African American Art and Artists [3rd, rev. and exp. ed., Reprint 2020] 9780520354876

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African American Art and Artists Revised and Expanded

S A M E L L A LEWIS Professor Emerita, Art History Scripps College, of the Claremont

Colleges

Foreword by Floyd

Coleman

New

Introduction

by Mary Jane Hewitt

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley

• Los Angeles

•

London

Edition

University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2003 by Samella Lewis

Cataloging-in-Publication data for this title is available from the U.S. Library of Congress. I S B N 978-0-520-23929-6 (alk. paper).—ISBN 978-0-520-23935-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) First Edition, Art: African American First Printing 1978 Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich Second Printing 1980 Second Edition (Revised) 1990 Hancraft Studios Los Angeles, California Third Edition (Revised and Expanded) 2003 Star Type, Berkeley Berkeley, California Manufactured in Canada 19

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T h e paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper). ©

To those African American educators of the past who helped to instill an appreciation of selfhood and an abiding respect for personal dignity

Contents Foreword xi by Floyd Coleman Introduction to the Revised and Expanded Edition by Mary Jane Hewitt Preface

xvii

Acknowledgments Introduction 1 6 1 9 - 1 8 6 5

xiii

xix

3

Cultural Deprivation and Slavery

7

The Craft Heritage as an Economic Resource The Emergence of Professional Artists 10

8

SCIPIO MOORHEAD, 11 / T H E REVEREND G . W . HOBBS, 13 / JOSHUA JOHNSTON, 1 4 / JULIEN HUDSON, 15

Freemen and the Abolitionist Movement

17

ROBERT M . DOUGLASS, J R . , 1 7 / PATRICK H E N R Y REASON, 1 9

Discrimination

and the Problem of Patronage

19

DAVID BUSTILL BOWSER, 2 0 / WILLIAM SIMPSON, 2 0

1 8 6 5 ~1C)20

Emancipation and Cultural Dilemma The First Major Landscape Painter

23

24

ROBERT SCOTT DUNCANSON, 24

The Diverse Quests for Professional Status

29

E U G E N E WARBURG, 2 9 / EDWARD M I T C H E L L BANNISTER, 2 9 / GRAFTON T Y L E R BROWN, 34 / N E L S O N A . PRIMUS, 3 7 / C H A R L E S ETHAN PORTER, 39 / (MARY) EDMONIA L E W I S , 4 0 / H E N R Y OSSAWA TANNER, 4 4 / M E T A VAUX WARRICK ( F U L L E R ) , 51 / WILLIAM EDOUARD SCOTT, 5 4 / LAURA W H E E L E R WARING, 55

American Reliance on the European Artistic Tradition 1 9 2 0 - 1 9 4 0

N e w Americanism and Ethnic Identity

57 59

AARON DOUGLAS, 6 0

The Spread of the Harlem Movement

65

H A L E WOODRUFF, 6 5 / P A L M E R HAYDEN, 6 9 / A R C H I B A L D M O T L E Y , J R . , 7 2 / MALVIN G R A Y JOHNSON, 7 4 / E L L I S WILSON, 7 5 / SARGENT C L A U D E JOHNSON, 7 7 / AUGUSTA SAVAGE, 83 / RICHMOND BARTHE, 8 6 / WILLIAM H E N R Y JOHNSON, 88 / JAMES L E S E S N E W E L L S , 9 6 / BEAUFORD DELANEY, 9 8 / SELMA BURKE, 9 9 / LOIS MAILOU JONES, 1 0 0 / ALMA THOMAS, 1 0 3 / JAMES A . PORTER, 1 0 4 / WILLIAM E . ARTIS, 1 0 5

The Self-Taught Individualists

106

WILLIAM EDMONDSON, 1 0 6 / HORACE PIPPIN, 1 0 6 / C L E M E N T I N E HUNTER, 1 1 0 / DAVID BUTLER, 1 1 2

1940-1960

Social and Political Awareness

115

Mural Art as Cultural and Social Commentary

116

CHARLES ALSTON, 1 1 6 / HALE WOODRUFF, 1 1 7

The WPA and Its Legacy

119

NORMAN LEWIS, 1 1 9 / ROMARE BEARDEN, 122 / HUGHIE L E E - S M I T H , 126 / E L D ZIER CORTOR, 127 / JACOB LAWRENCE, 129 / CHARLES WHITE, 132 / ELIZABETH CATLETT, 1 3 4 / JOHN WILSON, 1 3 8 / JOHN BIGGERS, 1 3 8

I960-I99O

Political and Cultural Awareness Painting

143

144

ADEMOLA OLUGEBEFOLA, 144 / HERMAN ( " K O F I " ) BAILEY, 146 / RAYMOND SAUNDERS, 1 4 7 / LUCILLE MALKIA ROBERTS, 1 5 0 / DAVID DRISKELL, 151 / FLOYD COLEMAN, 1 5 3 / PAUL K E E N E , 1 5 4 / ARTHUR CARRAWAY, 155 / M I K E L L E FLETCHER, 1 5 6 / V A R N E T T E HONEYWOOD, 1 5 6 / P H O E B E BEASLEY, 1 5 7 / B E N N Y ANDREWS, 1 6 0 / REGINALD GAMMON, 162 / FAITH RINGGOLD, 1 6 3

The Flag: A Symbol of Repression

165

C L I F F JOSEPH, 165 / DAVID BRADFORD, 1 6 6 / BERTRAND PHILLIPS, 1 6 7 / MANUEL HUGHES, 168 / PHILLIP LINDSAY MASON, 168 / DANA CHANDLER, 1 7 0 / MALAIKA FAVORITE, 1 7 1

Reality and the Dream

172

BOB THOMPSON, 1 7 2 / EMILIO C R U Z , 1 7 4 / L E S L I E PRICE, 1 7 5 / IRENE CLARK, 1 7 6 / A L HOLLINGSWORTH, 1 7 6 / WILLIAM PAJAUD, 1 7 8 / RICHARD MAYHEW, 1 8 0 / BERNIE CASEY, 180 / FLOYD NEWSUM, 182 / FRANK WILLIAMS, 1 8 3 / L o u i s D E L SARTE, 184 / WILLIAM HENDERSON, 186

Symbolism: Geometric, Organic, and Figurative

186

DANIEL L A R U E JOHNSON, 1 8 7 / JOE OVERSTREET, 188 / ADRIENNE W . HOARD, 1 8 9 / SAM GILLIAM, 1 9 0 / MAHLER RYDER, 192 / OLIVER JACKSON, 193 / E U G E N E C O L E S , 1 9 4 / VINCENT SMITH, 195 / CALVIN JONES, 1 9 6 / PHEORIS WEST, 1 9 7

Mixed-Media Assemblages

198

NOAH PURIFOY, 198 / EDWARD BEREAL, 2 0 0 / BETYE SAAR, 2 0 0 / RON G R I F F I N , 203 / JOHN OUTTERBRIDGE, 2 0 4 / MARIE JOHNSON, 205 / IBIBIO FUNDI, 205 / JOHN STEVENS, 205

Sculpture: Additive or Direct

206

JUAN LOGAN, 2 0 6 / JOHN RIDDLE, 207 / RICHARD HUNT, 208 / M E L EDWARDS, 2 1 0 / A L L I E ANDERSON, 212 / E D LOVE, 212 / P'LLA M I L L S , 213 / DOYLE FOREMAN, 2 1 4 / B A R B A R A CHASE-RIBOUD, 2 1 5 / A R T i s LANE, 2 1 6 / J O H N SCOTT, 2 1 7 / WILLIAM ANDERSON, 2 1 9 / MARTIN PURYEAR, 220 / THOMAS M I L L E R , 222 / FRED EVERSLEY, 224 / LARRY URBINA, 225 / B E N HAZARD, 225

Art/Craft

226

SARGENT JOHNSON, 227 / DOYLE LANE, 228 / WILLIS (BING) DAVIS, 229 / CURTIS TUCKER, 2 3 0 / YVONNE TUCKER, 2 3 0 / B I L L MAXWELL, 232 / CAMILLE BILLOPS, 2 3 3 / JAMES TATUM, 2 3 4 / DOUGLAS PHILLIPS, 236 / ART SMITH, 2 3 7 / BOB J E F FERSON, 2 3 7 / EVANGELINE MONTGOMERY, 238 / MANUEL GOMEZ, 2 3 9 / JOANNA L E E , 239 / A L L E N FANNIN, 240 / L E O TWIGGS, 240 / JAMES TANNER, 242 / THERMAN STATOM, 243

Drawing

244

MARION SAMPLER, 2 4 4 / A R T H U R MONROE, 2 4 4 / J A M E S LAWRENCE, 2 4 5 / M A R VIN HARDEN, 245 / RAYMOND LARK, 246 / MURRAY DEPILLARS, 247 / DONALD C O L E S , 248 / JOSEPH G E R A N , 248 / RON ADAMS, 249 / KENNETH FALANA, 250

viii

Graphic Processes: Economical and Aesthetic Approaches to Communication

251

RUTH WADDY, 252 / VAN SLATER, 2 5 3 / JOYCE WELLMAN, 2 5 4 / WILLIAM SMITH, 2 5 5 / L E O N HICKS, 2 5 6 / MARION E P T I N G , 2 5 7 / R U S S E L L GORDON, 2 5 8 / STEPHANIE POGUE, 2 5 9 / D E V O I C E BERRY, 262 / MARGO HUMPHREY, 2 6 3 / HOWARD SMITH, 2 6 4 / J E F F DONALDSON, 2 6 6 / L E V M I L L S , 268 / CAROL WARD, 2 6 9 / DAVID HAMMONS, 2 7 1 / M I C H A E L K E L L Y WILLIAMS, 2 7 2 / LAURIE O U R LICHT, 2 7 4 / G A R R Y B I B B S , 2 7 5

Performances / Installations / Environments

276

HOUSTON CONWILL, 2 7 7 / M I L D R E D HOWARD, 2 8 0 / MARTHA JACKSON-JARVIS, 282 / ALISON SAAR, 2 8 4 / LORENZO PACE, 288

1QQ0-2002

From Painting to Technology: Art before and into the New Millennium Painting

291

291

K E R R Y JAMES MARSHALL, 291 / RICHARD YARDE, 2 9 5 / M A R Y LOVELACE O ' N E A L , 2 9 9 / DANNY SIMMONS, 3 0 2

Sculpture

305

MARTIN PAYTON, 3 0 5 / CHAKAIA BOOKER, 3 0 8 / SONYA C L A R K , 3 1 0

Installation Art

313

ANNETTE LAWRENCE, 3 1 3 / W I L L I E L I T T L E , 3 1 6

Mixed-Media Art

319

AMALIA AMAKI, 3 1 9 / R A D C L I F F E BAILEY, 321

Digital/Computer Art

323

ANGELA L . PERKINS, 323

Conclusion Bibliography Index

327 331

339

ix

Oamella Lewis's African American Art and Artists foregrounds the work of artists who have been influencing the texture of art in the United States during the last two decades of the twentieth century. Throughout African American Art and Artists, Lewis interrogates the issue of identity, presenting biographical sketches which locate individual artistic personality within a specific cultural background with its own peculiar dynamics, giving a face to two centuries of Black American art. Without polemics Lewis presents women artists, from Edmonia Lewis to Alison Saar, as principal players in constructing an African American visual arts legacy. Here Lewis sufficiently defines African American visual arts that they may assume their rightful place alongside African American music, literature, and folklore as cultural expressions that have helped to give American culture its distinct character. As a revised and expanded version of Art: African American, which was published in 1978, Art and Artists fills the need for a scholarly study of African American art that extends beyond James A. Porter's groundbreaking Modern Negro Art, first published in 1943, and republished in 1969 and 1992. Porter's study ended with the early 1940s; Lewis's book placed those artists who matured after that time within the historical continuum of African American art and culture. Because it included artists from the 1940s to the early 1970s, Art: African American could serve as an appropriate text for a course in African American art history, one of the subject areas that became part of the curriculum as Black Studies programs were established on college and university campuses across the United States. Now African American Art and Artists includes chapters that treat performance art, digital art, installations, and postmodernist expressions of this decade. Few can bring to African American art history experience, knowledge, and perspective equal to those of Samella Lewis. She has been in close and sensitive contact with African American artists for over fifty years—first at Dillard University as a student of the internationally renowned sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett

in the early 1940s, and later, along with fellow student John Biggers, at Hampton Institute (now University) under the tutelage of Viktor Lowenfeld, Lewis produced accomplished works that have a profoundly phenomenal presence. As an art historian with specialties in Asian art, particularly Chinese and Japanese art, Lewis is able to present cross-cultural perspectives with aplomb. As a professor of art at historically black colleges such as Florida A. & M. University and Morgan State University and at majority institutions such as Ohio State University and Scripps College of the Claremont Colleges, Lewis has an unusual grasp of the educational needs of today's college students. She is very much at home in the museum world, having served as coordinator of education at the Los Angeles County Museum and later as chief curator of the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles. Lewis has also founded a number of galleries and publishing ventures, among them the highly respected journal, the International Review of African American Art. African American Art and Artists examines the skilled craftsmen of Colonial America and the artists who used their art to further the cause of black liberation; the emergence of the professional artist and the development of the Harlem Renaissance; the unparallelled creative expressions of the 1960s and 1970s and the new voices of the 1980s and 1990s. It is a balanced and well researched art history tome that is eminently readable. It affirms through astute comparisons the importance of African traditions to the development of African American cultural expression in the United States. Thanks to Samella Lewis we gain deeper appreciation for and understanding of the richness and diversity that African American art adds to American civilization. Floyd Coleman Howard University Washington, D.C.

xii

Introduction

to the Revised and Expanded

A f r i c a n Americans are not a homogeneous group. In 1790, the year of the first national census, the term "Negro" was current, and the majority of Negroes were slaves. Emancipation, migration, miscegenation, and education diversified the population to the extent that today the African American population is as diverse as the EuroAmerican population. Yet with all the diversity, a common cultural framework and a social history sustain the classification. Thus a foreword to a book entitled African American Art and Artists must confront the challenge of definition — what is African American art? Is it more African than American? Where is it exhibited? These may seem naive questions, but they are often posed by those who are new to the work and its creators, particularly young people, the majority of whom have had little art education. During lean economic times the arts are the first to be eliminated from the curricula of public schools, and rare is the private school that includes artists of color in an art appreciation class. It is obvious, then, that this text by Samella Lewis is sorely needed. When meeting a new acquaintance involves answering the question, What do you do? and I mention activities involving African American art, I often say that the art is more American than African, and that it is syncretistic — like jazz. Most people know what jazz is. They know that it is perhaps America's only indigenous art form, a fusion of African rhythms, European harmony, and, increasingly, Asian elements. Samella Lewis spent her formative years in the Deep South. Influenced by the life experiences of W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963), she is keenly aware of all the contradictions the African American artist must assimilate. DuBois was born and received his early education in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His Caucasian mentor advised him to seek higher education in the South, however, in an all-African American community, where he could learn who he was and what to expect as an African American. He taught school in a poor rural community in Tennessee while he completed his studies at Fisk University in Nashville,

Edition

which prepared him well for graduate studies at Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. Samella Lewis traveled a comparable path, from Dillard University in New Orleans to Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, in Virginia. At Hampton she had the benefit of the wisdom and experience of a refugee from Nazi-controlled Austria, Viktor Louenfeld, to guide her progress as an artist-art historian through the contradictions of segregated African American institutions that were governed by Caucasians. She withstood the resistance to her struggle for equality in African American institutions, survived minority faculty status at schools in upstate New York and in California, placed her own aspirations as a visual artist on the back burner while she advocated for African American artists seeking to be recognized and showcased, and created curricula that included art by artists of color in California institutions, only to see them disappear after she retired. As Floyd Coleman remarks in his foreword to the 1990 edition of this book, "Few can bring to African American art history experience, knowledge, and perspective equal to those of Samella Lewis. She has been in close and sensitive contact with African American artists for over fifty years." She knows intimately the ambivalence of those artists about African American identity and the Euro-American aesthetic and the conflict it brings to the creative process. Where can this art be seen? The museums and galleries in the United States that feature works by African American artists are not numerous, but they exist, primarily in major cities. The permanent collections of some major museums contain stellar works by African American artists. Additionally, major retrospectives of works by the masters are organized from time to time, such as Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence, organized by the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. There is no better example of transcendence of all the ambiguity and tensions the African American artist faces than Lawrence's life and work. The editors of the exhibition catalogue explain its title as one that is meant to be evocative and allusive, utilizing both senses of the word over and implying that Lawrence and his art occupy a transitional, undefined, or liminal place in American culture. By alluding to a border. . . through the use of the word line, the title acknowledges the artistic and social climate in which the artist spent most of his professional life — in a culture that categorized difference in binary terms and attempted to clearly delineate between the two. But it is also meant to imply that in his art and life he attempted to transcend this situation, to negate and go beyond such limitations, and to deal with the fundamental complexities of modem life.

(Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois, eds., Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence, published in association with the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000], 11) Finally, the challenge to African American artists today is to find ways to use both the spiritual and material powers of art in such a way that their expressions become a vehicle for the understanding of people. This text has been written, this book created, to facilitate that process. Mary Jane Hewitt Pacific Palisades, California

Preface

W i t h all that is finally being written today about African Americans and their past, there is still a need for much more research and analysis. One area in which this need is very apparent is the history of the art of African Americans. For like African American scientists, African American artists have been given little or no attention in histories of the United States. Only a very few writers, visual artists and musicians have occasionally made their way into the textbooks. Art: African American is an attempt to remedy this omission by uncovering the contributions of visual artists of African descent in the Americas. It begins with remnants of seventeenth-century slave crafts and proceeds through the intervening centuries to the artistic explosion of the approaching twenty-first century. Throughout the book the biographical sketch is used as the primary tool, for it reveals both the personal lives of the artists and the public attitudes of their times. The many individuals who contributed to this work are too numerous to mention here, but I would like to express my appreciation to a few who were directly instrumental in making this publication possible. My sincere thanks go to the many artists who contributed to this book in multitudinous ways. The use of photographs of their works and permission to publish their comments represent only a small measure of their cooperation. My thanks are also extended to the individuals and institutions who permitted the publication of works from their collections. Great assistance, insight, and inspiration were also rendered by the late Dr. James W. Grimes, my friend and former mentor, and my colleagues Dr. Mary Jane Hewitt, E. J. Montgomery and Armando Solis. My greatest indebtedness, however, is to the members of my family. Their continued encouragement, patience, assistance, and enthusiasm made the entire project a truly rewarding experience for me. Samella Lewis

xvii

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to all the artists in this book, especially those new to this edition who have allowed me to include their art and have provided me with information concerning their lives and careers. Further, I wish to thank Marcia A. Lewis for her dedication to the project and her assistance in making this revision possible. My friend and colleague the cultural historian, curator, and producer Mary Jane Hewitt must also be acknowledged. She not only graciously contributed the Introduction to this revised edition of the book, but also encouraged me to write this volume and for many years enthusiastically supported the numerous projects on which I have requested her assistance. Evangeline J. Montgomery, program officer and exhibit specialist in the Cultural Programs Division of the U.S. Department of State, and Eugene Foney, art director for Artcetera in Houston, Texas, have been instrumental in collecting the photographs of the artists' works for this edition. Finally, I wish to thank Charlene Woodcock of the University of California Press in Berkeley for her guidance over the years. She has helped me in revising the book to preserve a freshness and simplicity of style as well as a faithfully honest and sincere approach to the individual works of art it discusses.

xix

AFRICAN AMERICAN ART AND ARTISTS

introduction

Today African American artists are energetic participants in a cultural revolution. Driven by needs that are both aesthetic and social, these artists are in search of cultural identity, self-discovery, and understanding. Contemporary African American artists are creating their own kind of symbols. Unlike most of their predecessors, they are not dominated by the accepted European aesthetic standards, but instead are responding to their own life styles by creating art from the depths of their own needs, actions, and reactions. They are accepting and using their own philosophies as the basis of their artistic expression. Interest in African American art grows rapidly in major capitals of the world. The emergence of Africa from foreign domination and that continents struggle to regain its own ways of life while participating in a complex world structure, contribute greatly to this increased awareness. Public interest in African American art also results from an increase in the number of artists who are devoting their energies to the production of works for the benefit of their communities. As a result, African American art is now evident in many aspects of the national and international art scenes. There are special galleries in every section of this country, and international exhibitions of African American art are not unusual. The number of African American students in art schools and art programs in colleges and universities has increased in the last fifty years from near zero to many thousands. And in art criticism and the study of art history, African Americans are rapidly increasing the number of distinguished positions they hold. The alternatives for African American artists have been quite clear. Either they must work to realize and promote the inherent qualities that make art a valuable, functional force in society, or they must become absorbed in the dominant culture of their societies and lose the indigenous values of their vital cultural heritage. Artists today can do much to strengthen their role in society. In their search for direction, they must be mindful of the unique situations and purposes that confront them as artists. They must also be

3

cognizant of their obligations and responsibilities to their c o m m u nities. Since a lack of adequate knowledge of the past is frequently an obstacle to h u m a n development, a primary obligation of African American artists is to understand and use, whenever possible, elements of their cultural heritage. A second obligation is to understand the power of art and the use of that power to inform and to educate. T h e African American artist should also establish a direct relationship with people at all socioeconomic and educational levels. In this role the artist is an interpreter, a voice that makes intelligible the deepest, most meaningful aspirations of the people. T h e artist is a channel through which their resentments, hopes, fears, ambitions, and all the other unconscious drives that condition behavior are expressed and become explicit. In this role the artist is a community resource, valued and supported because he or she forsakes the "ivory tower" and gets to the heart of community life. What kind of art meets the artists obligations to the community? First, these obligations require an art that is functional, an art that makes sense to the audience for which it was created. They also require an art that employs the images c o m m o n to African American lives. Next, this art should reflect a c o n t i n u u m of aesthetic principles derived from Africa, maintained during slavery, and emergent today. T h e art that the African American artist produces should also be affordable. This does not mean, as one might suppose, that only prints rather than drawings, paintings and sculpture should be produced. It does mean, however, that some volume production at a low cost is a primary consideration. African American art should also help to enrich the physical appearance of the community. This does not call for uncontrolled graffiti and fanciful false facades on buildings. It does require the use of every legitimate opportunity to enhance the quality of the environment. Finally, the obligations of the African American artist require a diverse art: an art that exploits every possible quality of individual difference in the artist who produces it. T h e challenge to African American artists is to find ways to use both the spiritual and material powers of art in such a way that their expressions become a vehicle for the understanding of people. This will be possible only when the arts reflect the true spirit of differences and make explicit the African roots that enrich and strengthen African Americans. This book is primarily a review of the history of African American Art in the United States. It is about the art of a people forcibly brought from Africa and enslaved; the art shows how they bent to forces outside their control but never broke, and how they struggled with cultural, economic, and social deprivation to become a strong, creative segment in American society.

Cultural Deprivation and Slavery

1619-1865 In 1619 a Dutch ship transported twenty West Africans to the British colony of Jamestown on the eastern coast of North America. Its arrival marked the beginning of the involuntary servitude of Africans in North America, a condition that lasted for more than two hundred years. This first shipment of Africans began their lives in America as indentured servants, and for the next forty years participated regularly in the work force of Britain's North American colonies. During this period, African Americans held equal status with other individuals in similar work roles. Moreover, upon completion of their period of service, they were assigned land and viewed as freemen. But as the economy of the colonies expanded, and it became increasingly difficult to meet the domestic and European demands for goods (partly because of a shortage of steady, cheap labor), the colonial attitude toward African Americans began to change. White indentured servants in the colonies were still too few in number to be an adequate work force, and the need to replace such workers when their period of servitude expired was a recurring problem. Once their indentures were completed, most workers imported from Europe soon left their assigned positions to venture out on their own. Those who remained stable employees often insisted upon steep rates for their skills and products. T h e ready solution to the colonies' labor problem appeared to be the enslavement of Africans: they seemed available in virtually inexhaustible numbers, and there was thought to be a moral justification for their importation. Would not the "good Christians" of the New World be rescuing the Africans from a "heathen existence of sin" and teaching them to follow the "one true path" to salvation?

