published in small runs, usually no more than 3,000 copies and are usually available only at the actual exhibition venues. There is not a mass distribution plan, unless the exhibition is national in scope, meaning that it is a traveling exhibition. Consequently, the exhibition catalogues are acquired on a more regional basis rather than national.

Collecting became a passion and I aggressively scoured standard bibliographies to identify what had been published by decade, starting in the 1980s and moving backwards to the 1950s. So, the basic strategy was to see what was available on the secondary market based on a list of titles that had been published. I created my own list of definitive or must have titles and began the search from that point. The Internet was an invaluable resource, introducing me to the secondary market of book dealers. I was able to locate titles from across the country and many for a nominal cost, particularly those in smaller cities and less urban locations. It was not until recently that there has become competition to acquire the literature focusing on black art/artists. Even among collectors of black art, there may not be a concerted effort to collect the print materials relating to the art or the artists. I refer to these materials: books, exhibition catalogues, show announcement cards, press releases as part of the documentation of black art/artists. Because of my interest in documentation, I wanted to acquire as much as I could afford in terms of primary and published materials on black art/artists.

The Black Art Project publishes the Guide to Black Art Exhibitions, and the Guide has gradually evolved to where it is today. When I began the publication, it was born from one of those ah ha moments. For years, I collected exhibition catalogues and each year in the process of looking for the latest exhibition catalogues, I would discover exhibitions with and those without catalogues. Consequently, each year I had amassed all of this information on black exhibitions and literally did nothing with it; it was raw data. After about 3-4 years of having accumulating then destroying the information after I purchased the catalogues, I realized that the data collected was not available in any single source, so I came up with the idea of pulling the information together in some meaningful way. That meaningful way took the form of the annual Guide to Black Art Exhibitions. It is such a good feel to know that others might benefit from these efforts and black art/artists are documented in some tangible sense. I strongly believe that there are many small ways that many of us can contribute to this documentation and preservation of our visual arts culture. The immediate use of the Guide is apparent; but the Guide, in some small way, does its part to document. My hopes are that it will or can be a tool that others will use, at a later date, to write a part of a bigger story.
© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net.

Historical Exhibition, 2

In May of 1945, the names of 46 recipients of the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship for 1946 were announced. That number included 29 Black fellows and among its ranks was Alice Elizabeth Catlett who, at the time, was an instructor of art at George Washington Carver school in New York city. Catlett's vision, as a fellow, was to do a series of lithographs, paintings, and sculptures of Negro women. After a year of planning, thought, and work, her vision was clearly defined and brought into focus in her reapplication for a fellowship in 1947, and she received her second award. In that reapplication process, Catlett settled on a "complete unit" of prints. This complete suite of 15 images are a strong and well-told commentary on The Negro Woman, stirring and intense in both images and words. Each of the images can stand along, but their strength is even more enhanced when seen and read as a cohesive unit. The story of The Negro Woman is clearly and strongly expressed in images and words.

In December 1947 - January 1948, the thirty (30) pieces that were conceived and created while Catlett was studying for two years on a Rosenwald Fellowship were exhibited at the Barnett Aden Gallery in Washington, DC. It is an undisputed fact that The Barnett Aden Gallery is one of the first privately owned Black galleries in the United States and the first one in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1943 by James Vernon Herring, chair of Howard University's Department of Art, and Alonzo Aden, curator of the Howard University Gallery of Art. In addition to providing a venue for such Black artists as Romare Bearden, Lois Mailou Jones, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald Motley, John Robinson, and others, it was one of the few galleries in the city in which artists representing different nationalities, races, and ethnicities exhibited together.
The cover and a page from the 1947, The Negro Woman, exhibition catalogue listing the pieces that were on exhibit are shown above (see illustrations). This catalogue contained 4 pages that included a Preface written by Gwendolyn Bennett. Under the section labelled Prints appears the full series of The Negro Woman, consisting of 15 pieces. These 15 pieces present a narrative with each image and its caption representing one phrase of the narrative. Look carefully at the captions of those individual pieces as they spell out the significance of The Negro Woman, acknowledging hard work, celebrating renowned heroines, and focusing on the fears, struggles, and achievements. The series begins with I am the Negro Woman and ends with the fifteenth in the series, My Right is a Future of Equality with other Americans. In their entirety, the images and words make a powerful statement of social commentary for the time period.