The cultural cost of being "rescued" was high, for slavery had a damaging and thwarting influence on the creativity of African Americans. As Alain Locke (1886-1954), the first African American Rhodes Scholar and a former professor of philosophy at Howard University, argued, in the booklet Negro Art: Past and Present (1933), slavery not only transplanted Africans from their homeland but also abruptly cut them off from their cultural roots: it took away their languages, drastically changed their social habits, and placed them in the midst of a strange and frequently hostile society. Slavery in the New World was indeed a traumatic cultural shock for transplanted Africans; yet not all the arts of myth and ritual, not all the traditional techniques of their native land were completely lost to enslaved Africans in their new environment. Many continuations of the cultural past thrived with the simple need to communicate. Since slaves from one area of Africa were often unfamiliar with the native language of those from another, and since talking while at work in the fields was usually forbidden, music, pantomime, dance, and cryptic signs became the established means of communication within many slave groups. Chants and "talking" drums provided the patterns later used in call-response work songs, and the vocal sounds of a language unique to African Americans began to emerge.

THE CRAFT HERITAGE AS AH ECOHOMIC RESOURCE With respect to crafts the continuation of African artistic traditions under slavery had a somewhat more secure base. As the colonies expanded, the demand for skilled craftsmen exceeded the supply. For example, in 1731 there was reportedly only one potter in all of South Carolina. Consequently, slaveholders frequently found it worthwhile to use some of their slaves as artisans rather than as agricultural laborers. Many of the enslaved Africans proved to be familiar with one or more of the trades needed in the colonies' rapidly developing society. Among these bondsmen were carpenters, metalworkers, potters, sculptors, weavers, and designers of various wares. Thus, during the late eighteenth century, a system of renting and apprenticing talented Africans to white craftsmen developed in the colonies.

8

That a significant number of Africans were so apprenticed, and in responsible occupations, is indicated by numerous advertisements in colonial newspapers. For example, the Maryland Gazette (2 November 1774) listed the sale of a slave craftsmen who understood all types of engraving and woodcutting. Similarly, Edward Petersons History of Rhode Island (1853) suggests that Gilbert Stuart, a portrait painter from the New England colonies, received his first lesson in drawing from Neptune Thurston, a slave employed in a Boston copper shop.

T h e evidence in support of such a meeting is strengthened by an advertisement in the Boston Newsletter (7 January 1775) announcing the services of an African man who "makes portraits at the lowest rates" and who "has worked with the best masters in London." Further documenting the existence of the slave craftsman, an edition of the Pennsylvania Packet (1 May 1784) lists a reward for the return of John Frances, a slave goldsmith. Two basic types of slave-craft items survive from the colonial period. T h e first of these includes articles designed for the slaves' personal use and, in some cases, intended to have mythic implications. T h e second consists of articles for public or professional use - that is, those made upon demand for whites. T h e first type of survivals includes numerous items associated with African religions. These were made in many different forms and of such varied materials as cloth, clay, wood, and feathers. Also typical of the homemade articles are the colorful patchwork quilts, whose patterns strongly suggest the woven and painted textiles of West and Central Africa [///us. 1]. Among the other personal items created by slave craftsmen were pottery, shell beads, dolls, bone carvings, staffs, baskets, and gravestones. T h e symbolic and mythic meanings of arti-

1

Patchwork quilt (detail), 1800s. Cloth, 6' x 4'. Collection of Hamp Johnson, Los Angeles.

Grotesque jug, early 1800s. Stoneware, 8 W x 4lA". National Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . (Index of American Design. )

cles in this category were held in rigid secrecy by their makers, and most of the rich folklore these artifacts expressed has long since been lost. In such examples of the African American spirit expressed in visual art forms, there can be found elements that are fundamental to the aesthetics of contemporary African American art. For instance, the artistic ways in which enslaved Africans used inexpensive raw materials and castoffs are reflected in todays collage and assemblage; the slaves' linkage of magic and art in modern mojo forms; and their employment of low-key colors, in the dominance of earth tones in the work of numerous present-day African American artists. The public, or professional, articles produced by slave craftsmen were, as suggested previously, an important aspect of the colonial economy. In the northern and middle colonies, slaves were apprenticed as goldsmiths, silversmiths, cabinetmakers, printers, engravers, and portrait painters. Stoneware vessels made by slaves, some of which are still in existence, are viewed as examples of the colonies' flourishing pottery trade [Illus. 2]. In some instances, moreover, praise for the quality of slave artistry and craftsmanship was widespread. For example, a group of artisans in Andover, New Jersey, gained a reputation throughout the colonies for the excellent ironwork they produced. Specific examples of the public work done by slave craftsmen are also known. James A. Porter's Modern Negro Art (New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1969) identifies African survivals in the construction and ornamentation of Janson House, a mansion built for a Dutch settler in 1712 on the shores of the Hudson River. Porter particularly cites the buildings hand-forged hinges as being of African origin. Another example of slave craftsmanship is provided by Isaiah Thomas' History of Printing in America (1810), which records that three slaves in Boston, a man and his two sons, were apprenticed as printers by Thomas Fleet, who had emigrated to that city from England in 1721. The father is known to have made the woodcuts used to decorate several small collections of ballads composed by Fleet. Many of the oldest buildings in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Georgia also incorporate reflections of African architectural and decorative techniques. In these states, buildings of French and Spanish design commonly feature African-inspired ornaments and supports, and some of these structural features are known to have been executed by slaves. One such building is the convent of the Ursuline Sisters in New Orleans [Illus. 3]. Begun in 1734, it is counted among the architectural prizes of the city's original French Quarter.

THE EMERGENCE OF PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS

10

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were a few

African Americans who achieved a degree of personal recognition as artists and artisans. Studies of this phenomenon in the history of art have been scanty and inconclusive. There is enough definite information on the subject, however, to be worthy of mention here and thus, one hopes, to provide a basis for further scholarly research. (active 1770s) was an African painter who lived in Massachusetts during the late eighteenth century. Although a slave, he enjoyed the usual rights of free workers, as did many Africans in that state long before Emancipation. Poet Phillis Wheatley, a slave in the liberal household of Bostonian John Wheatley, mentions Moorhead in a collection of her poems published in London in 1773: "To S. M . , a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works." Wheatley's book also offers a description of Moorheads Aurora, a symbolic painting of dawn, and mentions as well a painting in which he treats the legend of Damon and Pythias. SCIPIO M O O R H E A D

3

Convent of the Ursuline Sisters, New Orleans, 1 7 3 4 - 5 0 . (Photograph by Gaal D. C o h e n . )

It seems likely that the poet was acquainted with the Reverend John Moorhead of Boston, who is thought to have been the owner of the young painter. Such an acquaintance seems implied in a eulogy written by Wheatley and dedicated to Reverend Moorhead's daughter, Mary, upon the death of her father. Sarah Moorhead, teacher of art and the wife of the minister, probably helped Scipio in the development of his drawing and painting techniques. No signed works by Scipio Moorhead are known to exist; it is possible, however, that the copperplate engraving of Phillis Wheatley that adorns much of her published poetry is his creation [Illus. 4].

4 Phillis Wheatley, 1773. Copperplate engraving, 5" x 4". Library of the Boston Athenaeum.

THE REVEREND G . W. HOBBS of Baltimore, who was in the late eighteenth century the official artist of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is the first African American resident of the United States known to have painted a portrait of another African American. T h e subject of this portrait, a pastel completed in 1785, was a former slave named Richard Allen, who having purchased his freedom at age seventeen, became the co-founder and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (///us. 5]. One of the most significant social and religious leaders of the late eighteenth century, Allen also founded the Free African Society and, in 1830, sponsored the first National Negro Convention.

5 G . W. Hobbs, Richard Allen, 1785. Pastel, 8V2" x 6V2". Howard University Museum, Moorland-Springarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, D . C .

JOSHUA JOHNSTON (active about 1789-1825) was the first artist of African ancestry to gain public recognition in the United States as a portrait painter. Information on his early life is scarce. One report of his era lists Johnston as the former slave of a portrait painter from the West Indies; another identifies him as a mulatto who had served a period of his life as a slave. And between 1796 and 1824, nearly every issue of Baltimore's directory of residents listed Johnston as either a portrait painter or a limner. (The one exception was the 1817 issue, in which persons of African descent were listed separately, and at the end of the register, as "Free Householders of Colour." Though in nine of the integrated listings race was ignored, the others used a small cross or the phrase "black m a n " to distinguish the names of persons of African descent.) While the majority of Johnstons subjects were members of wealthy slaveholding families, his impressive Portrait of a Cleric [Illus. 6] is a painting that depicts an African American man. J. Hall Pleasants, a leading authority on Johnston has estimated its date as between 1805 and 1810. It is also likely that Johnston produced other paintings of African Americans; indeed, his sensitive handling of Portrait of a Cleric suggests that it was not his first attempt at depicting this subject. Close examination of the portrait also reveals a relaxed approach not evident in any of the artists other surviving works. There has been much speculation concerning the influences evident in the works of this early portrait painter. There is a very strong possibility that Johnston had some connection with Charles Wilson Peale, Charles Peale Polk, and Rembrandt Peale - three other Baltimore painters of the 1790s. He may even have been apprenticed to one of them.

6 Joshua Johnston, Portrait of a Cleric (detail), ca. 1805. Oil on canvas, 28" x 22". Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine.

None of the paintings attributed to Johnston are signed or dated, but all bear similar stylistic traits. Neatly rendered portraitures, the works are distinguished by an unusually inflexible treatment of hands. Faces are usually shown in three-quarter view with the glances of the elliptical eyes directed straight forward, giving the paintings a presence that is uncomfortable to viewers. Mouths are drawn in a linear style typical of the period. T h e paintings reveal no physical or psychological relationship between figures, which in most cases, suggest the stiffness and lack of personality characteristic of many works done earlier in the eighteenth century. T h e tightly set lips, staring eyes, and seemingly inflexible bodies aptly illustrate that these were posed works, not the products of momentary impression. T h e backgrounds suggest only a partial knowledge of vanishing points; and often no single area of a painting is made dominant, either through color, placement of figures, or rendering of detail. Professionally, Johnston followed the practice of other artists of the period and, in the main, portrayed members of aristocratic white families. It is hoped that this subject matter represents only a segment of his artistic production and that other Johnston works will be discovered which reveal a greater identification with the spirit of early African Americans. Because they were generally offspring of aristocratic white men, "free persons of color" in both the North and the South in the early nineteenth century enjoyed a measure of freedom uncommon to most African Americans at the time. Those who were acknowledged by their fathers were frequently provided with opportunities for education, generally including study abroad, and with a social life based upon the standards of their white contemporaries. Those who were not sent elsewhere for an education usually received special training and privileges as servants in the homes of their fathers.

JULIEN HUDSON (active 1830-40) was one such free man. His Battle of New Orleans in 1815 has as its principal subject Colonel Michel Jean Fortier, Jr., the white commander of a corps of free persons of African descent who fought in the battle. Self Portrait [Illus. 7], completed in the late 1830s and now housed in the Louisiana State M u s e u m , is the only known self-portrait by an African American artist of the colonial period. T h e facial features of the figure indicate that the artist was of mixed ancestry, and the manner of dress suggests that he enjoyed the privileges of gentry. As a free mulatto in New Orleans, Hudson was exposed to the French tradition and to a lifestyle that reflected a level of elegance and flamboyance not then found elsewhere in the United States. His self-portrait helps depict the flavor and quality of life that was available to many freemen in nineteenth-century New Orleans.

7

Julien Hudson, Self Portrait (detail), 1839. Oil on canvas,

x 7".

Courtesy of the Louisiana State M u s e u m .

Another interesting view of life in the New Orleans area during this period is provided by the Metoyer family. Descendants of one Marie Therese, who had been freed from slavery by the French commandant at Fort Natchitoches, and her husband, a Frenchman named Thomas Metoyer, this family maintained a way of life that reflected the elegant taste of the period. T h e mansion Metoyer ordered built for Marie Therese in 1750 is the oldest surviving dwelling constructed in the United States both by and for African Americans; it is also one of the oldest buildings in Louisiana. T h e famous African House [Illus. 8], a two-story building on the Metoyer grounds, has features reminiscent of the construction found in West African villages. Built of brick and cypress, the house is an impressive structure that stands as a monument to the ability of early African American architects and builders. Still remaining in the mansion today are three interesting paintings of Metoyer family members. One is a portrait of Augustine, Marie Thereses eldest son, that was painted in 1829 and signed with the name Feuville. T h e two others are undated and unsigned portraits of a grandson and a granddaughter. All three paintings are assumed to be the work of African American artists. In the mid-i8oos, as a result of difficulties stemming from threatened slave insurrections, the Metoyer family became victims of white reprisals. For the Metoyers in 1847, this included the take-over of their home.

8 African House, Natchitoches, Louisiana, Melrose Plantation, early 19th century.

FREEMEN AND THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT Free African Americans long involved in the creative arts but denied the privilege of personal expression, were ready in the 1850s and 1860s to assume their place in the fight for freedom and liberation. As the slavery struggle heightened, abolitionist movements gained strength. Since slaves in areas of the North had been emancipated, there was less hesitation in becoming involved in antislavery groups. ROBERT M . DOUGLASS, JR. (1809-87), was one of the first African American artists to ally himself with antislavery leaders, among them Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. His efforts to aid them were expressed both through painting and through literature. In 1833, for example, Robert Douglass created a lithographic portrait of Garrison and, attempting to raise money for the abolitionist cause, sold copies at fifty cents each in New York and Philadelphia. There is no indication that any of these prints still exist, but published documents and letters remain that attest to Douglass' life as a creative pioneer. Born a freeman in the city of Philadelphia, Douglass was the son of a West Indian immigrant and a freewoman from Philadelphia. Both he and his sister, Sarah, became Quakers and were educated in Quaker schools where the curriculum included languages, shorthand, dramatic readings, and music. In spite of his educational achievements, however, Douglass found it nearly impossible to gain acceptance as a creative American. Racial prejudice closed to him most of the doors open to white citizens.

Funds for Douglass' artistic studies came from the abolitionist groups to which he belonged. Faith in the young artist was also expressed by Thomas Sully, a well-known Philadelphia portrait painter who, in introductory letters to friends in Europe, gave him "the highest commendations." At age twenty-four Douglass was also highly praised in the abolitionist newspaper The Emancipator, as in the following excerpt: This gentleman is a very respectable colored gentleman, in Philadelphia, and has for several years carried on the business of sign and ornamental painting. His establishment is located at the corner of Arch and Front Streets. Few persons, if any, have made greater proficiency in this line than he has done for the time he has been engaged in the business He has lately turned his attention to portrait painting in addition to his other employment. In this too he has been eminently successful. We have seen several of his paintings that would scarcely suffer in comparison with those of many who are considered among the finest artists of our country. (20 }uly 183 3.) In letters to his sister, Douglass indicated that he was finding the United States too repressive a place for his artistic pursuits and that he had chosen to seek more congenial environments in which to construct his thoughts, art, and life. Douglass was to be confronted with racial discrimination even in his bid to leave the country; his application for passport to England was rejected on the grounds that "people of color were not citizens and therefore had no right to passports to foreign countries." This narrow rule did not stop Douglass, for he eventually managed to go both to England and to the West Indies. In 1848 a letter from Douglass appeared in the National AntiSlavery Standard; it was later printed in the North Star, a newspaper edited by Frederick Douglass. Concerning the letter, the abolitionist leader made the following editorial comment: Our friends in Eastern Pennsylvania will be glad to see the letter from Mr. Douglass, late of Philadelphia. It will interest our readers to know that Robert Douglass is an artist of skill and promise who, in this country, was unable to gain a livelihood by his profession, though he added to it that of Daguerreotypist; and has therefore emigrated to a country where he hopes the colors he uses, and the way he uses them, will be the test of his merit, rather than upon his own body, which he neither put on nor can rub o f f . (Quoted in Porter, Modern Negro Art, p. 33.) In spite of long absences from his homeland and other difficulties, Robert Douglass made impressive artistic contributions to the African

American struggle. Among his known works are a portrait of Nicolas Fabre Geffrard, president of the Republic of Haiti from 1859 to 1867; a banner for the Grand Order of Odd Fellows, in Philadelphia; and drawings of missionary stations in Jamaica.

PATRICK H E N R Y REASON (1817(F)-50(7), a P h i l a d e l p h i a e n g r a v e r , is

perhaps best known for his depiction of a chained slave who asks: "Am I not a man and a brother?" This work was used principally as the emblem of the British antislavery movement and for various other abolitionist causes. Reason, whose parents had settled in New York during the early nineteenth century, attended the African Free School and - like many other talented African Americans associated with the abolitionist movement - was apprenticed to a white craftsman. His first public mention came when, still a student, he was given credit for the frontispiece of The History of the African Free Schools (1830), by Charles C . Andrews. The acknowledgement read: "Engraved from a drawing by P Reason, a pupil, aged thirteen years." Later, when Reason had become a free-lance engraver and lithographer, his work appeared in many publications sponsored by anti-slavery groups. During this period, abolitionist societies gave many African American artists extensive support, frequently by awarding them commissions for portraits of the major reformers. Works of this sort done by Reason include a drawing of Granville Sharp, the English abolitionist, and two portraits of Henry Bibb, an escaped slave and abolitionist lecturer. T h e first Bibb portrait is a lithograph done in 1840; the later one, copper engraving made in 1848 as the frontispiece for The Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb [Illus. 9J. Though the artwork created by Reason reflects the typical stylistic conservatism of the nineteenth century, his concern for his fellow human beings was boundless. An enormous amount of his time was devoted to eradicating injustices, and he ranks high as a fighter for human dignity.

9 Patrick Henry Reason, Portrait of Henry Bibb, 1840. Lithograph. General Research and Humanities Division, T h e New York Public Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations).

DISCRIMINATION AND THE PROBLEM OF PATRONAGE Throughout the nineteenth century, African American artists were excluded from the academies, associations, and teaching institutions that were accessible to white artists in the United States. African American artists were thus rarely able to attract and sustain dependable patronage. Responses to this racial exclusion included the development of a union of families involved in the making of handcrafts.

Allied for strength and protection, some of these families were themselves highly organized, with several publishing their own directories. These directories aided independent artists in their search for patronage. DAVID BUSTILL BOWSER (1820-1900), unlike his cousin and mentor

Robert Douglass, was basically a "weekend" artist. His paintings grew out of a desire to record personal impressions and ideas; but, to support himself and his family, Bowser was obliged to work as a painter of emblems and banners for fire companies and fraternal organizations. His city of birth is uncertain, but it was most probably in the state of Pennsylvania, where he and his family resided for many years. (Bowsers grandfather, a former baker for the Continental Army, was one of the first African American schoolteachers employed by the city of Philadelphia.) In 1852 an exhibition review in the New York Herald praised Bowser for his marine paintings. He has also been credited with numerous portraits of eminent persons, including two of Abraham Lincoln. One Bowser portrait of Lincoln, now lost, is believed to have been commissioned, and posed for, by Lincoln himself; the other is now located in a home for aged African Americans, in Philadelphia. Bowsers significant surviving works also include a portrait of a baby and several landscapes. Because Bowser was not a full-time artist, his output was limited; he brought to his relatively few works, however, an originality that compensated for his lack of technical expertise.

WILLIAM SIMPSON (active 1854-72) was first brought to public attention as an artist through the writings of an African American contemporary, William Wells Brown, author of The Rising Sun, or The Antecedents and Advancement of the Colored Race (1876). Brown wrote enthusiastically of Simpson's major works and collected most of the information now available on the artists early life. According to Brown, at an early age Simpson displayed an aptitude for art and in elementary school, often practiced his drawing instead of paying attention to classroom activities. On leaving school he became apprenticed to Mathew Wilson, a distinguished artist. Later, from I860 to 1866, Simpson was among those listed in the Boston directories as an independent artist. Simpson lived many of his subsequent years in Buffalo, New York, but his merit as a painter was known throughout the northern United States and in Canada. Principally a portrait painter, he is best remembered for two works known as the Loguen portraits. One painting depicts Bishop Jermain Wesley Loguen [Illus. JO], and the other his wife, Caroline. Loguen, a fugitive slave, was New York bishop of the

African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was also a public speaker on behalf of the antislavery cause and an active participant in the underground railroad. T h e conditions of slavery made it impossible for African American craftsmen to express themselves in a truly personal manner. T h e slave craftsman's principal function was to produce works that satisfied the needs and European tastes of the colonist. Thus, though the slaves' creativity and African remembrances found outlets in many objects of high aesthetic quality, there is little evidence of art forms produced by slaves solely in response to their own expressive needs. Most African American artists in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were saddled with European aesthetic concepts. However, there were a few, such as Moorhead, Hobbs, and Simpson, who found it possible to document the lives of the first African American leaders and their roles in the search for freedom.

10 William Simpson, Bishop Jermain Wesley Loguen, 1835. Oil on canvas. Howard University Gallery of Art. (Photograph by Scurlock Studios, Washington, D . C . )

21

Emancipation

and Cultural

Dilemma

1865-I92O Until the mid-nineteenth century, survival was the primary concern of African Americans in the United States. With the post-Civil War era came different burdens, among them the problem of finding employment. Because of the lack of opportunities, few African Americans of this period became trained artists; however, many sought to express themselves creatively. This effort was of primary importance to their continued aesthetic and physical survival. Two major approaches to artistic expression were demonstrated among African Americans during the post-Civil War period. One of these accepted the artists environment and experiences as major factors in the creation of works of art, while the other favored the abandonment of African values and the substitution of European tastes and aesthetics. Usually the latter approach prevailed. Since the quality of an artistic work was measured by its adherence to simulated European cultural traditions, these artists generally avoided African American themes. Among some of their white contemporaries, moreover, disparaging portrayals of African Americans were becoming increasingly popular. Nineteenth-century American painting frequently depicted African Americans as clowns, simpletons, and creatures expressing all manner of inhuman qualities. The brush and canvas became aids in the creation of symbols that would for decades influence American racial values. African American artists in the mid-nineteenth century found themselves in a world in which their art forms were judged inferior and their cultural roots discredited. In every way possible, Africanism was held to be invalid. The only means to artistic acceptance required a commitment to European middle-class values and the rejection of everything African. This circumstance caused much frustration for

23

African American artists, and many, as a result, became individuals without a culture. Moreover, even those artists who refused to identify with the African American world were rejected by white society. This generation of African American artists did, however, develop in a social climate less provincial than that of their predecessors. In addition to changes in the general social and political climate, cultural opportunities sponsored by abolitionists helped make meaningful careers possible for a number of promising artists.

THE FIRST MAJOR LANDSCAPE PAINTER ROBERT SCOTT DUNCANSON ( 1 8 2 1 - 7 2 ) , benefiting from an abolitionist group's award, was one of the few African American artists to visit Europe. T h e son of a Scots-Canadian and a free woman of African descent, Duncanson spent his early years in Canada and later moved with his mother to Mount Healthy, a small Ohio community about fifteen miles north of Cincinnati. A border city between the North and the South, Cincinnati in the early 1880s was a center of controversy over slavery and the rights of slaves who had escaped from southern states. Ohio's Black Laws, passed in 1804, prohibited settlement in the state without proof of freedom; however, repressive measures resulting from these laws did not directly affect resident African Americans, nor prevent those in Cincinnati from sharing in the city's program of fine arts for the masses. Duncanson resided in the Cincinnati area at a time when art was promoted there as an important aspect of education. This frontier city was a prosperous one, and it maintained a society in which all artists mingled freely and shared ideas about their work. By 1842 Duncanson was apparently exhibiting in the Cincinnati area, for the catalog of an exhibition sponsored in that year by a local group (the Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge) listed three of his works: Fancy Portrait, Infant Savior, and The Miser. T h e other artists in the exhibition were primarily local residents who painted in the style of the Hudson River school, the romantic-naturalistic tradition of which Duncanson was to become a follower. During the subsequent years, references to Duncanson's work appeared in numerous newspaper reviews and articles. Among these, the Detroit Daily Advertiser (2 February 1846) made reference to Duncanson's work and described him as a portrait painter who had "designed and finished several historical and fancy pieces of great merit." Though officially a Cincinnati resident, Duncanson had a long association with artistic activities in Detroit. Among the commissions he completed while active in that city were portraits of the Berthelets, one of its most prominent families during the early 1800s; of Lewis

Cass, Michigan's abolitionist senator; and of James G. Birney, editor of the Philanthropist, an abolitionist newspaper. None of these portraits were of high technical or aesthetic quality; they were executed, it seems, chiefly for monetary reasons. Duncansons abilities as an artist were better demonstrated in landscape painting, in which he excelled and in which he was probably influenced by several outstanding American landscape artists, among them Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand. Duncansons landscape style exhibits the broad range of atmospheric and emotional elements typical of works of the Hudson River school. It often utilizes such striking atmospheric effects as wind and rain storms to give increased drama to the work; at other times, however, it very effectively conveys the qualities of a calm pastoral setting. Whatever their mood, Duncansons paintings, like Durands, involve a more intimate scale than do the paintings of Cole and many comparable landscape artists. During the years 1845 to 1853, though active primarily in Cincinnati and Detroit, Duncanson traveled throughout New England and portions of the Appalachians. The Blue Hole, Flood Waters, Little Miami River [Illus. 11] and Views of Cincinnati, Ohio, from Covington, Kentucky [Illus. 12] are two important examples of Duncansons work during this period. The latter is one of the rare examples of a nineteenth-century portrayal of an American city. It is also an impressive display of the artists ability to deal with space by means of aerial perspective. In The Blue Hole, Flood Waters, Little Miami River, Duncanson effectively captures the placidity of the scene and smoothly integrates the human elements and the unspoiled natural environment. The figures of the three fishermen, though dwarfed by the grandeur of the landscape, are a center of visual interest by virtue of their placement. Upon close scrutiny, however, it becomes apparent that Duncansons ability to depict the human figure lacks the sophistication so evident in his renderings of the countryside and other natural settings. Cincinnati directories of the early 1850s also list Duncanson as a daguerreotypist. A photographic process invented in the late 1830s, by midcentury daguerreotype had become the means by which many landscape artists recorded different views of their intended subjects, thus partially eliminating the need for sketching. As a daguerreotypist, Duncanson was associated with, and at one time employed by J.P Ball, also an African American photographer and a highly successful figure in the city of Cincinnati. In 1848 Nicholas Longworth, a lawyer turned realtor, commissioned Duncanson to do a series of murals for his Cincinnati residence. (This house, an excellent example of nineteenth-century American architecture, had been purchased by Longworth in 1829 and is now the Taft Museum.) Completed over the next two years, the

ii Robert Stuart Duncanson, The Blue Hole, Flood Waters, Little Miami River, 1851. Oil on canvas, 29K4" x 4ilA". T h e Cincinnati Art Museum (gift of Norbert Heerman).

12 Robert Stuart Duncanson, View of Cincinnati, Ohio, from Covington, Kentucky, 1848. Oil on canvas, 25" x 36". Original in Cincinnati Historical Society.

series consists of eight compositions that, because of their highly poetic quality, suggest the traditions of French landscape painting rather than the detailed style of Duncansons contemporaries in the United States [Illus. 13J. The only known painting by Duncanson in which the special concerns of Blacks are the central subject matter is one that illustrates an incident from Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), by Harriet Beecher Stowe [Illus. 14]. In this composition, Uncle Tom and Little Eva, like the people in other Duncanson paintings, suffer from the artists depiction of the human figure." This consistent weakness on Duncansons part is probably due simply to a lack of proficiency, but it may be related to Puritan attitudes prevalent in America at the time, which discouraged glorification of the human form. Only Duncansons portrait of Richard Sutton Rust, the first president of Ohio's Wilberforce University, is an exception to this tendency. Painted in 1858, it displays a more sensitive treatment of the human figure than was usual for Duncanson. The artist and Rust are believed to have been personal friends, and their relationship may account in some measure for the greater strength of expression in this portrait.

13 Robert Stuart Duncanson, untitled mural, ca. 1848. Oil on plaster, 109Vs" x 91V8". The Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio.

27

Duncansons success grew steadily throughout the 1850s, for his works were being purchased by many of Cincinnati's socialites. In 1861 he completed Land of the Lotus Eaters, which, when exhibited in Cincinnati during that year, received high praise from the critics. Beginning with this painting, an ability to combine reality and imagination gave a new and interesting dimension to Duncansons work. Duncanson is thought to have returned to Europe in 1863; the absence of his name in Cincinnati directories from 1864 to 1866 supports the belief that he remained in Europe during those years in an attempt to escape the increased racism in the United States brought about by the Civil War. However, in 1867, less than two years after the end of the war, Duncansons name reappears in the Cincinnati directory, indicating his return to the United States. During his later years, as Duncanson vacillated between the Hudson River style of painting and one more faithful to the classical and romantic traditions, his works sold for prices as high as five hundred dollars and enjoyed great public favor, especially in Cincinnati and Detroit.

14 Robert Stuart Duncanson, Uncle Tom and Little Eva, 1853. Oil on canvas, 27K4" x 38'A". Courtesy of The Detroit Institute of the Arts (gift of Mrs. Jefferson Butler and Miss Grace R. Conover).

28

Duncanson lived in a period of great change and, being mulatto, undoubtedly faced many social and professional disappointments. His racial background probably discouraged his recognition as a major contributor to American art; yet there can be no doubt that, with the development of his mature style, Duncanson brought to American art a personal style high in aesthetic value.

THE DIVERSE QUESTS FOR PROFESSIONAL STATUS E U G E N E W A R B U R G (1825-67) and his brother Daniel were - according to Rudolph Desdunes' Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire (1911) - among the few African American natives of New Orleans in the mid-nineteenth century who were seriously involved in art. Eugenes interest was sculpture, and Daniel was an engraver and stonemason. Free-born, Eugene Warburg is reported to have been apprenticed at one time to a French artist known as Gabriel. The Warburg brothers eventually shared a studio in New Orleans' French Quarter, and it is possible that they worked together on many commissions. Primarily involving portrait busts, religious statuary, and gravestones, the numerous commissions received by the artists were rumored to have aroused the envy of local white artists, some of whom made it uncomfortable for the brothers to remain in their New Orleans studio. Whatever the reason, Eugene departed for Europe in the 1860s and remained there until his death. While abroad, Warburg was commissioned to create a series of bas-reliefs illustrating episodes from Uncle Tom's Cabin, that popular source of artistic subjects. But the only existing sculpture by Warburg is a portrait bust of John Young Mason [Illus. 15], which was probably done in Paris between 1853 and 1859, while Mason was United States minister in France.

(1828-1901) was born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, his mothers birthplace; his father was from the West Indies. In his youth Bannister worked as a cook on a coastal trading vessel, and later much of his leisure time was spent sailing Narragansett Bay and studying its waters and cloud formations. In the early 1850s Bannister settled in Boston, where he studied art at the Lowell Institute under the supervision of S.L. William Rimmer, a noted sculptor. To finance his studies, Bannister worked as a maker of solar prints. His decision to study and settle in Boston may have been based on its reputation as a city with an intellectual, liberal atmosphere. By 1855 Bannister had produced his first commissioned work, The Ship Outward Bound, and he was fast becoming the first African American artist to earn recognition as an American regionalist painter. He was also soon to marry Christiana Cartreaux of Rhode Island, reportedly a descendant of Narragansett Indians. EDWARD MITCHELL BANNISTER

15 Eugene Warburg, John Young Mason, ca. 1853. Marble, 23" x 9Vs" x fA". Reproduced through the courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society.

29

16 Edward Mitchell Bannister, Approaching Storm, 1886. Oil on canvas, 40" x 60". Museum of African Art, Washington, D . C . 17 Edward Mitchell Bannister, Driving Home the Cows, 1881. Oil on canvas, 32" x 50". Frederick Douglass Institute, Miller Collection, Museum of African Art, Washington, D . C .

30

In 1871 Bannister and his wife left Boston for Providence, Rhode Island, a city not then known as an artistic center. Active in the cultural life of his adopted city, Bannister became one of the three founders of the Providence Art Club, which later inspired the Rhode Island School of Design. He is believed to have been greatly affected by a statement printed in 1867 in the New York Herald which claimed that "while the Negro may harbor an appreciation of art, he is unable to produce it." Indeed, his work during the late 1860s and 1870s suggests that Bannister accepted the statement as a personal challenge. In 1876, at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Bannister received national recognition when he was awarded a bronze medal for a painting titled Under the Oaks (1875). (When he arrived to accept the award, however, the artist was refused admission to the galleries because of his race.) This prize-winning painting, which has since disappeared, was purchased by a Boston collector for $1500, a price then considered above average for the work of a living American artist. Following his first national success, Bannister won several other significant medals and was favored with numerous commissions. By the time of the Centennial, Bannister had achieved his mature style, one in which different features of nature are fused in a tranquil and straightforward manner. Thus his later compositions effectively include animals, people, and landscape without allowing one element to overpower the others, and his impasto brushstrokes give added movement to the subtle treatment of the subjects. Throughout his career, he was principally a landscape artist, one whose style ranged from the lyrical to the expressionistic. In Approaching Storm [Illus. 16] Bannister expresses the excitement of nature through a clean, brisk, honest style; this treatment of an atmospheric disturbance is similar to those created in the seventeenth century by Jacob Van Ruisdael and other "little Dutch masters." The figure located in the middle of the composition struggles against the wind and thus serves to heighten the drama of the work. Though small, he does not seem overwhelmed by the forces of nature. Driving Home the Cows [Illus. 17] reveals another aspect of Bannister's painting style - an interest in the picturesque. All intentional suggestions of grandeur and drama have been avoided in the choice of subject matter: the work depicts a simple, intimate scene and suggests calm and tranquility. As is usual in Bannisters paintings, the figures are placed directly in the middle of the composition; the white cow emerging from the shadows is the compositions pivotal point. The patch of light sky, diagonally above the cow, serves as an effective balance to the mass of the animal. Bannister, a religious man said to be a student of the Bible - and of Shakespeare, English literature, the classics, and mythology - died in

January 1901 while attending an evening prayer meeting. Five months later a memorial exhibit of his works was held at the Providence Art C l u b in which 101 of his paintings were displayed. All but two had been borrowed from leading private collectors in the Providence area; the exceptions belonged to the artists wife. Sixteen of Bannisters paintings are now in the collection of the museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, including some regarded by critics as among his most interesting works [Illus. 18, 19J.

18

Edward Mitchell Bannister, Street Scene, ca. 1895. Oil on panel, 8 9 /i6"x5 ? A". Museum of Art,

Rhode Island School of Design (bequest of Isaac C . Bates).

Bannister is not known to have identified with social causes, but his dedication to nature suggests a deep concern for the miracle of life itself. According to John Nelson Arnold, a fellow artist and personal friend: [Bannister] looked at nature with a poet's feeling. Skies, rocks, fields were all absorbed and distilled through his soul and projected upon the canvas with a virile force and a poetic beauty. [Quoted in James A. Porter, Modern Negro Art (New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1969), p. 56. J

19 Edward Mitchell Bannister, Landscape, 1882. Oil on panel, 16" x 22". Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (bequest of Isaac C. Bates).

33

GRAFTON TYLER BROWN (1841-1918) was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is believed to have been the first African American artist to work as a professional in California. His activities during the 1850s were centered in San Francisco, where he lived in a boardinghouse known as the What Cheer House, and worked for the firm of Kuchel & Dressel, first as a draftsman and then as a lithographer. While with this firm Brown designed lithographs depicting such western towns as Santa Rosa, Fort Churchill, and Virginia City. In 1867 he founded his own business, G.T. Brown & Company, and, during the next few years, became well known for his handsome stock certificates and lithographs of California cities, including many views of San Francisco [Illus. 20]. Though he sold his San Francisco business to an employee in 1879, Brown maintained an office at its Clay Street address throughout the 1880s. In 1882 Brown traveled to Victoria, British Columbia, where he became a member of the Amos Bowman party that was then conducting a geological survey for the Canadian government. He produced numerous pencil sketches during his travels with the expedition and, on his return to Victoria in the fall of 1882, developed many of the sketches into watercolors. Because Brown had actually visited the locations they depicted, these paintings contain abundant detail, the sort that only an immediate observer could have reproduced. Fidelity to original scenes characterized the artist, for he always took great pains to make his works precise portrayals as well as good paintings. This reliance on sharp detail, probably the result of Browns background as a lithographer and draftsman, has caused many critics to consider his works somewhat naive and underdeveloped. Brown felt that the city of Victoria had much to offer, and during the next few years he held several exhibitions there. After an exhibition in June 1883, a local newspaper praised him as "the originator of intellectual and refined art." Other critics described him as a great painter of realism and credited him with being the first artist to supply the young people of the city with the grand ideal of the "noble art." From 1886 through 1890 Brown was among the artists listed in the city directories of Portland, Oregon, and there is reason to believe that he belonged to a Portland art club. Sketches made during those years suggest that Brown visited the area known today as Yellowstone National Park. Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from Hayden Point [Illus. 2 1 J , one of the paintings Brown based on the sketches, bears the latest date of any of his known works. Effectively capturing the spirit of the site, this painting conveys much the same feeling for nature as was evidenced centuries earlier (960-1280) by the Northern Sung school of landscape painting. The craggy mountains and gnarled pines of Grand Canyon resemble characteristics of this Chinese school. One

important difference between Brown's painting and the work of the Northern Sung artists, however, is Browns use of an elevated vantage point; it is not a feature of most Sung paintings. Although not documented, his contact with Chinese art cannot be ruled out, having very possibly occurred in San Francisco and on government survey projects. Brown lived next in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was employed as a draftsman by the United States Army Engineers from November 1892 to November 1897. Though there is no evidence that his paintings were exhibited in St. Paul during this period, Brown was listed as an artist and draftsman in the city directories for the years 1897 to 1910. As of 1911 his name was no longer included in city listings, and his endeavors in the following years are not documented. After an illness of about five years, Brown died on March 2, 1918, in a state hospital in St. Paul.

20 Grafton Tyler Brown / C. B. Gifford, San Francisco, ca. 1877. Lithograph, 27V4" x 35?/4". California Historical Society, San Francisco.

21 Grafton Tyler Brown, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from Hayden Point, 1891. Oil on canvas, 24" x 16". Collection of T h e Oakland Museum (gift of The Oakland Museum Founders' Fund). (Photograph by V. Kriz.)

N E L S O N A . P R I M U S ( 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 1 6 ) , born in Hartford, Connecticut, was a painter of portraits and religious subjects. In 1864 he moved to Boston, where he resided for the next thirty years. While establishing himself in that city as a painter of portraits and carriages, he continued his association with artistic activities in Hartford. The Hartford Daily Courant (3 October 1867) cited him as having made a valuable addition to the years county fair by means of four oil paintings. And years later the Hartford Daily Times (16 January 1877) reported that Primus had completed a fine portrait of "a little actress in Boston [Lizzie May Ulmer] and [that it had] received the highest praise from the critics of that city" [Illus. 22}. In numerous letters written to his family during the time he lived in Boston, Primus related many of his activities as an artist. For example, a letter to his mother (10 July 1865) expresses his disappointment in Edward Bannister (see page 29), whom Primus felt was in a position to help him with commissions:

22 Nelson A. Primus, Lizzie May Ulmer, 1876. Oil on canvas, 2-jVh" X 22". Connecticut Historical Society.

Mr. Ban[n]ister[, I] think [,] is a little jealous of me [sic] [H]e says that [I] have got great tast[e] in art, [b]ut does not try very hard to get me work. ... Mr. Ban[n]ister has got on with the white people here[,] and they think a great deal of him. [H]e is afraid that I would be liked as much as himself [Primus Collection, Connecticut Historical Society.] A description of a genre scene painted by Primus is included in a letter to his father: I am busying myself in painting a small scene, called "Alone in the World." The design of the painting is a woman sitting on the stump of an old tree, with her right elbow resting on her knee, and her head upon her hand, her left hand is care[lessl]y drop[p]ed at her side, she is bar[ef]ooted, [and] is apparently] feeling very sorry[,] as if she had lost all of her friends. [28 January 1866, ibid.] Having sent many of his works back to Hartford in an effort to sell them, Primus often expressed disappointment with the lack of sales and finally concluded that he should concentrate on stores in Boston. But success there was also limited, and his primary goal, study in Europe, remained out of reach. To gain additional funds he tried bookselling, but found the work too dull. The following excerpt from a letter to his mother vividly expresses his frustration: Oh, I wish that [I] had money so [I] could go to Europe to study a couple of years [and] then [I] would ask the [odds] of none of the artists. I do not suppose that [I] shall be able to go. Boston trade is very dull[;] there is not anything a doin[g, and] people are not so ready to spend the money. The people on this way are tighter than on south [and] west. [22 March 1867, ibid.] Primus left Boston in 1895 and eventually settled in San Francisco, where he painted and worked as a model at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. Financially, San Francisco proved no better for him than Boston, but he found help and friendship in the Chinese community in which he lived. Although an obituary written in 1899 on his mothers death refers to Primus as "now living in Seattle," later research by the Oakland Museum indicates that he remained in San Francisco throughout the late 1890s and died there of tuberculosis in the early 1900s. Oriental Child [lllus. 23], a study of a distressed child standing in a street in Chinatown, is a provocative work that exemplifies the art created by Primus during his San Francisco period.

m 0 m*

Hi

CHARLES

ETHAN

PORTER

(1847-1923)

23 Nelson A. Primus, Oriental Child, 1900. Oil on canvas, 10V*" x 9". Collection of The Oakland Museum (lent by Lora T. Scott).

was a

nineteenth-Century

painter who is known principally for his still-life, fruit and flower paintings. A prolific artist, Porter was born in or near Hartford, C o n necticut to middle-class African American parents. Following four years of study at the National Academy of Design in New York City, Porter returned to the Hartford area where local critics heaped high praise on him for his ability as a painter of fruits and flowers. Although few of his paintings that have been collected show the versatility of his style and subject-matter, Porter, like his contemporary Robert S. Duncanson, is known to have been a dedicated landscape painter who worked diligently to express nature. In fact, Porters travel to France in 1881 to study the works of the masters of the Barbizon School of painting was possibly prompted by his desire to improve his knowledge of landscape painting. In 1884, Charles Ethan Porter returned from France and began to integrate the carefully ordered form and rich color of his previous compositions with the luminous, fluid brushwork and light of his Paris experience. T h e results were exquisite fruit and flower paintings that had great appeal and gained high praise from his local white patronage. Chrysanthemums [Illus. 24] is an excellent example of Porters flower painting.

24 Charles Ethan Porter, Chrysanthemums, 351/4" x 28". Courtesy of The Connecticut Gallery.

As was true of most of his African American contemporaries who were professional artists, Porter was dependent on a middle-class white patronage. Even though his works were free of social and ethnic references, he was regarded as an "outsider" because of the color of his skin. (MARY) EDMONIA LEWIS ( 1 8 4 3 - 1 9 0 0 ?), a n e x h i b i t o r a t t h e C e n t e n n i a l

Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, was the first African American woman in the United States to gain widespread recognition as an artist and the first African American in the United States to gain an international reputation as a sculptor. Although information regarding Lewis' life is scant, it is generally believed that she was born in upstate New York, possibly near Albany. Orphaned at an early age, her mother was a Chippewa Indian and her father a freeman of African descent. Following the death of her mother and father, young Edmonia went to live with her mothers two sisters in Niagara Falls. T h e family later moved to Genesee Falls and Watkins Glen, New York. Edmonia recalls that her early years were spent as a carefree individual swimming, fishing and making pincushions and moccasins. Known by her Chippewa name, Wildfire, she did not begin to use the n a m e

Edmonia Lewis until she entered the preparatory department of Oberlin College in northern Ohio. Assisted by her brother who was a successful gold miner in California, Edmonia entered Oberlin where she followed the prescribed literature program which included Greek and Latin. While at Oberlin, Edmonia was a very popular student who enjoyed attention and maintained a good reputation among her teachers and fellow students - that is, until a peculiar episode affected both the course of her life and the moral fiber of the village of Oberlin, then regarded as a haven for Americans of African descent. This strange episode began on January 27, 1862, in the home of the Reverend John Keep, an elderly member of Oberlin Colleges board of trustees who, in 1835, had cast the deciding vote to admit African American students to the heretofore all-white institution. It was at the Keep home that Lewis roomed and boarded along with a dozen other girls, all of whom were white. On the morning of January 27, while the college was in recess, two of the girls who had remained in the house with Edmonia were preparing for an outing with some male friends; their plan was to take a long sleigh ride to Birmingham, Ohio. As a preparation for the journey Edmonia supposedly invited the young women to her room for a drink of hot spiced wine, which medical testimony later indicated contained an aphrodisiac called cantharides. During their journey, the two girls suffered serious stomach pains. Following examinations by their doctors, it was assumed that they had been poisoned. Because she had been involved in a series of pranks in which the same two young women figured, and because she had served them the wine, Edmonia became the prime suspect. When the news reached Oberlin, Edmonia was immediately accused of foul play. But because she was a student at the college and a ward of John Keep, she was not arrested. However, on leaving the Keep residence one night, she was abducted from the doorstep by vigilantes who dragged her to an empty field nearby and brutally beat her. The demands that she be punished for the alleged poisoning and the lack of effort to discover and reveal the identities of the selfappointed avengers almost wrecked the community, which prided itself on being a place where, as a college spokesman had noted in 1851, "mind and heart not color makes the man and woman too." Edmonia was never brought to trial for the "poisoning," since a preliminary hearing deemed the evidence against her insufficient for prosecution. This decision was due primarily to the remarkable defense presented by her attorney, John Mercer Langston, an African American abolitionist leader and graduate of Oberlin College. Like Lewis, Langston had ties to the American Indian culture. Thus a feeling of kinship may have inspired his offer to defend her despite the

advice of some Oberlin African Americans who felt that the involvement of so prominent a figure might undo the peace and harmony of the community. The hearing lasted for several days and included an impressive array of witnesses for the state, among them the assumed victims. The critical testimony centered on the identification of the drug cantharides as poisonous. But since it was also known as a sexual stimulant of ancient origin, most people believed that, if Edmonia had in fact served the drug to the young women, her intent was more likely to promote sexual stimulation than to poison. "At the conclusion of the argument," according to the Cleveland Morning Leader (3 March 1862), "the prisoner was ordered to be discharged, both justices concurring, as the evidence was deemed insufficient to hold her for trial." After the hearing, Edmonia considered leaving white society to rejoin her mothers people in their less restricted way of life. But she chose instead to go to Boston and, on arriving there, studied for a brief period with Edmond Brackett, a local sculptor of some renown. Soon, with the proceeds from the sale of several of her works, Lewis opened a studio of her own; and among the pieces she produced there were a medallion of John Brown and a bust of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Civil-War leader of the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth, an all-Black regiment. Funds from the sale of these two pieces and the patronage of the Story family of Boston later enabled her to study in Europe. Lewis sailed for Italy in 1865 and settled in Rome, where she opened a studio and continued her studies. During her stay in Europe she was greatly influenced by Greco-Roman sculpture, and as a result her later works are strongly neoclassical. On her return to the United States in 1874, Lewis was honored With receptions in both Boston and Philadelphia. She could count among her patrons prominent families on both sides of the Atlantic, and she was also the subject of much praise from the country's leading art critics. One of them, Henry Tuckerman, found her unquestionably the most interesting representative of the United States in Europe during her stay there, and urged other artists in America to follow her naturalistic style. However, Lewis' period of popularity proved to be brief, for she soon sank into obscurity. The reasons for this decline, like the date and circumstances of her death, are unrecorded. Lewis' work is represented today by a bust of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which, when completed (in the late 1870s), won both the poet's approval and the praise of critics. Other surviving works by Lewis include a bust of Abraham Lincoln (1870), that is currently in the Municipal Library at San José, California; and Forever Free [Illus. 2 5 J .