Jane Watson Crane, in a review appearing in the December 21, 1947 issue of the Washington Post (page L5), states "Two things stand out concerning the Elizabeth Catlett exhibition on The Negro Woman... one is the meticulous craftsmanship, the other the straightforward approach. The artist has something to say here, and she pulls no punches. This is an unusually strong show for a woman--unusual also in the variety of media--paintings. sculpture and prints are shown--in all of which she seems perfectly at home."

My curiosity was raised as I read Crane's review and noticed the statement an"unusually strong show for a woman," yet there was surprisingly no mention of race. With an understanding of segregation in the South in 1947, I would have expected some mention of race, as well as the sexist comment; however, such was not the case. Racial tones in Crane's review were not mentioned which led me to think that perhaps Crane was of the school of thought that more readily accepted blacks as accomplished artists which probably demonstrated a more liberal position of those working in the arts. My thoughts and questions will probably drive me into conducting some research to find out who was Jane Watson Crane, not the Washington Post writer, but Crane the person.

Roughly 62 years after their completion, we are still afforded an opportunity to see the entire suite of prints from The Negro Woman series in a traveling exhibition, A Force of Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund, currently at Spertus Museum (Chicago, Illinois, on view through August 16, 2009). The exhibition will travel to the Allentown Art Museum (Allentown, Pennsylvania, September 13, 2009 - January 10, 2010); and end at the Montclair Art Museum (Montclair, New Jersey, February 6 - July 25, 2010). A catalogue accompanies this exhibition. For more information on A Force of Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund, follow this link: http://www.spertus.edu/exhibitions/rosenwald.php

© 2009 Black Art Project... all rights reserved. For permission to reproduce contact: blackartproject@comcast.net or blackartproject@yahoo.com .

Historical Exhibition

It is exciting to run across and physically hold one of those rare exhibition catalogues documenting a time period when there were fewer opportunities for the black artist to exhibit and certainly to exhibit in a black owned gallery. Such is the case with the first annual exhibition from June 8 - 22, 1939 at the Salon of Contemporary Negro Art sponsored by the Augusta Savage Studios, Inc. The gallery was located at 143 West 125th Street, New York, New York.

By today's standard, the small catalogue is a single sheet folded into 4 pages and would probably be referred to simply as a brochure. Yet historically, it is an invaluable art history document that allows us to put the gallery and the actual exhibition into an historical perspective. Augusta Savage, George W. Lattimore, and Kenneth W. Smith are listed as directors. Listed on the two inside pages of the catalogue are the titles and artists of the 54 pieces included in the exhibit. A list of 30 artists which represent a virtual 20th century who's who of black artists includes such artists as Meta Warrick Fuller, Richmond Barthe, Robert Pious, Rex Gorleigh, Morgan Smith, Gwendolyn Knight, Norman Lewis, Ellis Wilson, Beauford Delaney, Georgette Seabrooke, Marvin Smith, William Farrow, Francisco P. Lord, Lois Mailou Jones, Selma Burke, Ernest Crichlow, James Lesesne Wells, and Augusta Savage.

According to the Chicago Defender (National edition), June 10, 1939, the headline on page 13 reads: "Artists Get New Inspiration --From Augusta Savage-- Who Opens Gallery To Sell-- Their Work To The Public." As stated in the article, "The first art gallery in America devoted to the exhibition and sale of the works of artists of the Race will be opened at 143 West 125th Street, New York City on June 8.... This new gallery...is owned and operated by Race members and will open formally with an exhibition of the works of outstanding artists of today." Augusta Savage was president of the corporation (Augusta Savage Studios, Inc,) which sponsored the Salon of Contemporary Art; George W. Lattimore was vice-president; and Kenneth W. Smith was secretary-treasurer.

In announcing the opening of the new gallery, Augusta Savage said, "I have long felt that Negro artists, in the course of our development, have reached the point where they should have a gallery of their own--one devoted to the exhibition and sale of Negro art. The Salon of Contemporary Negro Art will attempt to fill that need. We have made every effort to make this one of the finest galleries in the country." (Artists Get New Inspiration From Augusta Savage Who Opens Gallery To Sell Their Work To The Public (1939, June 10). The Chicago Defender (National edition), p. 13.)

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