25 (Mary) Edmonia Lewis, Forever Free, 1867. Marble. Howard University Gallery of Art. (Photograph by Scurlock Studios, Washington, D . C . )

43

HENRY OSSAWA T A N N E R ( 1 8 5 9 - 1 9 3 7 ) , a c c o r d i n g to a n a u t o b i o g r a p h i -

cal sketch, was age twelve or thirteen when he saw his first artist at work, the discovery occurring during a walk with his father in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. After this encounter, the young Tanner attempted his own drawings and soon developed a desire to become a painter. His subsequent life illustrates many of the difficulties experienced by aspiring artists in nineteenth-century America. Born in Pittsburgh into an "established" middle-class family, Tanner was the son of Sarah Miller Tanner and the Reverend Benjamin Tucker Tanner, a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. When Henry was seven he and his family moved to Philadelphia. There, after developing an interest in art, he made frequent trips to Earle's Galleries on Chestnut Street, where he was particularly impressed by the seascapes of T. Alexander Harrison (1853-1930), a Philadelphia marine and figure painter. His exposure to Harrisons work prompted Tanner to concentrate on marine subjects. However, after learning from a friend that skilled painters of animals were rare in America, and feeling that he must become a "first" in some area in order to gain recognition, Tanner changed his specialty for a time to animal paintings. It was not without difficulty that Tanner pursued his dream of becoming an artist, for his family had expected him to choose a professional career, preferably in the ministry. However, at age twenty-one, Tanner enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. There his interest turned to landscapes and remained so until his teacher, Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), encouraged him to paint genre subjects. Eakins was himself noted as a genre painter, having produced many paintings of sports and recreational activities, home life, and, above all, the people of his native city; in 1900 Tanner would become the subject of an Eakins portrait. Eakins became a strong influence on Tanner during the young artists two years at the Pennsylvania Academy, and under the guidance of this demanding and distinguished taskmaster, Tanners skills as a painter developed appreciably. In 1888 Tanner undertook a business venture that he hoped would provide him with the money and time needed to develop his art; he moved to Atlanta, where he opened a small photograph gallery. It is probable that whatever appreciation and knowledge of photography he possessed had been gained during his studies with Eakins, who was a photographer as well as a painter. In any case, unsuitable to its time and place, Tanners photograph gallery proved unsuccessful. During his stay in Atlanta, Tanner met Joseph Crane Hartzell, a Methodist bishop, and Hartzells associate, Bishop Daniel A. Payne, who gave him support and encouragement throughout the next few years. A trustee of Clark College, Bishop Hartzell also arranged for the

26 Henry Ossawa Tanner, Banjo Lesson, 1893. Oil on canvas, 35" x 48'/2". Hampton University Museum Collection.

school to employ Tanner as a part-time teacher of art. With this position promised for the fall, Tanner sold his photograph gallery in the summer of 1889 and traveled briefly in North Carolina, where he produced photographs, sketches, and paintings of its landscapes and a few portraits of its "back-country" people. Among the sketches were those for Banjo Lesson [Illus. 26], a portrayal of a man fondly teaching a child the technique of fingering a banjo. By far one of Tanners most appealing works and generally considered one of his best, Banjo Lesson has become one of the most famous American paintings of the

period. T h e clarity and honesty of perception that distinguishes this work constitutes its most significant feature. A flood of light from an unseen fireplace throws the figures into bold relief against the simple background, a sparsely furnished cabin room. T h e colors are warm and dark, and the brushwork is controlled. T h e scene is depicted with great honesty, power of analysis, and strength of feeling. In an age when sentiment and preoccupation with style separated art from everyday life, Tanner had discovered a rich source of stimulation in the "back-country" environment. On his return to Atlanta in the fall of 1889 Tanner started his art classes at Clark; his students were mainly fellow instructors. He remained in his teaching position for one year, supplementing his earnings by means of his portrait commissions. Late in 1890 the Hartzells added to Tanners income by purchasing the collection unsuccessfully offered for sale earlier that year in a solo exhibition they had arranged for him in Cincinnati. T h e small sum paid for these works, a commission from a Philadelphia patron, and his savings provided Tanner with enough money to sail for Europe in January 1891. His interest in Europe had begun in his early youth, when he met and began to share the experiences of C . H . Shearer, a Philadelphia artist. Although white, Shearer apparently understood many of the problems Tanner faced as a young African American artist and counseled him in many of his depressed and anguished moments. Shearers stories of European cities created in Tanner a desire to travel abroad. T h e original destination of his first European trip was Rome, via Liverpool and Paris; but, on his arrival in Paris, Tanner fell in love with the city and decided to make it his home. Because of his exposure to the strong religious influences exerted by his father and friends, however, Tanner was to experience difficulties in adjusting to life in Paris. But, finding much of that life to his liking, he decided to enroll in the Académie Julien, a private art school whose staff included JeanJoseph Benjamin Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens, both then among the most famous art teachers in France. Tanner remained at the Académie for five years, and during this time his painting style matured. It now combined the perceptual clarity of Eakins with compositional and color features of Rembrandt. His use of the light and dark qualities of Rembrandt mark Tanner as a nineteenth-century follower of the Caravagesque style. Along with these elements, Tanner adopted the light colors of the Impressionists, becoming particularly noted for his use of luminous blues, which, subsequently, were often known as "Tanner blues." After almost three years in France, during which he worked diligently at his art and tried to avoid what he felt were the less desirable practices of the French, Tanner returned to Philadelphia in 1893 to recover from an attack of typhoid and to secure additional financial

backing. Part of the money that financed his second trip to Europe came from an exhibition of his works at Earles Galleries, which he had so often visited as a boy. On his return to Paris in late 1893 Tanner resumed his work, and in 1894 he was among those whose paintings were accepted by the Salon. The Thankful Poor [Illus. 27], one of Tanners paintings of this period, is very similar to Banjo Lesson in its concern with the everyday activities of ordinary people and in its sensitive use of light and shadow.

27

Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Thankful

Poor, 1894. Oil on canvas, 28" X 40".

C o l l e c t i o n of Dr. W i l l i a m and Dr. C a m i l l e C o s b y .

In 1895, Tanner produced Daniel in the Lions' Den [Illus. 28], his first major religious painting. Rekindling his early interest in animals as art subjects, Tanner prepared for this painting by working with French animal sculptor Emanuel Frémiet (1824-1910). The finished work keenly displays this training as well as Tanners characteristic use of blues, the shades used here providing a feeling of coldness and isolation. This mood is reinforced by the separation of the prophet from the other figures in the painting; the strength of the lions contrasts sharply with the frail body of Daniel. The visible light source adds significantly to the pictorial drama. It illuminates the arms and robe of the prophet and the head and feet of the nearest lion, Daniels head and the lions body being allowed to retreat into darkness. In 1896, the painting was exhibited at the Salon, where it won Tanner the first official recognition of his career, an honorable mention. A second major religious work, The Resurrection of Lazarus, was completed by Tanner in the summer of 1896 and in the following year, earned him a gold medal from the Salon. Purchased by the French government, the painting hung for many years in the Luxembourg Museum and then in the Louvre and was later placed in the Musée d'Art in Paris. It has since been lost. The Resurrection of Lazarus was so admired by Tanners friend and patron Rodman Wanamaker, a

28

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Daniel in the Lions' Den, ca. 1916. Oil, 4 1 / 4 " x 50". Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

member of a wealthy Philadelphia merchant family, that he agreed to send the artist to Egypt and Palestine to study the costumes and physical characteristics of the inhabitants. In 1897, Tanner made a trip home to Philadelphia, and while there painted a portrait of his mother that is somewhat reminiscent of the painting known traditionally as "Whistlers Mother." This painting of Sarah Miller Tanner, which also recalls many portraits done by Eakins, seems to capture her emotional and psychological qualities. The colors aire warm and dark, and both the light that illuminates the face of the subject and the drapery behind her chair give the illusion of great depth. Financed by Wanamaker, Tanner made several trips to the Middle East that proved important to his artistic development. A six-month exploration of Jerusalem and surrounding areas during one of these trips was particularly influential, for it resulted in his complete artistic dedication to religious subjects. Some of the resultant paintings include Christ and Nichodemus (1899), which won the Lippincott Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and in 1900 was added to the Temple University collection; The Two Disciples at the Tomb (1906); The Disciples ofEmmaus, which was purchased in 1906 by the French government; and Flight into Egypt (1916). During the war years 1914 to 1918 Tanner was involved in an agricultural project at a Red Cross camp near Paris. Under his supervision the vacant fields that surrounded the camp were used as gardens that helped to supply the facility with fresh vegetables. Tending these gardens also proved to be therapeutic work for many of the camps wounded and shell-shocked soldiers as they neared recovery. Two paintings that now hang in the war museum of the American National Red Cross and a few sketches are the only works by Tanner known to exist from this period. Representative of them is the charcoal sketch World War I Canteen [Illus. 29], whose figures, several refugee children and Red Cross workers, appear to be stolid and almost motionless, unlike the figures in Tanners religious paintings. Throughout his career, Tanner received many honors, including membership in the National Academy of Design and, in 1923, designation as chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. He was also the recipient of hundreds of prizes from exhibitions held in the United States and France. Despite this artistic recognition, however, Tanner experienced continuous financial problems. He was fortunate, though, in receiving the support of Atherton Curtis, another wealthy friend, who supplied Tanner with a monthly income for a great portion of the artist's life. In spite of his personal experiences with racism in the United States, and his long friendship with W.E.B. Du Bois, Tanner did not seem to have been inspired by social or political causes. Throughout

most of his career he remained dedicated solely to religious art, refusing the suggestions of friends that he return to the ethnic genre subjects of his earlier years. T h e reason for Tanners lack of interest in African American themes was probably twofold: first, he may have felt that paintings of ethnic subject matter would not sell as readily as those of religious themes; and, second, his personal life was characterized more by religious involvement than by commitment to racial issues. From a middleclass, churchgoing family, Tanner was sheltered throughout his youth from many of the hazards of urban life in America; and his fair skin also helped to spare him some of the daily frustrations brought about by racial bigotry. T h e major portion of his adult life, moreover, was spent in the relatively racially tolerant environment of Paris. Thus Tanner suffered more from the economics of being an artist than from being African American. To him, race was a "ghetto of isolation and neglect," and he believed that artists would gain artistic freedom and recognition only after they had escaped from it. Though he supported such organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and, on occasion, entertained African American artists visiting Paris, Tanner generally remained aloof from racial causes and commitments. He considered himself an expatriate in search of aesthetic and artistic truth.

29 Henry Ossawa Tanner, World War I Canteen, 1918. Charcoal, 16" x 14". Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks, Los Angeles. (Photograph by Adam Avila.)

Tanners approach to art was principally an academic one. He chose in his work to shut himself off from the artistic movements of his day and from the problems of the world. Concerning himself almost exclusively with subject matter expressive of his strong religious upbringing, he was careful to continue his studies of technique so as to sustain the quality of his work. He believed that many painters of religious subjects forget that their pictures should be as much works of art as are other paintings with less holy subjects. Whenever such painters assume that because they are treating a more elevated subject than their brother artists they may be excused from giving artistic value to their work or from being careful about a color harmony, for instance, they simply prove that they are less sincere than he who gives the subject his best attention. [From fames A. Porter, Modern Negro Art (New York: A mo Press and The New York Times, 1969), p. 76.] Throughout his mature artistic life Tanner steadfastly refused to compromise with aesthetic quality. The words of Thomas Eakins, his mentor at the Pennsylvania Academy, served as Tanners motto for most of his life: "Get it, get it better, or get it worse. No middle ground of compromise." For Tanner his art - religious art - had to measure up to the requirements set for any good art if it was to be worthy of respect. Having spent his lifetime working for that respect, Tanner died on May 25, 1937, at his home in Paris. META VAUX WARRICK (FULLER) (1877-1968), like Henry O. Tanner,

was a Philadelphian who had the advantage of a middle-class family life. Her parents introduced her to art and made possible the training necessary to develop her talent. In the 1880s, for example, William Warrick frequently took his preschool daughter to the Philadelphia Museum and there introduced her to many of its collected works. In 1894, on completion of her basic education, Warrick took an examination that earned her a scholarship to the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Arts. At her graduation from that school five years later, she was awarded a first prize for her metal crucifix of a tormented Christ and an honorable mention for a clay model she called Procession of Arts and Crafts. As did most of Americas professional artists in her day, Warrick soon sought further training in Paris, enrolling in 1899 at the Colarossi Academy. During her three years as a student there, she met such great sculptors as Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) and Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). The latter, on viewing Warrick's sculpture Secret Sorrow, is purported to have said to her, "Mademoiselle, you are a sculptor; you have a sense of form" (Quoted in Benjamin G . Brawley, Negro Genius [New York: Dodd, Mead, 1937], p. 185).

Though some have felt that Warrick's works express too much pathos, most critics have found her sculptures to-be inspired interpretations of humanity. James A. Porter provides an example: "Meta Vaux Warrick's early sculpture is a hymn to tradition expressed in forms which reflect the intense struggle of a soul with its own nature" ("One Hundred and Fifty Years of Afro-American Art," in The Negro in American Art [Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1 9 6 6 ] , p. 7). It is true, however, that in her works most clearly inspired by Rodin, Warrick occasionally carried her interpretation of humanity's plight to extremes of despair, remorse, anger, and resignation. Certain of these expressions are subtle, and others are awkward; but all seem to be, in the main, sincere. Exhibited at the Paris Salon, The Wretched ( 1 9 0 3 ) marked Warrick as a sculptor of dynamic symbolism and originality. Her themes and the expressive manner in which she presented them were usually too serious to suit popular taste, but Warrick was able to exhibit and place a number of her works through the Art Nouveau Gallery. A description of The Wretched gives some idea of the vigor and power of the early works of Meta Warrick: . . . seven figures, representing as many forms of human anguish, greet the eye. Above the others is that of the philosopher, who, realizing his powerlessness, sinks into the stoniness of despair. [From Brawley, Negro Genius, p. 186.] Warrick returned to America in 1 9 0 4 and resumed her studies at the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Arts. During that year she was awarded the school's top prize for ceramics. In 1 9 0 7 , in connection with the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition, she was commissioned to create a sculptural tableau illustrating the history of African Americans. For this project her style became more realistic, perhaps in order to satisfy the expositions officials. In 1 9 0 9 , after her marriage to Dr. Solomon Fuller, Warrick settled in Farmington, Massachusetts. Her subsequent artistic and civic activities were centered in the Boston area, where she became a member of the Boston Art Club, the Wellesley Society of Artists, the Women's Club, and the Civil League. A disastrous fire in her studio in 1 9 1 0 destroyed most of the pieces Warrick had produced during her stay in Paris. These are believed to have been the works in which she demonstrated her greatest emotional depth and concentration on the timeless themes of human anguish and despair. Among her extant works with sentimental overtones is Water Boy [lllus. 3 0 J , and the sculptural monumentality she often achieved is exemplified in her portrait of actor Richard B. Harrison [lllus. 3 1 ] .

30 Meta Vaux Warrick (Fuller), Water Boy, 1914. Bronze. Harmon Foundation Collection, the National Archives.

31 Meta Vaux Warrick (Fuller), Richard B. Harrison As "De Lawd", ca. 1935. Plaster, ^ " h i g h . Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . (Photograph by Scurlock Studios, Washington, D . C . )

T h e art of Meta Vaux Warrick provides us with insight into her concern for humanity. Although she lived during a time when it was neither common nor acceptable for middle-class women to-involve themselves in social action, Warrick uninhibitedly nurtured an interest in social problems. Unfortunately, she was not fully appreciated in her time, for the subject matter and emotional intensity of this dynamic artist intimidated many of her contemporaries. A transitional figure in the history of African American art, Warrick expressed ideals that are more in accord with the generation that followed hers than with the prevailing artistic views of her own period.

53

WILLIAM EDOUARD SCOTT (1884-1964), best known for his portraits and murals, was a product of the Art Institute of Chicago. After attending the Julien and Colarossi academies in Paris, Scott studied with expatriate Henry O. Tanner, who had gained a reputation in that city as an excellent art teacher and who proved a major influence on his pupils early works. In 1912, La Pauvre Voisine, currently owned by the Argentine government, was accepted by the Paris Salon; and in 1913 Scott's La Connoisseure was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. A Rosenwald Foundation grant made it possible for Scott to visit Haiti in 1931; this trip brought about a drastic change in both his choice of subject and his artistic style. As the Indianapolis-born artist involved himself in Haitian life and painted extensive studies of the islands people, his palette became richer and his brushwork more expressive. During his short stay he produced 144 artistic works, the majority of which depicted ordinary people. That Scott was able to capture the essence of his new environment is suggested by the fact that a solo exhibit of his works held in Port-au-Prince was promoted by the Haitian government to show native artists, most of them accustomed to French art, that there was a wealth of subject matter at home. Twelve of the paintings sold during the exhibition were purchased by the president of Haiti. Haitian Fisherman [Illus. 32] and When the Tide Is Out [Illus. 33] are examples of the style that Scott developed in Haiti and that later contributed to his effectiveness as a mural painter.

32 William Edouard Scott, Haitian Fisherman, ca. 1931. Harmon Foundation Collection, the National Archives.

33 William Edouard Scott, When The Tide is Out, ca. 1931. Harmon Foundation Collection, the National Archives.

On returning to the United States in 1932, Scott received commissions to decorate the walls of many public buildings in his home state of Indiana. He also painted murals for New York's 135th Street Y M C A and for buildings in Illinois and West Virginia. Scott's Haitian experience contributed greatly to his uninhibited use of color in these works. It also helped him to become one of the first African American painters in the United States to shake off the sêlf-imposed yoke of European tradition. LAURA WHEELER WARING ( 1 8 8 7 - 1 9 4 8 ) , a painter, illustrator, and art

teacher, was prominent among a school of painters who in the 1920s made notable contributions to the tradition of portraiture in American art. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, she attended schools in that state and, later, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Upon graduation from the Academy in 1914, Waring was awarded a scholarship to study in Europe; and from 1924 to 1925 she was a student at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, a popular atelier in Paris. On her return to

55

the United States she began a teaching career as an instructor at Cheyney State Teachers College in Pennsylvania. T h e realistic style Waring exhibited in her portraits included aspects of Expressionism, but unrestrained in regard to structure and treatment of forms, it was most closely related to the work of the rebellious Romantics who painted in France during the 1920s. Yet, while her lyrical approach can be classified as Romantic, it did not include the "prettiness" common to the Romantic school. Her soft but contrasting portrait style also avoided the surface stillness characteristic of realistic p a i n t i n g of the t i m e . Frankie

[Illus.

3 4 ] a n d Anne

Washington

Deny

[lllus. 35] provide excellent examples of Warings approach to painting and illustrate the lifelike quality she was able to give her portraits.

34 Laura Wheeler Waring, Frankie (or Portrait of a Child), 1937. Oil. Harmon Foundation Collection, the National Archives.

35

Laura Wheeler Waring, Anne Washington Derry. Harmon Foundation Collection, the National Archives.

56

AMERICAN RELIANCE ON THE EUROPEAN ARTISTIC TRADITION T h e efforts made by African American artists of the eighteenth century to establish themselves as significant contributors to United States art were arduous but abortive. Working against cultural as well as economic odds, these artists, like their white contemporaries, generally developed styles that were provincial derivatives of the prevailing European mode. Thus, though the painters and sculptors themselves were often courageous, their achievements did not provide them recognition as distinctive artists, either ethnic or American. Most African American artists of the nineteenth century attempted to escape their country's prejudice and provincialism through study and, in some cases, permanent residence - abroad. They usually found their way to one of the major European capitals, where, removed from American life and from the scenes of their early personal experiences, they sought to become internationally known. For some of these artists the flight from racial prejudice also included a complete avoidance of racial subject matter in their work. Thus, African American artists of this period, with only rare exceptions, contributed little to the development of a consciousness of ethnic expression. Indeed, from the mid-nineteenth century to the turn of the twentieth, the majority of these artists, whether living in the United States or abroad, sought to demonstrate their competence by means of the best artistic traditions and styles of Europe. T h e celebration held in Philadelphia in 1876 to mark the centennial of American independence was the occasion for an art exhibit that offered most Americans their first opportunity to view a large number of works by American artists living abroad. So great was the subsequent national acceptance of European influence on art that painters and sculptors in the United States were fortified in their desire to study in Europe as a means to a successful career. Many African Americans, perhaps particularly students at the Pennsylvania Academy, were among the American artists caught up in the late-nineteenth-century fervor of "Europe first - then fame and fortune." T h e small number of American painters and sculptors who did resist the lure of Europe, however, could be encouraged by the strong individualistic stance of Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer, for both these great American painters believed that their country needed to develop an indigenous art free of European sophistication and decadence. However, most African American artists who could manage the expenses made their way to Europe; Lewis, Tanner, Warrick, Scott, and Waring were but a few of the artists who flocked to the studios of Paris, Munich, and other European capitals. African American artists might well have continued their nearly unanimous concentration on

Europe had it not been for the call to ethnic awareness issued in the early 1920s by such scholars as Alain Locke, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Black nationalist leader, Marcus Garvey. As the efforts of these men began to reaffirm Africa as the cultural homeland of African Americans, many men and women in various disciplines rediscovered ethnic roots that had been all but forgotten. For most of them the turn from Europe to Africa was not easily accomplished; and old habits being too powerful, there were those for whom the belief that "European is universal" persisted.

58

New Americanism and Ethnic

Identity

1920-1940 R a c i a l representation through art became the dominant issue for African American artists in the first quarter of the twentieth century. During this period, forces for self-expression, both internal and external, had to decide whether to identify with their culture, accepting and exploiting their heritage, or with the international art movement, accepting and exploiting the security of the European artistic tradition. T h e Harlem Renaissance, a movement of the 1920s, marked the century's first period of intense activity by African Americans in the fields of literature, art, and music. The philosophy of the movement combined realism, ethnic consciousness, and Americanism. Encouraged by the example of those established white artists (among them Thomas Eakins, Robert Henri, and George Luks) who had included persons of African descent in their paintings as serious studies rather than as trivial or sentimental stereotypes, African American artists of this period set about creating a new portrayal of themselves and their lives in America. They began to assert themselves and, in doing so, developed self-reliance, self-respect, and self pride. As they began to strive for social and cultural independence, their attitudes towards themselves changed, and, to some extent, other segments of American society began to change their attitudes towards them. Thus, though the Harlem Renaissance was a short-lived movement, its impact on American art and culture continues to the present. Harlem was the capital of the movement. Artists and intellectuals from many parts of the United States and the Caribbean had been attracted to this Manhattan neighborhood by the pulse and beat of its

59

unique and dynamic culture. However, even in Harlem, the "mecca" for those African Americans migrating from the South in the early 1900s, there were places that were off-limits to them. For example, the famous Cotton Club, the New York home of African American music and dance, was then a place where African Americans were performers but not patrons. (By this time new stereotypes had been created; members of white café society considered persons of African descent primitive and exotic, and the Cotton Club had become a headquarters for whites who liked to go "slumming" and share in the "excitement" of African American life.) In 1925 an issue of Survey Graphic magazine devoted exclusively to Harlem formed the nucleus of The New Negro. Edited by philosopher Alain Locke, it became the manifesto of the African American artistic movement. While accepting their Americanism, Locke encouraged individuals to take pride in their African ancestral arts and urged artists to look to Africa for substance and inspiration. Far from advocating a withdrawal from American culture, as did some of his contemporaries, Locke recommended a cultural pluralism through which artists could enrich the culture of America. African Americans were urged by Locke to be collaborators and participators with other Americans in art, literature, and music; and at the same time, to preserve, enhance, and promote their own cultural heritage. Artists who had left their homes in the South in search of new lives in northern cities experienced many common problems and found it necessary to unite for cultural and economic survival. From this unity came a new spirit and lifestyle, which, particularly in densely populated Harlem, was to result in greater group awareness and self-determination. African American artists took their place beside the poets and writers of the "New Negro" movement or "Harlem Renaissance" and carried on efforts to increase and promote the visual arts. A A R O N D O U G L A S (1899-1979), the leading exponent of the visual arts during the Harlem Renaissance, grew up in Topeka, Kansas. He received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Nebraska in 1922 and, later, a masters degree in fine arts from Columbia University. Giving up a position as a high school art teacher, Douglas left Kansas in 1925 to settle in New York City, where he hoped to continue his studies in art. It was in New York that he met artist Winold Reiss, who later became his teacher and major artistic influence. Although Douglas had been trained in a strict academic tradition, his work in New York demonstrated a creative and individualistic flair; and he was challenged by his teacher, Reiss, to seek and accept his own cultural heritage as artistic subject matter. Douglas' subsequent combining of a knowledge of classical art and an interest in African art made him

capable of an uncommon type and quality of artistic expression. One of the first American painters who can be considered an Africanist, Douglas, during the late 1920s, devoted much of his time to studying the African art then available at a few nearby institutions The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia was prominent among these. However, despite his great interest in African art and its cubistic forms, Douglas felt that his knowledge of Africa was too superficial to become the sole focus of his work. He preferred to dedicate himself to painting African Americans, with a new measure of dignity and pride. In the mid-i92os W. E. B. Du Bois invited the young artist to participate in the creation of visual symbols for the Harlem Renaissance. Douglas not only accepted Du Bois' invitation but provided direction and leadership regarding the visual aspects of the movement. As one of the leading artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Douglas was responsible for many of the designs and illustrations in Alain Locke's The New Negro (1925). He also created illustrations for works by such well-known African American authors as Du Bois, Cullen, Hughes, and James Weldon Johnson. Douglas'series of illustrations for Johnson's God's Trombones (1927), a book of sermons projecting the character and lyrical style of early African American ministers, is regarded as one of his masterpieces. After his early work as an illustrator, Douglas turned to painting panels and murals. Most of his first murals included stylized, geometric figures reminiscent of African sculpture. In murals for the Countee Cullen Branch of the New York Public Library, Douglas illustrated the history of African Americans [///us. 36-39]. The elongation and angulation of the figures in these pieces are representative of his sophisticated style. Usually the sense of movement the figures provide is heightened by abrupt changes in the direction of line and mass; and the geometric forms that overlay the figures sometimes intersect, causing a change in value that makes the figures seem enmeshed in bands of fog. The themes of these panels have been described by Douglas in the following words: The first of four murals... indicates the African cultural background of American Negroes. Dominant in it are the strongly rhythmic arts of music, the dance and sculpture - and so the drummers, the dancers, and the carved fetish represent the exhilaration and rhythmic pulsation of life in Africa. Panel Two. Exultation followed the abolition of slavery in America by the Proclamation of Emancipation (1 January 1863). Many Negro leaders emerged who are symbolized by the orator standing on a box. But soon a new oppression began in the South. The "hooded terror" of the Ku Klux Klan spread as the Union Army withdrew.

Panel Three. Lynching was an ever present horror, ceaseless toil in the fields was the daily lot of the majority, but still the American Negroes laughed and sang and danced. Panel Four. A great migration, away from the clutching hand of serfdom in the South to the urban and industrial life in America, began during the First World War. And with it there was born a new will to creative self-expression which quickly grew in the New Negro Movement of the 'twenties. At its peak, the Depression brought confusion, dejection and frustration. [Quoted in Cedric Dover, American Negro Art (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, i960), p. 186.] Other murals of importance by Douglas include those he executed for Fisk University, the Ebony Club in New York, and the Hotel Sherman in Chicago. The Ebony Club and Hotel Sherman murals have dance as their central theme, while those at Fisk University are devoted to African American history.

36

Aaron Douglas, The Negro in African Setting:

Panel 1 , 1934. Oil on canvas,

73"X8O". Collection of T h e New York Public Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations).

62

37 Aaron Douglas, From Slavery Through Reconstruction: Panel 2, 1934. Oil on canvas, 59" X 140". Collection of T h e New York Public Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations).

38 Aaron Douglas, An Idyll of the Deep South: Panel 3, 1934. Oil on canvas, 59" X 144". Collection of T h e New York Public Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations).

39 Aaron Douglas, Song ofTheTowers: Panel4, 1934. Oil on canvas, 96" X 84". Collection of T h e New York Public Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations).

The numerous easel paintings for which Douglas is also noted are primarily portraits. They show none of the geometric patterning evident in his murals, but instead present their subjects with classically correct proportions. This is exemplified by his portrait of Molly [lllus.

40].

In 1939 Douglas joined the faculty of Fisk University. There he later became founder and chairman of an art department that would see many of its students become significant figures in American art. During the decades in which he held this teaching/administrative post in Nashville, Douglas continued his association with his academic and artistic friends in the Northeast, on occasion inviting them to address the students at Fisk. He also continued, until his retirement in 1966, to be active in expressing the aims of the Harlem Renaissance.

40

Aaron Douglas, Molly, 1937. Oil, 16" x 12". Courtesy of Dr. Richard A. Simms.

THE SPREAD OF THE HARLEM MOVEMENT Harlem's artistic movement of the 1920s stimulated similar activity in other urban centers of the country. In Washington, D . C . , in 1922 the Tanner Art League, a local organization named in honor of Henry O. Tanner, held an exhibition in which 112 paintings and 9 sculptures by African American artists were displayed; and, throughout the 1920s and 1930s, exhibitions of the same sort occurred in Chicago, Cleveland, and other large cities where African Americans formed a sizable portion of the population. These presentations laid the groundwork for a climate of artistic interest and support that would gain momentum and continue for many years. In 1928 the Harmon Foundation, founded earlier in the decade by philanthropist William E. Harmon to aid African American artists, and extant until the 1960s, sponsored a New York exhibition that proved disappointing to its organizers in that most of its eighty-seven paintings reflected traditional European influences. One aim of the foundation had been to encourage artists to develop along a course more representative of their own culture. In this respect, subsequent foundation projects were more successful: a major exhibition in 1931 and the well-attended traveling exhibitions later sponsored by the foundation. Throughout the 1930s these exhibitions traveled to cities in over twenty-five states and were viewed in numbers totaling nearly one-half million. The artists involved in the traveling exhibitions included Sargent Johnson, Malvin Gray Johnson, Ellis Wilson, Richmond Barthé, Beauford Delaney, Meta Warrick Fuller, Hale Woodruff, William H. Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones, and William E. Artis. The Harmon Foundation also encouraged the growth of art education programs in many institutions. Young African American artists competed for its cash awards, and for stipends which enabled many of them to study at art schools and colleges. The foundation eventually became one of the major institutions involved in the perpetuation and preservation of African American art in the United States. Along with the Church, the major African American colleges and universities, and some historical societies, it served in the 1930s as a prime mover in the cultural life of African Americans. HALE WOODRUFF (1900-1980) is the creator of murals on Black history for the libraries of both Atlanta University and Talladega College, in Alabama. The Amistad Murals, his creation for Talladega's Savery Library, are powerful compositions that, in their debt to Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, illustrate the influence some of the Mexican muralists had on African American artists in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s.

Completed in 1939, the three panels represent different episodes related to the Amistad incident, the revolt of fifty-four Africans bound for slavery in Cuba aboard the Spanish ship A mistad. In the first panel, The Mutiny Aboard the Amistad, 1839 [Illus. 41], two triangular groupings of intertwined forms depict the violent struggle of the slaves to regain their freedom. Separated by the images of a dead slave and of a struggling white sailor, these figure groupings give the composition its great balance and visual stability. The focal point of the painting is an escaping sailor, who reappears in the second panel as the accuser. The second panel, The Amistad Slaves on Trial at New Haven, Connecticut, 1840 [Illus. 42], offers a calm, orderly arrangement of figures. The faces of the defendants show the fright they feel in knowing their future is at stake. The three most important figures in the drama - Cinqué (the leader of the Slaves), the judge, and the accusing sailor - are surrounded by more space and placed at a slightly higher level than the other participants at the trial. Cinqué, in an extremely immobile, steadfast pose, provides a strong vertical thrust that is symbolic of his confidence in his position. The arm of the sailor confronting Cinqué creates an opposing horizontal focus. The judges desk repeats this emphasis and unites the two groups, while the wall panels define the opposing factions. The central figures create a circular motion that acts as a visual frame and calls attention to the "evidence of the mutiny." The final panel, The Return to Africa, 1842 [Illus. 43], also utilizes a two-part arrangement. Central to this composition is a boatload of former slaves returning to their homeland in Africa. Their jubilant faces show their emotional reaction. In the foreground, Cinqué gestures as if to deliver a proclamation, while a man to the right displays books and other material acquired during their involuntary stay in America. Woodruff, born in Cairo, Illinois, was named a professor emeritus of New York University. He was the organizer of the annual art exhibition which was held at Atlanta University. After a public school education in Tennessee, he attended the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis. On receiving a Harmon Foundation award in 1926, he was given an additional sum by a patron to enable him to study abroad. Leaving a Y M C A position he had held for four years, Woodruff sailed to Paris in 1927 and began studies at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. During the next four years in France, he assimilated much of the Expressionist style that marks his later works. Following his return to the United States in 1931, Woodruff became an art instructor at Atlanta University and later accepted a post in the education department at New York University.

4i Hale Woodruff, The Mutiny Aboard the Amistad, 1939. Oil on canvas, 6' x 10'. Savery Library, Talladega College, Alabama.

42 Hale Woodruff, The Amistad Slaves on Trial at New Haven, Connecticut, 1840, 1939. Oil on canvas, 6' x 20'. Savery Library, Talladega College, Alabama.

43 Hale Woodruff, The Return to Africa, 1842, 1939. Oil on canvas, 6' x 10'. Savery Library, Talladega College, Alabama.

44 Hale Woodruff, Leda, 1961. Oil, 50" x 60". Courtesy of the artist.

45 Hale Woodruff, Landscape with Green Sun, 1966. Oil, 30" x 42". Collection of Ebony Magazine.

T h e realistic style used by Woodruff in his early years does not characterize his later works. He was a versatile artist willing to use current art forms to update his own style. Originally a successful figure painter, Woodruff in his later years shifted his style and became a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism [Illus. 44, 45].

PALMER HAYDEN (1893-1973), one of the most influential artists to gain prominence during the 1920s, was born in Wide Water, Virginia, and was educated in the states public schools. As an enlisted man in the armed forces during World War I, he enrolled in a correspondence school that provided his first formal training in art. After completing military service, Hayden went to New York, where he secured a parttime job in Greenwich Village and studied art with Victor Perard, then an instructor at Cooper Union. In 1926 Hayden won a Harmon Foundation award (four hundred dollars and a gold medal) for a painting of the Portland, Maine, waterfront. Exhibited at the Civic Club in New York City, the painting was one of those done by Hayden in 1925 while he was studying under Asa G. Randall at the Boothbay Harbor art colony in Maine. With a grant of three thousand dollars from a patron, Hayden was able to go abroad in 1927 to pursue his studies. Settling in Paris, he became the private pupil of Clivette Lefèvre, an art instructor at the École des Beaux-Arts. It was during his stay in France that Hayden became interested in ethnic subject matter. His first paintings of African Americans were done in Europe and were part of the American Legion exhibition held in Paris in 1931. When he returned to the United States, Haydens success continued. His works were included in several Harmon Foundation traveling exhibitions, and in 1933, his Fétiche et Fleurs [Illus. 46] won the Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Prize for painting. This still life of an African sculpture and fabric and a vase of flowers was viewed by at least one critic as a "naïve response to Alain Locke's plea for a return to the ancestral arts." However, the composition represents a juxtaposition of objects that could be found in the homes of many artists, and in no way is it any more naïve than many paintings of African subjects that were created by European artists at about the same time. One of the most enduring and outstanding painters of ethnic images, Hayden was a productive artist through the years of the Harlem Renaissance up to the 1970s. Among the most significant contributions of his career is a series of twelve paintings depicting the life and death of folk hero John Henry [lllus. 47J. For Hayden, John Henry represented the struggle of African Americans to move from an agricultural to an industrial life. He hoped that this series, which he started in 1944 and completed in 1954, would serve as a symbol of ethnic greatness to a people struggling for economic survival. Other important paintings by Palmer.Hayden include Mid-Summer Night in Harlem (1936), The Janitor Who Paints (1937), and The Baptizing [Illus. 48].

46 Palmer Hayden, Fétiche et Fleurs, 23" x 2SV2". Collection of Muséum of African American Art, Los Angeles.

47 Palmer Hayden, John Henry on the Right, Steam Drill on the Left (from the John Henry series), 1947. Oil on canvas, 30" x 40". Collection of Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles.

48 Palmer Hayden, The Baptizing. Oil on canvas, 27%" x 341/2". Collection of Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles.

Although he participated in many solo and group exhibitions, Hayden never received the strong support of a gallery, which is so often necessary if an artist is to enjoy good public relations and obtain the help of wealthy patrons. Like those created by many other artists of his time, his images were unfamiliar to much of the art world and unacceptable to most of the public. But in spite of this lack of public support, Hayden continued to create primarily genre scenes that record the flavor of African American life.

49

Archibald Motley, Jr., Old Snuff Dipper, 1928. Oil on canvas.

Harmon Foundation Collection, the National Archives.

72

ARCHIBALD MOTLEY, JR., (1891-1980) focused on African American subjects in a way that was unique among the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. To art critic/philosopher Alain Locke, Motleys work reflected "a broad, higher keyed and somewhat lurid color scheme, with an emphasis on the grotesque and genre side of modern Negro life" (Negro Art Past and Present [Albany, N.Y.: Albany Historical Society, 1933], p. 69). Motley did not attempt to glorify or idealize the activities of his subjects; rather, he depicted his people as he often saw them in the urban settings of the 1920s. Born in New Orleans, Motley moved to Chicago as a young man and worked there as a day laborer. Like most of his predecessors in the arts, he considered the stamp of European study a prerequisite to success as an artist. Thus, after winning a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1929, he soon departed for France. Old Snuff Dipper [Illus. 49J, which won a Harmon Foundation award in the late 1920s, illustrates the realistic style Motley employed during the early part of his career. A solo exhibition in New York City in 1928 revealed that Motley had both a concern for the African consciousness and an interest in mystical powers. This artistic interest in the spirit world was not longlived, however. He soon abandoned it for the life-oriented subjects of paintings such as The Picnic in the Grass [Illus. 50], an intimate view of people enjoying themselves. Filled with figures and movement, this composition effectively conveys the "good-timing" life to be found in urban areas of the period. With its lack of deep space or areas that allow the eye to rest, the painting is an intense experience full of nervous energy. In this regard it contrasts with Mending Socks (1924) and other examples of Motleys earlier subjective realism. Motleys studies of urban dwellers also include Chicken Shack [Illus. 51]. A painter of "people as scenes," Motley concentrated on actions rather than individuals. Activities of the Prohibition era, including illegal gambling and drinking, were among his favorite subjects. But his "people-filled" cityscapes are less in accord with the racial identification of the Harlem Renaissance than with the concepts of the Ashcan School, a group of American artists and journalists who, in 1908, rejected the Salon art of Europe and chose as their themes ordinary people engaged in ordinary activities. Through his subjects, Motley affirmed his dedication to art as a means of underlining the basic gaiety of everyday life. He was committed to portraying the variety of types of individuals, colors and shades of those who inhabit African American communities in the United States. Archibald Motleys upbeat, activity filled compositions capture a spirited side of life during a time of intense cultural activity and heightened ethnic awareness. Through his works, he reminds us to be good spirited, cheerful and to dwell on the bright side of life.

50

Archibald Motley, Jr.,

The Picnic in the Grass. Howard University Gallery of Art. (Photograph by Scurlock Studios, Washington, D . C . )

51

Archibald Motley, Jr., Chicken Shack, 1936. Oil on canvas.

Harmon Foundation Collection, the National Archives.

MALVIN G R A Y JOHNSON ( 1 8 9 6 - 1 9 3 4 ) w a s o n e of the m o s t f a r - r e a c h i n g

and versatile artists of his period. He drew upon many stylistic sources and demonstrated the disciplined learning necessary for high levels of creative expression. While a student at the National Academy of Design, Johnson worked in the popular classical mode; but as he became familiar with the works of the Impressionists and the Cubists, his artistic style changed. Inspired by their individuality and freshness of approach, he developed a style that was a combination of the traditional mode and the new "Modern Art" nurtured in Paris. Johnson later used his diverse artistic knowledge to create expressions of African American life and illustrations based on spirituals. In Arrangement [Illus. 52 J, for example, though his feeling for the traditional remains evident, the handling of the surfaces seems to foreshadow The Elks [Illus. 53], in which he definitely employs a planar style derived from Cubism. Johnsons handling of watercolor technique in Woman Washing [Illus. 54] combines all his prior styles. The subtle, expressionistic manner in which its cubelike shapes are applied gives great dignity to this image of an ordinary woman engaged in a traditionally unheralded task. When he died, at age thirty-eight, Malvin Gray Johnson had just begun to reach the goal he sought during most of his adult life: he was becoming an informed, sensitive communicator of African American images.

52

74

Malvin Gray Johnson, Arrangement, ca. 1933. Oil on canvas, 20" x 16". Department of Art, Fisk University.

53 Malvin Gray Johnson, The Elks, ca. 1933. Oil on canvas, i5 3 /8"x i8'/8". Department of Art, Fisk University.

54 Malvin Gray Johnson, Woman ca. 1933. Watercolor, n ' / t " x 17". Department of Art, Fisk University.

Washing,

ELLIS WILSON (1899-1977), one of the few Black artists whose father was also an artist, was born in Mayfield, Kentucky, and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago. He worked as an interior decorator and as a commercial artist. Wilsons interest in art was first rewarded when he won a prize for an African poster he made while a student. As this interest continued to grow, Wilson became one of the most vigorous painters of subjects expressive of the African American experience. Particularly fascinated by life in Haiti, Wilson was a regular visitor to that country for many years. His affinity for the area and its people is reflected in the vitality of the art he created.

55 Ellis Wilson, Field Workers, n.d. Oil on masonite, 29W' x 34'/ 8 ". National M u s e u m of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. G i f t of the Harmon Foundation.

75

While a certain naïveté seems evident in both his landscapes and his figurai compositions, Wilson always produced fully accomplished and sophisticated design patterns; the pattern of the greenery in Field Workers [Illus. 55], for example, is quite intellectually resolved. Making bold use of color, his paintings reflect a coherent and personal style that combines aspects of Expressionism with contemporary Realism. His vigorous distortion of form, one of the aspects of Expressionism, is evident in such compositions as Bird Vendor [Illus. 36}. A longtime resident of New York City, Wilson was identified with the group of New York artists whose ingenuity and determination helped to make them early leaders of the African American art movement. Like them, he rejected the concept of a single aesthetic norm and sought to introduce and maintain African American subjects as a significant part of American art.

56

Ellis Wilson, Bird Vendor, 1953. Oil. Courtesy of Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia.

SARGENT CLAUDE JOHNSON (1887-1967), a Boston-born sculptor,

studied the artistic styles of many different cultures. African and Mexican styles were his principal interests, but his subject matter and definition of shape were thoroughly international. His immensely sophisticated style transcended time by capturing basic truths deeply rooted in human experience. The media in which Johnson worked were as varied as his themes and styles. Known principally as a sculptor, he was also a graphic artist, painter, enamelist, and ceramist. Forever Free [Illus. 57], one of Johnsons most popular works, is a monumental and majestic figure of a mother fashioned in lacquered wood. Incised in the lower portion of her tubular body are the figures of two children playing happily in her protective presence. The African-inspired, realistic head and the abstract cylindrical body give dignity and strength to the mother figure; these qualities are also evident in Mother and Child [Illus. 58]. His creation of a protective mother figure may have reflected a psychological need on Johnsons part. Orphaned in 1902, he spent a portion of his early life in foster homes, including the Washington, D . C . , home of his uncle, a high school principal, and his wife, the sculptor May Howard Jackson; it is possible that Johnsons introduction to sculpture was the result of this contact with Jackson. Johnson and his five brothers and sisters later moved to the home of their maternal grandparents, in Alexandria, Virginia, but were subsequently separated. The girls were sent to a school in Pennsylvania, while the boys were enrolled in a school run by the Sisters of Charity, in Worcester, Massachusetts. After Johnson left the school, he lived briefly in Chicago, then moved in 1915 to San Francisco. There he attended the A.W. Best School of Art and the California School of Fine Arts and also studied privately with Beniamino Búfano, a wellknown sculptor. Johnson first gained public notice in 1925 as a result of a San Francisco exhibition that included his Elizabeth Gee, a ceramic bust reportedly "after the manner of Búfano". In 1928 Sammy, another ceramic bust, was entered in a Harmon Foundation exhibition and also won the Otto H. Kahn Prize. In 1935 Johnson participated in a three-man exhibition held in New York City under the sponsorship of the Harmon Foundation. Malvin Gray Johnson and Richmond Barthé were the other participating artists. A Johnson statement that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle (6 October 1935) remains one of the strongest and most impressive statements by an African American artist regarding his craft: I am producing strictly a Negro Art, studying not the culturally mixed Negro of the cities, but the more primitive slave type as existed in this country during the period of slave importation. Very few

57 Sargent Claude Johnson, Forever Free, 1933. Lacquered cloth over wood, 36" x 11 te" x 9I/2". Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (gift of Mrs. E. D. Lederman). (Herrington-Olson photography.)

77

artists have gone into the history of the Negro in America cutting back to the sources and origins of the life of the race in this country. It is the pure American Negro I am concerned with, aiming to show the natural beauty and dignity in that characteristic lip and that characteristic hair, bearing and manner; and I wish to show that beauty not so much to the White man as to the Negro himself Unless I can interest my race, I am sunk, and this is not so easily accomplished. The slogan for the Negro artist should be "Go South, young man." Unfortunately for too many of us it is "Go East, young man." Too many Negro artists go to Europe and come back imitators of Cézanne, Matisse, or Picasso; and this attitude is not only a weakness of the artists but of their racial public. In all artistic circles I hear too much talking and too much theorizing. All their theories do not help me any, and I have but one technical hobby to ride; I am interested in applying color to sculpture as the Egyptian, Greek, and other ancient people did. I try to apply color without destroying the natural expression of sculpture, putting it on pure and large masses without breaking up the surfaces of the sculpturesque expression. I am concerned with color, not solely as a technical problem, but also as a means of heightening the racial character of my work. The Negroes are a colorful race; they call for an art as colorful as can be made.

Sargent Johnsons concern with the origins of African Americans is illustrated by his masks and studies of heads. The copper masks in Illustrations 59 and 60, clearly derivatives of western Africa's Baule culture, show his interest in the beauty of African forms. The head Negro Woman (1933) is another notable example of his interest in the "pure American Negro." As an employee of the Federal Arts Project in the late 1930s, Johnson held a number of general and administrative positions, ranging from staff artist to unit supervisor. During this affiliation he produced several monumental works, among them a large redwood screen carved in 1937 for the organ at the California School for the Blind, in Berkeley. The government project also gave Johnson the opportunity to create a mural for the Maritime Museum in San Francisco's Aquatic Park. With this assignment, for which he acquired his first well-equipped studio, Johnson began to express himself in a new medium. His mural for the museum is a mosaic that depicts human and marine life.

59 Sargent Claude Johnson, copper mask, 1935. i-fA" x 7" x 2V2". San Francisco Museum of ModernArt (gift of Albert M . Bender).

60

Sargent Claude Johnson, copper mask, 1935.

h" x m" x 2'/2". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (gift of Albert M . Bender).

Johnson believed that governmental assistance was necessary to the development and maintenance of the creative forces that characterize a vital community. Shortly before his death, he recalled the close friendships he had made as a result of his government-project associations and lamented the fact that todays artists, African Americans in particular, did not have similar opportunities. T h e Golden Gate International Exhibition of 1939 provided an opportunity for Johnson to produce large-scale sculpture. Home life, agriculture, and industry were the themes of three works he created for the Exhibitions Alameda-Contra Costa County Fair Building. Two other monumental works, eight-foot stone sculptures of Incas seated on llamas, were made by him for the Court of Pacifica and still stand on the site today [Illus. 61].

61

Sargent Claude Johnson, sculpture of Incas, 1939. Stone, 8' high.

In 1940 the San Francisco Art Commission asked Johnson to execute an athletic frieze for the city's George Washington High School. The large relief sculpture by Johnson that serves as part of the retaining wall at one end of the schools football field was completed in 1942. This massive project offered many technical challenges, and the artist was able to solve them with no sacrifice of aesthetic concerns. The simplicity of his forms and figures aided his efforts in this regard [Illus. 62].

62 Sargent Claude Johnson, athletic relief sculpture, 1940-42. Stone, 12' x 181'. George Washington High School, San Francisco. (Photograph by Robert Cheung. )

81

Concurrent with his involvement in sculpture was Johnsons work in graphics. In 1940 he produced the lithograph Singing Saints [Illus. 63 J, whose musical theme he would continue to employ. Lenox Avenue [Illus. 64], an earlier lithograph, also reflects the interest Johnson retained in music long after he had studied it as a child. The flowing curves of the work's simply stated forms express elements of design that are fundamental to both music and art. The framework of the composition is achieved through line; however, additional interest is created through the use of shapes and textured surfaces that support and give variety to the forms. Traveling throughout Mexico in the 1940s, Johnson visited the states of Oaxaca and Yucatán, where he assimilated ideas and techniques that influenced his future art. In 1958, with the assistance of a

63

Sargent Claude Johnson, Singing Saints, 1940. Lithograph, i2"X9'/4". Collection of The Oakland Museum (gift of Mr. Arthur C . Painter). (Photograph by T. S. Leong, Oakland, California.)

64

Sargent Claude Johnson, Lenox Avenue, 1938. Lithograph, i 5 " x 10V1". Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (on extended loan to The Oakland Museum). (Photograph by T. S. Leong, Oakland, California.)

benefactor, he was able to take an extended trip to Japan - an experience he had anticipated for many years. Johnsons interest in different lands and cultures helped to make him an artist whose works reflected a wide range of stylistic tendencies. Expressing strength and elegance, his forms were always clean and simple and never needed the support of decorative accessories. From the 1920s to his death in 1967 Johnson remained a master artist and a master craftsman. That this professional excellence was matched by excellence of character is suggested in the following statement by Clay Spolin, a painter and contemporary of Johnsons: [Sargent Johnson] was one of the few persons I have ever known who seemed perennially happy, joyous; exuberant in living, working being with people and being a help to people regarding his knowledge of artistic crafts, or in any other way he could. For he really had the love of life and was always willing to share his enthusiasm with others. Consequently, he received the same in return. Never can I recall an occasion when he was not happy or joyous in spirit, thereby making others feel the same. [From "Sargent Johnson: Retrospective." Catalog of an exhibition, 23 February-21 March 1 9 7 1 , at the Oakland Museum.] AUGUSTA SAVAGE (1900-62), an important figure in the history of African American art, has not been adequately appreciated by critics. Born in Florida, she was the seventh of fourteen children in the family of an impoverished Methodist minister. Despite strenuous opposition from her father, she began modeling clay figures when she was only six years old. Later, because of her unusual talent, she was allowed to teach clay modeling to students at a secondary school while still a student there herself. Planning to enter the teaching profession, she enrolled at the Tallahassee State Normal School (now Florida A and M University), but her desire for more intensive art training soon took her to New York's Cooper Union. Admitted in October, 1921, she was one of the first women to study sculpture at that institution. Poverty almost forced Savage to drop out of art school, but instructors who recognized the quality of her work convinced the board of trustees to give her financial support. At about the same time a librarian for the New York Public Library, where Savage had been studying African art, heard of her plight and suggested to friends of the library that the young artist be commissioned to execute a portrait bust of W . E . B . D u Bois. Savages completed bust of D u Bois is considered to be the finest portrait in existence of this leader. Commissions for portraits of other African American leaders followed, one of the most significant being of Marcus Garvey.

In 1930 Savage won a scholarship from the Julius Rosenwald Fund, which made it possible for her to study in France; the award was a direct result of Gamin [Illus. 65], her sculpture of a youth of Harlem. W h i l e in France Savage studied at the Académie de la G r a n d e C h a u mière under the guidance of French artist Félix Bueneteaux. O n returning to the United States in 1 9 3 2 she began teaching art classes in Harlem, and her Savage School of Arts and Crafts soon won a fifteenhundred-dollar grant from the Carnegie Foundation for the provision of tuition-free classes for young children. A m o n g the students who came to her studio were William Artis, N o r m a n Lewis, and Ernest Crichlow, all later major contributors to American art. In the mid-i930s Savage helped many African Americans enroll in the art project of the Works Progress Administration, despite the reluctance of its officials. Aided by the Harmon Foundation files, she and other artist-educators were able to document the accomplishments of many talented artists and thus to secure W P A commissions for them. She was also instrumental in making it possible for African American artists of superior talent and training to become project supervisors in the W P A .

65

Augusta Savage, Gamin, ca. 1930. Plaster, 18" high. Collection of The New York Public Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations). (Photograph by Lynda Gordon.)

In 1938 Savage was commissioned to do a sculptural grouping for the 1939-40 New York Worlds Fair. Inspired by a song written by the brothers Rosamund and James Weldon Johnson, she produced Lift Every Voice and Sing [Illus. 66], a composition that featured a group of singers placed in a harplike arrangement and a kneeling youth displaying a bar of musical notes. This latter figure and his offering have been considered symbolic both of the musical gifts of African Americans and of the African background of African American music. The singing figures, clad in what appeared to be choir robes, seemed to march in procession from the outstretched hand that formed part of the harps frame. The work was done in cast plaster and finished to look like black basalt. The money needed to have it cast in bronze was unavailable, and the composition was destroyed soon after the close of the Worlds Fair. Augusta Savage was a forceful and talented woman who, overcoming the difficulties of racism and sexism, was responsible for many of the advancements made by African American artists during the Depression. The generous donations of her time undoubtedly limited her own personal contribution as a sculptor, which might otherwise have brought her greater success and critical praise.

66 Augusta Savage, The Harp, 1939. Cast plaster. Photo Collection of American Literature, T h e Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. (Photograph by Carl Van Vechten; reproduced by special permission of Saul Mauriber, photographic executor of the Carl Van Vechten estate.)

RICHMOND B A R T H £ ( I 9 O I - I 9 8 9 ) , w h o studied at t h e A r t Institute of

Chicago and the Art Students League in New York City, was an important artist who confined his work to sculpture. Born in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, Barthe enjoyed a long and prolific career in the United States and the Caribbean. The first public showing of Barthes work was in 1927 at a Chicago Women's City Club exhibition. Fame came to him some years later, hastened by the Whitney Museums 1935 purchase of several of his sculptures, including Blackberry Woman (1932) and African Dancer (1933). Barthes popularity continued throughout the thirties and forties, during which time he created works based on both racial and nonracial idioms. Fascinated by the theater, he sculpted portrait busts of such luminaries as Katharine Cornell, Sir Laurence Olivier and Paul Robeson as Othello [Illus. 67]. In 1943, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchased Barthes The Boxer (1943), and the continuing interest shown in his work by museums and private collectors attests to the quality of his art.

67 Richmond Barthe, Paul Robeson as Othello, 1975. Bronze, 20" high.

Barthes characteristic elongation of form can be seen most clearly in such works as Blackberry Woman and Feral Benga [Illus. 68], a rendering of an African man paused in the midst of a dance. T h e suspended-action stance of this figure, with its raised right arm, makes the viewer unsure of the action to follow and thus creates strong tension. T h e S-curve of the dancers lithe, sensual torso is reminiscent of European classical works; but the graceful positioning of the arms, which draw the eye of the viewer around the figure, is more African than it is Greek or Roman. T h e long, sweeping curves of the body are clearly illustrative of Barthes strong interest in the dance and the theater. Barthes sculptural figures transcend time and give evidence of forms that relate to many artistic styles.

68

Richmond Barthé,

Feral Benga, 1937. Bronze, IOVI" high. Collection of Juliette Bethea, Washington, D . C .

Barthe is, without question, the sculptor bom in the early twentieth century who has most successfully bridged the gap between the interests of his cultural group and those of most professional critics. His sculptures of African Americans have been uniquely acceptable to white institutions and individual purchasers, and, at the same time, they have been symbols of dignity and strength for his African American audience. WILLIAM HENRY JOHNSON (1901-70) was born in the small town of Florence, South Carolina, which, like most places in the South around the turn of the century, offered its African American residents no opportunity to make their way in art. T h e son of a woman of African descent and of a white man who was reportedly of significant economic standing, Johnson did not share in his fathers world but was left instead in the care of his mother. Soon after Williams birth, his mother married a man by whom she was to have two sons and two daughters. When her husband became crippled, Johnsons mother became the sole support of the family of seven, and, as the eldest child, William helped her with the housework and in the fields. After she found salaried employment at the local Y M C A , William was obliged to remain at home to take care of the younger children. As a result his formal education was delayed and sporadic. On one of the rare occasions when William was able to attend school, his creativity was observed by a teacher who, after watching the youngster draw in the dirt with a stick, gave him the pencils with which he would draw his first permanent original portraits and copies of newspaper cartoons. By age seventeen Johnson had saved enough of his earnings to pay his fare to New York City, where he sought work that would allow him to support himself and to subsidize his family. But he found only the kinds of jobs available to him in the South stevedore, cook, and porter - and at disappointingly low wages. In 1921, after three years of hard work and savings, Johnson began studies at the National Academy of Design. His teacher and chief mentor at the Academy, Charles Harthorne, arranged for him to spend the summers of 1923 to 1926 at the Cape C o d School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts. T h e work scholarship that Johnson received exchanged the cost of his enrollment at Harthornes summer school for his care of the school's tennis courts. While attending the National Academy of Design, Johnson earned several of its highest awards; in 1923 he won the Hallgarten Prize and in 1925 and 1926 the coveted Cannon Prize. Eight such prizes had been awarded to him by the time of his graduation in 1926. In that year, mainly through the efforts of Charles Harthorne, money was collected to pay Johnsons travel expenses to Paris. As it did for many American artists, living in Paris seemed to offer Johnson a new life in

which he could explore a kind of freedom he had never before experienced. The paintings he produced in Paris reflected his new enthusiasm and, owing their greatest stylistic debt to Cézanne and Chaim Soutine, provided a strong contrast to his earlier academic style. While in France, Johnson visited Henry Tanner at his home in Trépied. Though Johnson enjoyed meeting Tanner, their paths proved too distant to permit any real communication. The strongest artistic influence Johnson encountered during this period was Soutine (1894-1943), one of the most vigorous Expressionist painters then active in Europe. It seems apparent that for over a half-dozen years Johnson modeled some of his compositions on Soutines works. Following the path of Soutine, he left Paris in 1928 for Cagnes-sur-Mer, where, like the French painter, he used "topsy-turvy" forms in depicting the local landscape. The exciting use Johnson made of shape and contour in such works as Landscape Cagnes-sur-Mer [IIlus. 69] seems to have suited his need for strong emotional expression.

69 William Henry Johnson, Cagnes-sur-Mer, 1928-29. Oil on canvas, 2 3 M i " x 2 8 / 2 " . Courtesy National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution.

Also in Cagnes, Johnson met Holcha Krake, a Danish designer, weaver, and ceramist whom he later accompanied to Denmark and married. Before their marriage, however, he returned to the United States and resided briefly in New York City. There, throughout the winter, he rented a cheap loft in Harlem and spent his time painting. The resultant six paintings were entered in a Harmon Foundation

89

exhibition in 1930 and earned him the show's gold medal and a cash award of four hundred dollars. The distinguished jury's announcement of their selection included the following statement: We think [William Johnson] is one of our coming great painters. He is a real modernist. He has been spontaneous, vigorous, firm and direct. He has shown a great thing in art - it is expression of the man himself. [Quoted in National Collection of Fine Arts, William H. Johnson, 1901-1970 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971), p. 14.] Encouraged by this success and now having the funds for the trip, Johnson soon visited his family in South Carolina. During his stay, he employed his newly acquired "modern European style" in paintings of the local residents and terrain; Landscape with Sun Setting, Florence, S.C. [Illus. 70] and Minnie [Illus. 71] are examples of his work during this period. Johnson's joy in being home was to be short-lived, however; for, one day as he stood in the street painting a brothel known to him only as the Jacobia Hotel, he was arrested and jailed. That the painting was not confiscated (though confiscation was customary in such cases) suggests that it was not so much the subject of the work that offended

70 William Henry Johnson, Landscape with Sun Setting, Florence, N.C. Howard University Gallery of Art. (Photograph by Scurlock Studios, Washington, D . C . )

the local constabulary as it was Johnson himself - an African American man who felt free enough to openly spend time painting pictures in the streets of Florence, South Carolina [Illus. 72]. The experience so embittered Johnson that he did not return to the South again for fourteen years. However, before he left Florence after the Jacobia incident, an impressive exhibition of his works was held at the local branch of the Y M C A , where his mother was still an employee. The local newspapers announcement of the exhibit read, "William Johnson, Florence man, to show 135 paintings"; and, in an effort to validate the artist, added: Alice Johnson having been rendering faithful service for the past 12 years, her husband a cripple, she has been the sole support of her two girls and three boys. The public is generally invited to inspect the work of this humble Florence Negro Youth whose real genius may some day make the city of his birth famous. [Quoted in National Collection of Fine Arts, William H. Johnson, 1901-1970, p. 14. J Particularly after his run-in with the law, this billing must have seemed painfully ironic to a man who had found a "breath of freedom" in Europe and some recent promise of success in New York. Although, as the birthplace of Johnson, Florence, South Carolina, may have hoped to achieve fame through him, during his stay the town proved a patronizing and humiliating host.

71 William Henry Johnson, Minnie, 1930. Oil on Canvas, 17" x 12'A". Courtesy National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution.

72 William Henry Johnson, Jacobia Hotel, 1930. Oil on canvas, 19'/«" x 23'/«". Courtesy National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution.

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On his return to Denmark, Johnson married Holcha Krake, and settled in the small fishing village of Kerteminde. He enjoyed the simple life of the villagers, and they made him feel like one of them. His portraits of the Kerteminde fishermen, and his harbor and village scenes, evidenced a new vigor and sparkle and a quality reminiscent of the Expressionist brushstrokes of van Gogh. In 1932 Johnson and his wife visited North Africa. The way of life of its inhabitants impressed him as being closer to art than that of the so-called cultivated societies of Europe. He later reflected that he had learned more from the fishermen of Denmark and the Arabs of North Africa than from any other peoples. And he added, "I myself feel like a primitive man, like one who is at the same time both a primitive and cultured painter" (quoted in National Collection of Fine Arts, William H. ]ohnson, 1901-1970, p. 14). That the excitement of such places as Tunisia was suited to his emotional personality was evident in the vivid watercolor scenes Johnson painted while in North Africa. Not surprisingly, he found the return to the quiet village of Kerteminde rather disappointing. Holcha and William Johnson soon decided to travel to Norway, where he hoped to sell some of his works. He may also have been hopeful of meeting Edvard Munch (1863-1944), a Norwegian painter and graphic artist whose work he admired. Johnson was himself a graphic artist, and Munchs influence was obvious in his style. A continuing need for money forced Johnson to attempt to exhibit and sell his paintings in the United States. Both Alain Locke and the staff of the Harmon Foundation acted on his behalf in this regard. However, the museums they contacted were not responsive, and commercial galleries would pay only minimal prices for Johnsons work. Disappointed and offended, the artist wrote the following in a letter to a Harmon Foundation representative: I must say that you shall demand a higher price for my painting for I am no ordinary American Negro painter or no ordinary American painter. I am recognize [sic] by known Americans and Europeans as a painter of value so I must demand respect. [William Johnson to Mary Brady, 24 September 1937, quoted in National Collection of Fine Arts, William H. Johnson, 1901-1970, p. 16.] In November 1938, in response to their financial situation, the approaching war in Europe, and Williams desire to again be with and paint his own people, the Johnsons moved to New York City. For a time the outside employment that Johnson sought was not forthcoming, and painting at home remained his major preoccupation. Lamentation [Illus. 73] and the other religious works he painted during

73 William Henry Johnson, Lamentation, ca. 1939. Oil on board, 29V&" x 33'A". Courtesy National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution.

this period represent a complete change in his subject matter. Although not outwardly religious, Johnson poured into these works recollections of the Bible stories and spirituals he had heard in church during his childhood in South Carolina. Beautifully formulated, his religious designs are marked by simplicity and warmth and represent the peak of his artistic expression. They are also convincing chronicles of life, for their everyday scenes provide an authoritative record of the basic joys and struggles of African Americans. Johnsons productivity continued, and in the early 1940s he obtained employment as a mural painter for the WPA. T h e many works he exhibited between 1941 and 1944 mark the development of his last style. New York's major art critics were impressed by these new works; and, though some insisted on labeling him a primitive, many of them recognized that his simple flat shapes represented a sophisticated contemporary style. A number of versions of a single genre subject depicted by Johnson during this period were executed in various sizes and media. He learned silkscreening while working on W P A projects, and later used

74 William Henry Johnson, Going to Church. Silkscreen,

12W x ly'/z".

it as a convenient medium for producing a large number of prints. Going to Church [Illus. 74], one of his many silkscreens, is a work that illustrates Johnsons habit of dealing with serious subjects in a "humorously serious" way. Much the same can be said of his treatment of war and poverty and of his unusually large canvas called Chain Gang (1939), which was chosen for exhibition at the 1939-40 Worlds Fair in New York. The massive forms and strong patterns of this huge painting also illustrate Johnsons exceptional ability to control motion through organized design.

75

William Henry Johnson, jitterbugs. Silkscreen, l7'/2" X 1 2 V f .

During the early 1940s, Johnson taught at the Harlem Community Art Center. His impressions of life in the neighborhood of the center are depicted in serigraphs (original color prints made by silkscreening) of s u c h c o m p o s i t i o n s as jitterbugs [Illus.

[Illus.

7 5 ] a n d Street

Musicians

76].

In January 1943 Johnsons wife died, and thereafter the artist suffered continuing mental deterioration. Following a trip to South Carolina, where he spent a few months visiting his mother, he returned to New York and tried to resume work. As his style reverted to one more closely related to German Expressionism in combination with other styles of his former periods, Johnson struggled to carry out his ambition to express African American life and history. Records indicate, however, that he had all but lost his sense of composition. In 1946 he sailed for Denmark and lived in Copenhagen for six months with his wife's family. Because his faculties showed a serious decline, he was sent back to New York in the summer of 1947 and committed to a mental hospital on Long Island. He remained there until his death, twenty-three years later, in April 1970.

76 William Henry Johnson, Street Musicians. Silkscreen, l7'/2" X I2V2".

JAMES LESESNE WELLS ( 1 9 0 2 - 1 9 9 3 ) was a successful printmaker and

designer who was for many years associated with Howard University. Armed with the solid academic training he obtained at Lincoln University in Missouri and Columbia University and at the National Academy of Design, this native Georgian was a pioneer of many modern methods of teaching art to all age groups. As a young man he was an instructor in the art workshop of the Harlem Library Project for Adult Education, a job that afforded him some of the varied experience on which he later based his teaching theories. In the 1940s James Wells gained a reputation as an excellent graphic artist. Utilizing several media - mainly block printing, etching, and lithography - he produced many compositions on African themes, of which African Fantasy [Illus. 77] and Primitive Girl [Illus. 78] are typical examples. Since 1931 he has also become known as a painter. His painting The Wanderers (1934) is a symbolically rich interpretation of three female migrants. Its rich color and interpretative quality reflect a highly imaginative expressionistic vision. An earlier work on the same subject, The Wanderer (1931), is even more symbolically evocative as the animal, human, and landscape elements merge with a distinctive abstract design. Many other paintings by Wells were exhibited in the 1930s at the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, D . C . , in the Harmon Foundation traveling exhibitions, and

77 James Lesesne Wells, African Fantasy, Collection, Fisk University.

1929. Woodcut. Afro-American

in museums and galleries throughout the New York metropolitan area. In 1933 Alain Locke described Wells as a successful ultramodernist but found that while ultra-modern in composition and color scheme, many of his paintings have also an unusual mystical quality like The Wanderers, which reveal[s] to some eyes a typical Negro note; which in his own words, he attempts to express, "not in that sensational gusto so very often typified as Negroid, but as that which possesses the quality of serenity, has sentiment without sentimentality and rhythmic flow of lines and tones in pure and simple forms." [From Negro Art Past and Present, p. 76. J

78

James Lesesne Wells,

Primitive

Girl.

Afro-American Collection, Fisk University.

BEAUFORD DELANEY (1901-1979) grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, but moved to Boston while still a teenager. There he studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, the South Boston School of Art, and the Copley Society, although it is unlikely that he was registered at any of these institutions. Perhaps it is for that reason he considers himself self-taught; however, his associations with teachers and professional artists and writers have no doubt contributed to his artistic experience. On leaving Massachusetts, Delaney moved to New York's Greenwich Village, where he lived on Greene Street [Illus. 79], which he painted time and again. During his early days in New York, Delaney worked as a telephone operator at the Whitney Museum, where, by the beginning of the 1930s, some of his compositions would be on exhibit. Early scenes by Delaney were also shown in the Harmon Foundation exhibition of 1933 and in exhibitions at the 135th Street and 42nd Street branches of the New York Public Library. Over the next decade Delaney also painted portraits, including those of such notables as Henry Miller, Marian Anderson, and A1 Hirschfeld. These commissions helped him overcome some of the hardships of artists living in New York, which in Delaney s case included the maintenance of a studio and the cost of expensive paints required in lavish quantities by his budding interest in Abstract Expressionism. In 1954 Delaney traveled to Paris for a short visit, but he was so pleased with the life he found there that he spent the remainder of his years there. Considered the dean of African American artists living in Europe, Delaney did not claim that he was driven from the United States; he lived in Paris because it is where he felt he belonged.

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Beauford Delaney, Greene Street, 1951. Oil, 16" x 20".

SELMA BURKE (b. 1900) is a celebrated artist and teacher whose work can be found in numerous public and private collections in the United States and abroad. Born in Mooresville, North Carolina, Selma Burke has accomplished an outstanding career, one which spans more than 60 years. She recalls the experience of digging out the clay on her parents' farm and squeezing it in her hands. This incident, she insists, was her first experience with sculpture. She states, "It was there in 1907 that I discovered me." The founder of the Selma Burke Art Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, believes that "Parents should bring things home to their children offering them opportunities early so that they can grow up being aware, self-confident and fearless." Among her many awards, Selma Burke was a recipient of the 1987 Pearl S. Buck Foundation Woman's Award. The award is given to professional women who have distinguished themselves in career, devotion to family and pursuit of humanitarian goals. Though not a participant in the Harmon Foundation exhibitions of the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of those who provided other African American artists with needed aid and encouragement during the lean days of the Depression. The record of her personal achievement and direct contributions to African American art is also exemplary. She received her first training as a sculptor at Columbia University and later studied with Maillol in Paris and with Povoley in Vienna. Among her most notable works are Falling Angel, a highly decorative floating sculpture of a figure in supplication, and Peace. An earlier work, Jim [Illus. 80], is a fine example of Burke's skill in portraiture, in which she gives the subject a strong and vigorous nobility.

L o i s MAILOU JONES (1905-98) was a strong force in teaching and promoting African American art: I believe it is the duty of every African American artist to participate in the current movement which aims to establish recognition of works by African American Artists. I am and will continue to exhibit in "Ethnic Art Shows" and others, works which express my sincere creative feelings. Whether or not these works portray the "African American Experience," or "Heritage," or are purely abstract is immaterial - so long as the works meet the highest standards exemplified in modern world art. The major focus is to achieve for African American Artists their just and rightful place in the mainstream of the art world. [Personal communication with the author:]

81

Lois Mailou Jones, Negro Boy, 1935. Watercolor, 19" x 16". Courtesy of the artist.

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Born in Boston, Jones was among the first African American graduates of the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. She also studied in New York at Teachers College and, in 1937, attended the Académie Julien, in Paris. Her artistic style and purpose were enriched by contact with several cultures — French, Haitian, African, and American. A professor of design and watercolor painting at Howard University for forty years, Jones played a major role in guiding young students to artistic maturity. Many of the artist-teachers who are currently contributing to the African American art movement were her students.

82 Lois Mailou Jones, Marché Haiti (Haitian Market), 1963. Acrylic on canvas panel, 24" x 20". Courtesy of the artist.

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Jones' own record as an artist was one of consistent development and spirit. In the 1920s and 1930s she created compositions that are predominantly realistic in style, their interpretation of the human figure always imparting a great sense of dignity of which Negro Boy [Illus. 81] is a typical example. The landscapes of Paris she painted in the 1930s are similarly impressive and serve as reminders of Cezanne's strong influence on Western art. The explosions of color and use of geometric shapes in her more recent works bring together aspects of the two earlier periods. The artistic work of Lois Mailou Jones also progressed through several distinct cultural stages, all aimed at expressing the form and spirit of the African American heritage. Her developed Parisian style was related to African sculpture; and the more Cubist style that followed resulted from contact with Haiti, an island whose culture, though outwardly French, has its roots in Africa. Haitian Market [Illus. 82] is an example of this style. In her later works Jones returned to purely African forms, the source of Cubism, and combined them with her knowledge of the African American experience. Her Deux Coiffeurs d'Afrique [Illus. 83] is an exciting example of a composite composition; through her traditional treatment of the figure in the lower portion of the composition, Jones combines a sense of realism with a dominant geometric environment.

83 Lois Mailou Jones, Deux Coiffeurs d'Afrique, 1982. Oil, 36" x 36". Courtesy of the artist.

ALMA THOMAS (1891-1978) was one of the great colorists of her time. As early as the 1950s, she began to follow an independent direction one that placed her work in the "mainstream" of contemporary art. Thomas exhibited her preference for abstractions at a time when traditional subjective imagery was preferred and supported by the establishment. Similar to the Russian painter Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944), a member of the Blue Rider group, during the early 1960s Alma Thomas carried her research on color into emotional and psychological dimensions. These studies led to a complete exclusion of all representational elements. T h e first art student and graduate of Howard University, Alma Thomas' intuitive manner of painting seems related to the Washington Color school of abstraction. However, hers was largely independent in the use and in the application of color. While an admirer of her contemporaries which included such notables as Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Lois Mailou Jones, Thomas chose to base her work solely on her creative imagination and her own will. Pinks of Cherry Blossoms [Illus. 84] was inspired by circular gardens that are located in areas of Washington, D . C . where Alma Thomas lived most of her eighty-seven years. She painted her own unique kind of garden in which she transformed flowers into fluid movements of bright colors that seem loosely woven in place. Her extensive knowledge of color theory permitted her to freely use scientific systems in a seemingly casual way. As an extremely creative individual, Alma Thomas was committed to using color from her own perspective. She did not conform to any established style or movement but instead created her own way of seeing, and in doing so left a legacy too bright to ignore.

84 Alma Thomas, Pinks of Cherry Blossoms, O i l , 49" x 49",

Private Collection.

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JAMES A. PORTER (1905-70), the author of Modern Negro Art (1943), influenced the African American art movement in the United States both as an artist and as an educator. Graduated from Howard University in 1926, he also worked toward a degree at Teachers College and was later enrolled at the Art Students League. He received a scholarship at the Institute of International Education in 1935 and was the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation grant that allowed him to

85 James A. Porter, My Mother. Archives.)

(Photograph courtesy of the National

study art in Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Italy. In 1937 he was awarded a masters degree in art history from New York University. Numerous solo exhibitions and group shows, in the United States and abroad, characterized his subsequent career. In 1953 he was appointed head of the art department and director of the art gallery at Howard University, the first major gallery established at a Black institution in the United States. As an artist, Porter was a sensitive interpreter of both African American character and the human form - as is evident in such works as My Mother [Illus. 85] - and, primarily between the years 1954 and 1964, he executed several works based on African themes and on the lives of African Americans. As an art historian, Porter recorded the activities of artists who lived during his time and researched the work of those who had preceded him. The magnitude of his sense of history was unique, and his personal knowledge of art provided insights offered by few art historians. Talented and dedicated as an artist, as a teacher, and as a scholar, James Porter, like Alain Locke, played a vital role in the early accreditation of African American art.

WILLIAM E. ARTIS (1919-77), a sculptor who received a great deal of coverage in such publications as Time, the Christian Science Monitor, and Sculpture Review, remained decidedly unaffected by his publicity. He spoke about art mainly through his works, which demonstrate not only that "Black is beautiful" but that it is sensitive, concerned, and humane. A native of Washington, North Carolina, Artis received his artistic training at several schools, including the Art Students League, Alfred and Syracuse Universities in New York State, and Pennsylvania State University. Throughout a long teaching career, he was also a prolific artist and the recipient of numerous artistic awards and honors. An exhibition sponsored by the Harmon Foundation in 1933 was the first one in which Artis participated, and his association with many of the foundations subsequent projects gave them a different perspective. Artis' compositions reflect his personality They are not political or social, nor do they express current problems of any kind; rather, they are profound statements of human aspirations. A deep concern for human beings is seen, for example, in his sensitive treatment of form: his sculptures seem to breathe, and the essence of gentle life flows from each base through to the highest point. Supplication [Illus. 86], a large figure composition, is an example of Artis' magnificent handling of modeled form. His approach to sculpture was an additive one, and each segment of a work comprises the same sense of life exhibited by the whole.

86 William E. Artis, Supplication, 1971. Ierra cotta, 40" high.

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THE SELF-TAUGHT IHDIVIDUALISTS Self-taught artists are often well into adulthood when they begin to concentrate on their artistic careers. Having reached their middle years, many of them bring to their work valuable practical knowledge and a wide perspective gained from everyday living. Rather than attempting to imitate their environment, they tend to express through personal imagery their faith in, and love of life.

WILLIAM EDMONDSON ( 1 8 8 2 - 1 9 5 1 ) and HORACE PIPPIN (1888-1946),

87

William Edmondson,

Mother and Child. Stone, u V f x 5 ' / / x 6". Barbara Johnson Collection.

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two such self-taught artists, shared the same approach to art. To them the academic circles frequented by many of their contemporaries were of little interest. Both men chose to avoid the company and advice of other, more established artists, and relied instead on their own knowledge, abilities, and insights. Thus, much like the folk artists of nineteenth-century America, Edmondson and Pippin were able to maintain their artistic freedom. In this they set themselves apart from the majority of early twentieth-century artists, who, in exploring art, found it necessary to join popular movements. In his forties when he completed his first composition, Pippin painted most of his works from memory, tapping childhood and war experiences and other events of his life as sources of subject matter. Edmondson, on the other hand, maintained that his subject matter, most of it religious, came to him through divine inspiration and vision. Whatever the case, both he and Pippin demonstrated an intuitive feeling for design. T h e direct and uninhibited statements apparent in their art provide a vitality and freshness that place these artists among the best of their day. Born in Davidson County, Kentucky, Edmondson produced compositions that went unnoticed for many years . During this time he was employed principally as a stonemason, and his experience in that occupation contributed to his strong, compact solutions to sculptural problems. Edmondson achieved major recognition, finally, in May, 1938, when a solo exhibition of his works was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, shortly after they had come to the attention of Meyer Dahl Wolfe, a friend of the museum. Edmondsons sculptures have a monumental impact. Representing both humans and animals, they exhibit economy of detail and fluidity of form and show the artists strong sense of invention in such details as eyes, noses, and mouths. Yet his interpretations of these facial features are similar to those seen in the stylized sculptures of numerous African cultures. Most of the sculptures created by Edmondson prior to his 1938 exhibition were made for African American patrons and intended for use as gravestones. Among these early sculptures is

Mother and Child [Illus. 87], a small stone piece that depicts the spirit and beauty possible in the relationship between a mother and her offspring. Horace Pippin, like Edmondson, was a self-taught artist who found much of his subject matter in personal experience. He believed, in the words of the artist John Kane (1860-1934), that "you don't have to go far to find beauty ... all you need is observation" (quoted in "HicksKane-Pippin." Catalog of an exhibition, 21 October-4 December 1966, at the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh). Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Pippin grew up in Goshen, New York, where he and his parents had moved when he was three years old. The death of her husband, in 1898, made it necessary for Pippins mother to work as a domestic to support her son. He found part-time work at age fourteen and was forced to leave school at fifteen to support his ailing mother. In 1917 Pippin enlisted in the army. During his twenty-two months of military service, most of which he spent as a corporal in an African American regiment, he saw battle in Europe and, wounded by a sniper, permanently lost the use of his right arm. Soon after his return to the United States and his army discharge in May 1919, Pippin met Jennie Ora Featherstone, whom he married a year later and settled in West Chester. He supported himself and his family through various odd jobs and a small disability pension that supplemented the meager income of his wife. Because of his handicap Pippin did not begin to draw or paint again until 1929, when he accidentally discovered that he could draw by applying a hot poker to a wood panel. Seventeen drawings done in this manner soon followed. These early works often had no color other than the white of the wood surface and the black of the charred areas. Whether he worked on wood or on canvas, Pippins laborious technique made large compositions impractical; thus his works are seldom more than two-by-three feet. Though he began late in life and was disabled, Pippin produced a great number of paintings in his short career, seventy-five in his last six years. His first completed painting, The End of War: Starting Home (1931), communicates his deep emotional involvement with memories of war - even the paintings carved frame features objects of battle. The somberness of the dark colors that predominate in the work is only partially relieved by the red of flaming planes, bursting bombs, and bleeding soldiers. Such horrors of war are not presented in a moralizing manner, however; they are employed merely to re-create an actual experience vividly remembered. In 1937 a painting by Pippin placed in the window of a shoe repair shop in West Chester attracted the attention of two passers-by - Christian Brinton, an art critic, and N. C. Wyeth, the illustrator. By the

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summer of that year, Brinton had arranged to have Pippins works presented in a solo exhibition at the local community center. Afterward, the artists popularity grew rapidly. In 1938 four works by Pippin were included in a Museum of Modern Art exhibition called "Masters of Popular Painting'.' In 1940 Robert Carlen, a Philadelphia art dealer, was so impressed with Pippin that he presented his work in a solo show. Prior to the opening, Albert C. Barnes, a philanthropist and influential collector, purchased three of the exhibitions paintings and insisted on writing an introductory note to the catalog in which he said of Pippin: It is probably not too much to say that he is the first important Negro painter to appear on the American scene and that his work shares with that of John Kane the distinction of being the most individual and unadulterated painting authentically expressive of the American spirit that has been produced during our generation. [Quoted in "Hicks-Kane-Pippin," p. 82.] Invited by his admirer to visit the art collection at the Barnes Foundations headquarters in Merion, Pennsylvania, Pippin was able to view the foundations array of works by Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, and others. Of the artists whose works he saw, he was most affected by Renoir - not because of the French artists technique but because of the remarkable bodies of his female subjects. About this time Pippin also began to attend classes sponsored by the Barnes Foundation, but, since he had little regard for formal art instruction, his attendance soon ceased. A close observer of nature, Pippin had a special feeling for winter landscapes, which he demonstrated in such works as Buffalo Hunt (1933) and Night Call [Illus. 88]. Viewing Night Call one can almost feel the cold force of the blowing snow, and the skeletal trees, dark sky, and snow-covered road all convey the bleakness of the landscape. Among his other important paintings are John Brown Going to His Hanging (1942), Domino Players (1943), Mr. Prejudice (1943), and four versions of the one subject that are known as The Holy Mountain series [Illus. 89]. Each of the versions suggests that the artist was familiar with Edward Hicks' series of the same name in the Carlen Gallery. They have been explained by Pippin as a response to war. In Pippin's series the murky forest and its shadowy figures seem to be an allusion to the forces of hatred and war. The background is a direct contrast to the peaceable assemblage of animals and people: the shepherd watches over lions, lambs, wolves, leopards, and bears - all living in peace. The bright green grass, jewellike flowers, and calmly posed animals all convey a feeling of peace and tranquility.

88 Horace Pippin, Night Call. Oil on canvas, 28" x 32". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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89 Horacc Pippin, The Holy Mountain II, 1944. Oil, 22" x 30". Private collection.

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Painting eventually brought Pippin financial stability, but it had an unsettling effect on his marriage. He quarreled with his wife, who he felt neither understood nor trusted his art, and because of their difficulties, he began to drink heavily and spend much of his money on a mistress. These factors no doubt contributed to the breakdown experienced by his wife, who spent her last months in a mental institution, dying there two weeks after her husband's death, on July 6, 1946.

jo Clementine Hunter Church Gathering, n,d. Oil on board, 16" x 20".

CLEMENTINE HUNTER (c. 1886-1988) was an ardent individualist who followed her own perceptions and interpreted life in her own unique way. Through her art, she expressed ideas and personal experiences with unconventional style and vision. Her work recapitulates life in and around the heart of C a n e River country, specifically on Melrose Plantation where she lived most of her one-hundred and two years. T h e narrowness and bigotry that prevailed in many rural Southern communities during Clementine Hunters lifetime did not dampen her spirit or negatively influence the view of herself or other African Americans. Not even the more than lifesize bronze sculpture in

nearby Natchitoches of an African American adult male with bowed head, hat in hand, could destroy her feelings of pride in being who she was. Removed during the late 1960s, this sculpture labeled, "Monument to the Good Darkie", had to be a source of intimidation for many African Americans in Cane River Country. Evidence of Clementine Hunters racial pride is seen in her paintings where most of her images of people are persons of color - including those who represent the world of the spirit. Instead of bending to the problems of life, Hunter used her art to lend dignity to her community of people: field hands, churchgoers, fishermen, and others who were experiencing the "passages of life." Her Church Gathering [Illus. 90], and Among the Lilies [Illus. 91] are examples of the types of subjects she frequently painted. Clementine Hunters palette was bright and consisted of colors that were applied spontaneously to foundations of paper, cardboard, plywood and canvas board. Guided principally by her empathic responses, she did not use models or sketches. Structurally she approached her work in much the same manner as did artists in a variety of early civilizations, such as in Egypt and China, where ground lines served as bases to stabilize figures and, in some cases, where figures were allowed to float without any effort to attach them to environments. She created her own kind of perspective. Clementine Hunter lived in a world that, according to most, would seem limited and difficult. However, she was able to extract from her experiences a world of beauty and joy which many have overlooked. Her more than four thousand paintings and drawings serve as documents of a time and a people engaged in activities that are universal and timeless.

91 Clementine Hunter, Among the Lilies, cir. 1943. Enamel on wood, 16" x 18"

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DAVID BUTLER (1898-1997) was a native of Saint Mary Parish, Louisiana. Mr. David, as he was affectionately called by friends, was known by others in his community as "the tin man." Earlier in his life, Butler, the first of eight children, assisted his carpenter father and also worked in a crate factory. During this period, Butler spent a great deal of his free time experimenting with building small wooden sculptures. On his retirement from the box factory, Butler began working in tin, creating environments that he referred to as "my flowers." He cut and painted forms and figures to be planted in his yard, nailed to the sides of his house, and to decorate his windows and doors [Illus. 92].

92

David Butler, Window, nd., Tin and enamel paint.

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In keeping with his belief that used materials have life, David Butler insisted that the metal for making his sculptures should have had previous use ... even his paints were left over from jobs and passed on to him by friends. In addition to his house in Patterson, Louisiana, where he lived before moving in with relatives, David Butler also owned and prized a profusely decorated bicycle which served as his only means of transportation [Illus. 93]. An art piece in itself, the bicycle (later stolen) was decorated with creations of birds, plastic flowers, flags, and other found objects which spinned and bobbed as the wheels turned. Used principally for shopping and for exercise, David Butler saw his daily five mile ride as one that enabled him to share his work with others. Butler's tools consisted primarily of tin snips (which he used only to rough out outlines of his designs previously drawn on tin with chalk), an old meat cleaver, a hammer, and a nail. Intensely religious, David Butler insisted that ideas and inspirations for his work were from dreams that were "God given." He laid no claim to being an artist and refused to attend openings or visit galleries or museums where his works were featured.

93

David Butler, Bicycle, nd., Mixed media.

Social and Political Awareness

1940-1960 A n y analysis of the arts on the basis of time periods is necessarily arbitrary. Artistic movements generally blend imperceptibly into one another; and, as we have seen in the works of Edmondson and Pippin, art sometimes belongs to no specific period of time. The accomplishments of the Harmon Foundation, the Harlem Renaissance, and the WPA continue to influence the course of African American art. The artists who benefited from these organizations were free of sponsor-established limitations and thus were able to produce works of significant value. They did not seek the approval of their peers or other rewards for their creativity, but instead expressed themselves as individual participants conscious of their role in society. The dearth of information regarding the past accomplishments of African Americans is largely responsible for the negative attitudes toward their artistic contributions. Additionally, some historians and art critics have erroneously assumed that African American artists are unfamiliar with the formalized techniques of Western aesthetics. Until recently, this assumption contributed to the long-lived absence of serious historical investigation into the African American aesthetic. Perpetuating another stereotype, some cultural powers have believed that the relatively spontaneous arts, music, and dance, are better suited to African American expression than are the more deliberate forms. This supposition ignores the many skillful designs in sculpture, weaving, pottery, and architecture that are part of the African tradition and a prevailing influence in the culture of African Americans.

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MURAL ART AS CULTURAL AND SOCIAL COMMENTARY Mural art is a major aspect of the African architectural tradition. The exterior walls of buildings that surround many villages and compounds in Africa today display a variety of decorative patterns and symbols that have cultural significance for their communities. It was Mexico, however, that provided the examples that inspired most of the first professional African American muralists. The period of Social Realism that flourished in Mexico after the revolution of 1910 to 1920 had great impact on mural painting in the United States in the following decades. African American artists, especially, were impressed with such Mexican muralists as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, two of Mexico's greatest muralists. Mexico was one of the few nations then using large-scale murals to decorate public buildings, and, not relying on traditional fresco techniques, the Mexican muralists had developed new mural painting methods and materials based on modern technology. Advocates of social change and champions of the politically, economically, and socially disadvantaged, the Mexican muralists conveyed messages easily understood and embraced by African American artists in the United States. This rapport was nourished as well through direct contact, for many Mexican muralists were commissioned to work in the United States. Thus, Miguel Covarrubias, for example, was an early associate of the muralist Charles Alston and his contemporaries in Harlem.

CHARLES ALSTON (1907-77), who grew up in North Carolina, taught at the City University of New York and at the Art Students League. Alstons early compositions were displayed by the Harmon Foundation in 1935, and his works have since figured in many major museum shows throughout the United States. They are included in the permanent collections of the Butler Art Institute, in YoungJown, Ohio; the Detroit Institute of the Arts; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York. Trained in art at Columbia University in the late 1920s, Alston had a unique figurative Cubist style, which he first demonstrated in such works as Magic and Medicine [Illus. 94], a mural executed for the Harlem Hospital in 1937. T h e work shows two distinct African American lifestyles - the African and the American. African life is characterized as fluid and nature-oriented, while American environments are depicted as rigid and tense, with mechanical products dominating and destroying nature. Humanity stands as the victim in American urban and rural communities.

94 Charles Alston Magic and Medicine (detail), 1937. Oil. Works Projects Administration Collection; the National Archives.

Alstons expression of the human condition through art was a response to the injustices and indignities experienced daily by many of his fellow citizens. Since he believed firmly in the basic ideals on which the nation was founded, Alston felt that he had an obligation to aid in the fulfillment of the American dream. A commission Alston shared with HALE WOODRUFF (1900-1980), produced two outstanding examples of the Social Realism of African American muralists in the late 1930s and 1940s. Designed for the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company of Los Angeles and unveiled in 1949, the adjacent murals produced by Alston and Woodruff were meant to document the participation of African American settlers in the founding of California. The Alston panel is called Exploration and Colonization (1537-1850) [Illus. 95], and Woodruffs panel is Settlement and Development (1850-1949) [Illus. 96]. About them a catalog issued by the insurance company proclaimed: More than mere murals ... these priceless panels incorporate documentary material, much of which appears in no annals of American history. These murals, although native in scope, are also reflective of other states and Negroes who were prominent in their development. As such they are a tribute to these men. The murals offer an extensive range of color as well as expressive forms interwoven in overlapping triangular patterns. Still, each historical event is easily seen as a separate part of the total composition. The

95 Charles Alston, Exploration and Colonization (1537-1850), 1949. Oil on canvas, 111'A" x 198". Collection of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. (Photograph by Howard Morehead.)

96 Hale Woodruff, Settlement and Development (1850-1949), 1949. Oil on canvas, lii'/V' x 198". Collection of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. (Photograph by Howard Morehead.)

artistic foundations of Alston and Woodruff, both secure artists with great skill in formal organization, are demonstrated by their control over the dramatic shapes in these two compositions. Each artist obviously made an effort to adjust his painting to the setting, each panel being a harmonious part of the architectural whole. It is also obvious that the artists used the challenge of the structure as a guide in organizing the historical message of the murals. Both the Alston and Woodruff murals fulfill their purpose admirably, each telling a story from a point of view that is interesting and readily understandable. Thus they prove the great capabilities of their respective artists in handling the expressive and technical challenges demanded by the subject and the setting. Although the works of Charles Alston and Hale Woodruff have long served as fine examples of mural art, other artists are equally admired for their specialized knowledge in this field. Among them are Charles White, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and William Walker.

THE WPA AND ITS LEGACY NORMAN LEWIS (1909-1979) was one of the few native New Yorkers to gain early prominence in art as an interpreter of African American life in Harlem. A WPA project participant, Lewis attended Columbia University and studied privately with Augusta Savage. His WPA assignment with the Harlem Art Center brought him into contact with many of the other African American artists who became leading contributors to American art. During the late 1930s and 1940s, Lewis developed an interest in geometric depiction of the human figure. Yellow Hat [Illus. 97] is an excellent example of his early semi-abstract style. Following this period, Lewis shifted dramatically towards Abstract Expressionism. More spontaneous, his later brush technique created soft textural patterns that are organic in shape; and, although specific subjectmatter forms were avoided, the overall meaning of each pattern is clearly projected. Ovum [Illus. 98] is one of the works of this period in which Lewis combines the geometric style of his earlier career with the more lyrical treatments of Abstract Expressionism. The paintings small geometric shapes, sometimes evocative of animal and human forms, create a visual texture that emerges from a foglike atmosphere. T h e bright central section of the composition seems to glow, radiating life and energy. In the mid-1960s, as a member of the Spiral Group, an organization of artists committed to documenting the essence of the Civil Rights movement, Lewis produced designs executed principally in black and white. Processional [Illus. 99J, one such work, is a direct,

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98 Norman Lewis, Ovum, 1961. Oil, 50" x 71". Collection of Ellen Ruhm, New York. (Photograph by Geoffrey Clements, New York City. )

99

Norman Lewis, Processional,

1965. Oil on canvas, 38" x 58".

(Photograph by Rudolph Burckhardt.)

powerful statement that expresses the unity of the marchers who characterized The Movement. While a teacher at New York's Art Students' League in 1 9 7 1 , Lewis worked with Ernie Crichlow and Romare Bearden in the founding of the Cinque Gallery. The special concern of this gallery became the exhibition of works by young minority-group artists. In her foreword to the Kenkeleba Gallery's catalog, Norman Lewis, from the Harlem Renaissance to abstraction (1989), Corrine Jennings states: Norman Lewis was really self-taught, and he forged a path of his own. Early on, he was a skilled draftsman and calligrapher; the little figures that reappear in his work are extensions of his finely skilled use of line, resembling musical or dance notations. Lewis had also been a dancer; he had studied with Ad Bates. While a traditionalist in some ways - Lewis was a great teacher and had a profound influence on young artists - he was also adventurous and farseeing.

R o m a r e B e a r d e n ( 1 9 1 1 - 1 9 8 8 ) while still a college student, voiced dissatisfaction with the activities of the Harmon Foundation. He criticized the foundations exhibitions and accused its officials of patronizing mediocrity. Bearden believed that many of the artists who participated in the Harmon shows were merely duplicating art forms from Europe rather than expressing personal experiences. A longtime Harlem resident, Bearden became acquainted with many of the writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance during his youth, when his mother headed the New York office of the Chicago Defender, an African American newspaper. Bearden developed his approach to artistic expression over a period of years and through experimentation with a variety of art forms and styles. Always careful to rely on his own cultural heritage, he felt that subject matter was of little importance unless the artist is able to transform it into something unique. Such a transformation is seen in his paintings of the early 1930s, which in their Social Realism also reflect his interest in the works of José Orozco, Rufino Tamayo, and other modern Mexican masters. Between 1945 and the late 1950s Bearden s work underwent a gradual stylistic transition. His paintings began to exhibit a more limited use of color, an increasingly shallow space, and a more developed planar surface. By 1961 a reappearance of figurai elements could be seen in his work, and it was at about this time that he began to experiment with collage. His materials were photostated, enlarged, cut out, and reassembled in a manner suited to his creative imagination; the use of photography added to the "reality" of his works. In 1963 Bearden, along with Norman Lewis, helped found the Spiral Group. These artists, who originally planned to limit their palettes to black and white as a symbol of racial conflict, held their first member show in 1965 in their Greenwich Village gallery. The compositions created by Bearden since 1967 represent successive increases in size and brilliance of color. Like his earlier ones, these works are figurai abstractions of African American subject matter, but they are more sophisticated and exhibit an increasingly fluid handling of form.

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An enthusiasm for Cubism, nourished by associations with such modernists as Stuart Davis, led Bearden to attempt greater structural organization in his work. His artistic growth was also indebted to his post-World War II involvement with the Kootz Gallery in New York and his resultant associations with Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, and other noted gallery members. In 1950, a study trip to Paris allowed Bearden the benefit of contacts with many distinguished European artists, including George Braque, Constantin Brancusi, and Fernand Léger. But though Bearden had an international array ° f stylistic influences, his thematic focus remained as it was in the

1930s. He continued to create art in which the human image is defined in terms of the African American experience, presenting African Americans in a believable reality rather than as abstract, unknown quantities. Familiar with the works of contemporary African American writers. Bearden sought to establish a visual counterpart to their literary contributions by creating a language of lively pictorial images that express their own logic. The Prevalence of Ritual: Tidings [Illus. 100] represents one phase of Beardens long artistic career. This collage combines a number of diverse objects, all seemingly out of context, in a manner reminiscent of both Cubism and Surrealism. Ambiguities of location and of time are thus created. The face of an angel resembles an African mask and, though treated cubistically, has a penetratingly naturalistic eye. The Virgin, who holds a rose rather than the customary lily, has a somewhat more realistic face than the angel, but their bodies are broken into cubelike planes in very much the same way. The structure behind the figural grouping seems to be composed of a sharecroppers shack and a post and scrollwork from a Victorian mansion. The landscape, a strange combination of drawings, paintings, and photographs, introduces a disquieting element to the work. Similarly, in Beardens Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism [Illus. 101] the central figure in the composition is expressed through symbols that combine the past and the present. The upper portion of the face of the convert is the image of an African mask, while the lower portion is a photographic image that reflects the average and the contemporary. The spirit of the ceremony is

100 Romare Bearden, The Prevalence of Ritual: Tidings, 1967. Collage, 36" x 48". Courtesy of the Cordier and Ekstrom Gallery.

ìoi Romare Bearden, The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism, 1964. Collage on board, 9" x 12". The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. (Photograph by Geoffrey Clements, New York City.)

102 Romare Bearden, Memories, No. 2, 1964. Photomontage, 6' x 8'.

thus both ancient and modern. The small church in the background borders railroad tracks that symbolize the social place and status of the participants, while the great size of these constructed figures attests to their human importance. With Memories, No. 2 [Illus. 102], from his projection series, Bearden continued his use in collages of photos of such substances as pavement and marble for faces, eyes, and hands. But whatever the makeup of his figures, Bearden always managed to elevate their depressed and frequently oppressed conditions. Romare Beardens retreats to the island of St. Martin contributed significantly to his beliefs and to his art. His choice of watercolor as his principle medium during these times contributed to the continued fluid quality and spontaneity of the works inspired by the physical and mythical nature of the island. Island Woman [Illus. 103] is a sparkling example of the integration of figure/field in which the lush tropical Caribbean landscape prevails. Beardens art, regardless of media or subject matter has always been of the "spirit." It is an art of celebration, one of birth and re-birth. It is an art that lives and transcends boundaries. 103

Romare Bearden, Island Woman, nd., Watercolor, 16" x 20".

HUGHIE LEE-SMITH (1915-99) was born in Eustis, Florida, far away from the lonely urban ghettos he painted. His youth (he was more fortunate than most African American artists in that his parents encouraged his early interest in art) was spent in Cleveland, where he moved with his family as a small child. While a teenager he studied at Cleveland's now famous Karamu House, a community center with an exceptional art program. After graduation from high school he was able through several scholarships to earn a bachelor of science degree. A romantic realist, he has been described as "an artist whose dignified, isolated men and women have a surrealistic touch expressing mans lonely and confused condition in a complex technological age" (Carroll Greene, Jr., "Afro-American Artists: Yesterday and Now," in The Humble Way, Humble Oil & Refining Co. Bulletin, vol. 7, no. 3 [Houston, 1968], pp. 10-15). Through his paintings, Lee-Smith gave the viewer an opportunity to see commonplace experiences in a new way; for, when applied to even the simplest of these experiences, his poetic technique intensifies ones understanding of the dimensions of human existence. His painted environments demonstrate a keen feeling for space. Sensitive but unemotional, his handling of his subjects conveys their desolation and alienation and, while prompting neither excitement nor sympathy, tends to lead the viewer to greater empathy and understanding. In Slum Song [Illus. 104], for example, by setting a mood, evoking an image, and causing an idea to form, Lee-Smith made a statement about much that is happening in contemporary life — loneliness in the midst of many and poverty in the midst of prosperity — and seemed to suggest music as a weapon against the attendant fears.

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Hughie Lee-Smith,

Slum Song, 1962. Oil on canvas, 27'A" x 30". Collection of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co.

ELDZIER CORTOR (b. 1916), an easel painter with the WPA in 1937, was born in Richmond, Virginia, but spent most of his early years in Chicago. His associations with African American artists and writers in the Chicago area, his experiences as a young teacher at the South Side Community Art Center, and his years as a student in one of the most complex cities in the United States all influenced the development of Cortors eclectic artistic style. Cortor began to take serious interest in art while he was a high school student in Chicago, his concern with political and historical events prompting him to draw cartoons of these subjects. Following his graduation from high school he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, where his studies introduced him to non-Western art and inspired his many visits to the city's Field Museum to sketch sculptures in its African collection. It was also at the Art Institute that Cortor began to paint, and his first paintings earned him a Rosenwald Fellowship that enabled him to work and study in the Sea Islands, which lie in the Atlantic off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida. On his return to Chicago, Cortor experienced yet another influence on his art; he saw a group of French paintings - including works by Corot, David, and Delacroix - that were on exhibit at the Art Institute and immediately thought he recognized a weakness in his own technique and composition. In analyzing these paintings by the "French Masters" he had seen an "epic" style not present in his own work.

105 Eldzier Cortor, Room No. V, 1948. Oil on board, 37" x 27". Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rosenwald. (Photograph by Jeanne Siegel, New York City.)

Realizing his need for further study, he went to New York* where he found personal satisfaction and greater professional advantages. In some of his early works Cortor uses settings that provide a semisurrealistic flavor, for he often combines the elegance of his figures with a kind of "deprived environment." The use of such a combination in his Room series, Cortor has said, is meant to express the overcrowded conditions of those who are obliged to carry out their daily activities in the confines of the same four walls and in the utmost poverty. Room No. V [Illus. 105], a part of this series, shows a room whose peeling walls bear a "collage of pages from magazines and newspapers and provide a backdrop for a once elegant chest. A cat and the elongated figure of a woman share a quality unaffected by their sordid surroundings, and hairpins, a chipped cup, and a burning cigarette are so carefully placed that they appear to be ceremonial objects. The reflection of the "feline woman" in the mirror is both disquieting and surreal.

106 Eldzier Cortor, Classical Study # 3 4 , 1971. Oil on canvas, 22" x 26". Courtesy of the artist.

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A later example of Cortors style is Classical Study # 3 4 [Illus. 106], in which a meditating head shows the same detachment as the woman in Room No. V. The artist has omitted the surrealistic symbolism and has concentrated instead on the mood of his subject. Through his sensitive handling of form and emotional qualities, Cortor has made this study a tribute to the African American woman.

JACOB LAWRENCE (1917-2000), one of the Harlemites who benefited from WPA aid in the 1930s, was one of America's best-known contemporary artists. As a young man Lawrence worked at a number of community workshops, eventually becoming associated with one called Utopia House, where he studied with Charles Alston and began to record in his unique fashion the Harlem he knew. In the late 1930s, visits to the studio of sculptor Augusta Savage enabled Lawrence to meet Alain Locke, Aaron Douglas, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, and many of the other artists and writers who were involved in the Harlem Renaissance. Lawrence gave much of the credit for his successful career to Augusta Savage, for he felt her determination helped him obtain his first WPA assignment. Even before he was twenty-one, Lawrence had made a name for himself as an artist. In 1939, on the eve of his twenty-first birthday, his series of panels of the Haitian general, Toussaint L'Ouverture, was shown in an exhibit of African American artists co-sponsored by the Harmon Foundation and the Baltimore Museum of Art. The sixty n-by-19-inch tempera paintings that make up the series proved to be the main attraction of the exhibit. These celebrated biographical compositions were soon followed by Lawrence's narrative series about the abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, and by his impressive series Migration of the Negro, about which he commented: I started working on the series in 1939 and completed it in 1941. Perhaps you would like to know how I came to do the series. In the Harlem community, as in many communities throughout the country, there was a great interest in Negro history. I guess this was during the Marcus Garvey period. We had teachers in the community and afterschool Negro history clubs. I used to go to them. We had Negro history sessions at the Y M C A and I became fascinated with Negro history. I guess it was part of my search for an image. One of the first series that I did was the Toussaint L'Ouverture. . . . The Migration series grew out of that. I would like to think that I was representing a certain history of the Negro in America as seen through the migration. The series especially pertains to the Negro migration from the South to the North preceding World War I and continuing thereafter. The great influx of people that came, the tribulations of the people, the reasons they left the South in such large numbers may be regarded as world history. People are always trying to better their social condition and the Negro is no exception. The Negro in America is always trying to better his condition and the conditions of his children. However, the series shows that the conditions that they met in the North were similar to those that they had known in the South. [Personal communication with the author.]

Poverty and prejudice encouraged African Americans to flee from the "semi-feudal cotton economy" of the South to the industrial cities of the North. When the first wave of migrants arrived between 1916 and 1919 there were jobs available for them because of the labor shortage due to the rise of industrialism and U.S. involvement in the war. When news of the success of the early migrants reached the South, others followed. The second wave came between 1921 and 1923, after the immigration laws had curtailed the European labor supply. In these periods the African American population of the major Northern cities increased 100 percent [Illus. JO/]. Not long after the war, however, African Americans began to realize that in the North as well as in the South they were not welcome in peacetime as neighbors and co-workers. Illustration 108, another panel in the Lawrence Migration series, takes its theme from the resultant racial strife.

107 Jacob Lawrence, The Migration of the Negro, Panel 1: "During the World War there was a great migration North by Southern Negroes," 1940—41. Tempera on masonite, 12" x 18". The Phillips Collection, Washington, D . C .

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A painter of remarkable personal vitality, Lawrence had a strong command of pictorial organization and used primary colors with extreme simplicity. His approach to painting thus resembled a printmaking method. For example, in creating panels for a series, he penciled in each scene and then applied each color in turn wherever it was called for throughout the series. This meant that all panels were in progress simultaneously and all were completed at roughly the same time. Lawrence developed this approach to painting as a youngster, when his mother's oriental rugs so fascinated him that he duplicated their geometric patterns in drawings, using this color-by-color method.

108 Jacob Lawrence, The Migration of the Negro, Panel 50: "Race riots were very numerous all over the North 1940-41. Tempera on composition board, 18" x 12". Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York (gift of Mrs. David M. Levy).

Lawrence represented with distinction the first generation of recognized artists nurtured by the African American experience: his community and his early teachers were African American, and his first encouragement came from them. He was a social artist of great ability who spoke loudly and clearly through his works. As important as the fact that Lawrence was probably the best-known, most published, and most influential African American artist is the fact that he was a humble man of great personal stature.

CHARLES WHITE (1918-1979) emerged in the late 1930s as an interpreter of life by depicting idealized African American heroes and the struggling masses. As quoted by Louie Robinson in an article for Ebony magazine (July 1967), James Porter has said that White has found a way of embodying in his art the very texture of Negro experience as found in life in America. Charles is an artist steeped in life; and his informal artistic vision conduces to an understanding of vivid pictorial symbols which, though large as life itself, are altogether free of false or distorted ideas or shallow and dubious emotion. [P 28] One of Whites early works, Five Great American Negroes, a mural completed in 1940 for the Chicago Public Library, is a tense, emotional expression of persecution and struggle. Another early composition by White, Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy [Illus. iog], is a tempera mural completed for Hampton University.

109 Charles White study, The Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy, 1943. Tempera, i 2 " x 18". Collection of the Hampton University Museum.

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n o Charles White, Frederick 1950. Lithograph, 2Ó"x2o".

Douglass,

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Charles White, In Memorium, 1965. Ink and collage, 52" x 40". Collection of Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles.

This strong pictorial expression focuses on the heroic contributions of such major African American historical figures as Crispus Attucks, Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Booker T. Washington, and George Washington Carver. There is a graphic quality in the handling of shapes, and Whites powerful forms move in and out in a dynamic geometric progression. Over the years, Whites figures have become less geometric and have taken on a more realistic posture. He has also shifted from groups to individual subjects and from murals to drawings and prints. A comparison of his portrayal of Frederick Douglass [Illus. 110] and the rounded forms of In Memoriam [Illus. 111] shows the changes that have taken place in Whites portrayal of the human form.

ELIZABETH CATLETT (b. 1915), a sculptor and printmaker, has a strong academic background and an imaginative command of the principles and techniques of Western aesthetics. She is dedicated to visual communication and to the promotion of ideas through art, especially those related to the struggle of human beings to improve their economic, political, and aesthetic lives. Catletts early involvement in the Civil Rights movement, both as a student and as a teacher, contributed to her philosophy of art and life, which she describes in the following statement:

Art must be realistic for me, whether sculpture or printmaking. I have always wanted my art to service my people - to reflect us, to relate to us, to stimulate us, to make us aware of our potential. . . . Learning how to do this and passing that learning on to other people have been my goals. I have learned from many people: from the restlessness and inquisitiveness of the young, from my mother, from other people who have struggled to better themselves - from childhood right on up to now. It has taken a long time to find out that technique was the main thing to learn from art schools. It's so important - technique - how to do things well. It's the difference between offering our beautiful people art and offering them ineptitude. They deserve the very best and we have to equip ourselves to give them our very best. You can't make a statement if you don't speak the language. The search for learning took me to Mexico, to the Taller de Grdfica Popular, where we worked collectively, where we had strong artists and weak artists, and each one learned from the other. Everybody offered something - and when you saw the product, even if you were weak, you saw a collective product that you had helped form. It makes a difference in your desire to work and your understanding of what you're doing. And at the same time we did individual work. I would say it was a great social experience, because I learned how you use your art for the service of people, struggling people, to whom only realism is meaningful. I try to keep away from galleries; they flatter you, seduce you, they buy and sell you. While the Popular Graphics Workshop lasted, it was really worthwhile. Among other things, I learned that my sculpture and my prints had to be based on people's needs. The needs of whomever I'm creating for determine what I do. Some artists say they express themselves; they just reflect their environment. We all live in a given moment in history, and what we do reflects what level we are on in that moment. Whether you are in the white man's game, which is competition, and fighting to get to what's called the

top; or whether you're really with the people trying to get everybody to the top or at least see that everybody has a chance to keep on living; or whether you're in limbo, creating art for art's sake - you have to consciously determine where your level is. I decided a long time ago that mine is with the only people in the United States that call each other "brother" and "sister," and with the Mexicans who are trying to get food and freedom for everybody - so that the way one is going to live or lose his life is not predetermined by somebody's greed. What comes out in my sculpture or prints can only reflect this level. It's not possible for me to work within what's called the Universal, or Modern Art, movement. I can't do what white people with money want at the same time I'm doing what my people need. Trying to bring these two extremes together only creates chaos. ...if we can just get away from what's supposed to be the way of doing things, of doing the same fads in art and taking it to the galleries and charging higher and higher prices and creating less and less. And trying to be different, superficially, and ignoring our people, saying, "We are artists, first, and then African Americans." I think we have to find a way, collectively - not working alone. I think we have to find it with our people, and according to their needs. That's the art that's going to be part of us, coming out of our lives. That's the art that's going to carry over to other people throughout the world. It might not win prizes and it might not get into museums, but we ought to stop thinking that way, just like we stopped thinking that we had to have straight hair. We ought to stop thinking we have to do the art of other people. We have to create an art for liberation and for life. [Personal communication with the author:] Among the many distinguished sculptures by Elizabeth Catlett is Pensive [Illus. 112], a provocative symbol of African American womanhood and her struggle to maintain family and community. Her lithograph Negro es Bello [Illus. 113] is a strong yet tender rendition of the profile of an African American child. Through the qualities of the lithographic stone, and through Catlett's deep understanding of her subject and her materials, the myriad shapes of the work combine to form a clear, precise statement of the qualities of childhood. Another work by Catlett is the prizewinning linocut Malcolm Speaks for Us [Illus. 114], which is part of her series on African American heroes. A combination of four blocks, three of which are repeated several times, this color linoleum print demonstrates Catlett's technical ability in the placement and registration of images; its color and value changes were achieved through separate inkings and printings.

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i i 3 Elizabeth Catlett, Negro es hello (Black is Beautiful), 1968. Lithograph, 8" x 11". Collection of Sameila Lewis.

114 Elizabeth Catlett, Malcolm Speaks for Us, 1969. Linocut, 37" x 27K2". Collection of Samella Lewis.

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115 J°hn Wilson, Roz, 1972. Pastel and charcoal, 24" x 19". Courtesy of the artist.

116 John Wilson, Trabajadores, 1973. Oil, 46" x 34". Courtesy of the artist.

JOHN WILSON (b. 1922) is an artist whose works are representative of social consciousness in art. Although he has long been associated with individuals who were at one time employed by the WPA, Wilson himself was too young to participate in the Federal Arts Project. The support that allowed him to become a working artist came from scholarships and fellowships given by educational institutions and foundations. Even though his development as an artist did not coincide with the Harlem Renaissance or the WPA period, Wilson nevertheless represents both of them in his philosophy and style. His works affirm racial pride and, at the same time, respond meaningfully to social and political problems. The racism in the Boston area in which Wilson grew up intensified his feeling for justice and equality; and the late Carl Zerbe, his teacher and advisor at the Boston Museum School, encouraged his resultant interest in social art. Studying the works of artists Daumier, Rouault, Shahn, Grosz, Rivera, and-Orozco, and of writers who were also concerned with social and economic injustices, further inspired Wilson to make his art an expression of his reactions to oppression. Accordingly, he has shown particular admiration for the Mexican muralists. Incident, one of his first fresco murals, was painted in the suburbs of Mexico City in 1952 as a part of a student project. On the instructions of David Alfaro Siqueiros, it was later ordered preserved for permanent display. Roz [Illus. 115], a pastel and charcoal drawing of a deeply pensive figure, shows the classical aspect of Wilsons style. He uses light and shadow to create the solid oval shape of a head that, emanating from a tubular neck, recalls the ancient Ife terra cottas of Nigeria. Trabajadores [lllus. 116], a colorful Wilson composition, uses simple geometric shapes as a background for three construction workers. Dramatic verticals and horizontals create a rigid structural pattern that is effectively complemented by the use of primary colors, which also serve to heighten the dark massive quality of the figures.

JOHN BIGGERS (1924-2001) was another artist whose career was dominated by mural painting. While a student at Hampton University in the 1940s, Biggers watched Charles White paint his mural, Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy (see page 132) and soon began to paint his own murals, under the guidance of Viktor Lowenfeld, then chairman of the art department at Hampton and an important figure in art education throughout the 1940s and '50s. One unique work by Biggers was painted in 1944 for the United States Naval Training School at Hampton. Most of his early murals were painted directly on the walls of buildings that have since been destroyed.

A later mural for the Houston Music Hall, The Rites of Passage, reflects Biggers' overwhelming fascination with the realistic symbolism of Africa. It is expressive of life, birth and baptism, marriage and maturity, death and afterlife. This mural, and others that follow, is filled with subtle and bold symbols of Africa and its spiritual mysteries. An example of Biggers' work on a smaller scale is provided by Washer Woman [Illus. 117], a drawing completed in 1945. The woman in this composition seems rooted to the ground by her huge immobile feet, above which her body must bend and sway in the rhythm of her task. She attends a washboard and a steaming pot, the tools of her trade, and for many years, symbols of the life of many African American women.

117 John Biggers, WasherWoman, Pencil drawing, 24" x 18". Collection of Samella Lewis.

1945.

Later works by Biggers show a concentration on subtle value changes and, thematically, an informed interest in the African American heritage. Ghanaian Washerwomen [Illus. 118] and The Time of Ede, Nigeria [Illus. 119] are among the works Biggers created as a result of his study trips to Africa. John Biggers believed that as an African American artist he was in search of a rich heritage which could be expressed through individual attitudes and experiences. He was convinced that the important everyday universal symbols that are common in domestic life were meaningful symbols that characterized his work. The universal symbols that characterize my work are items such as the old black three-legged iron wash-pot, the wash-board, the anvil, the well, the fireplace and chimney, the straight chair with the cane bottom, and the bedstead. These are magnificent objects and they are known universally by individuals who have lived close to the earth. These are the main symbols that I put in my work that I hope will convey universal meaning.

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John Biggers, Ghanaian Washerwomen, Circa i960, Mixed media.

i i 9 John Biggers, The Time ofEde, Nigeria, 1964. Conti crayon, 6' X 4 ' . Collection of Mrs. Q. Kimbrough, San Diego.

T h e WPA period saw a resurgence of participation by African American artists in the mainstream of American life. Although their formal training was usually in teaching or community service, many artists were able to function successfully as weavers, graphic artists, photographers, or architects. Unlike the "modernists" of the time, most of the more representational artists did not claim to work for themselves but devoted their art to social and humane needs. Feeling a growing need to influence and affect the thoughts and behavior of other African Americans, these artists created for them rather than for white critics. They used their art forms to describe significant individual and collective experiences - experiences that would later contribute to the reemergence of ethnic consciousness in the 1960s.

Political and Cultural Awareness

I960-I990 I he Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s offered African American artists the patronage of foundations controlled by interested whites. T h e Depression of the 1930s continued a measure of support to artists through the establishment of federal programs, which were also controlled by whites. Following World War II there developed an intense struggle by African Americans for equal rights in all aspects of American life. In the course of this struggle for equal economic, political, and social opportunity, African American artists embraced the concept of selfdetermination through self-expression, which involved the demand that they formulate their own aesthetic principles. As this demand became a dominant theme of the 1960s, artists, writers, musicians, and dancers joined together, as they had during the Harlem Renaissance, to formulate new ideological directions. Barriers caused by differences in age, economic standing, and sociopolitical conviction gave way to a new group feeling. With this new unity and dedication, the role of African American art was transformed: from fulfilling the needs of the traditional African community to fulfilling the needs of the contemporary African American community. In the midst of the aggressive social activity of the past three decades, many young individuals have been attracted to art as a profession that offers them experiences capable of counterbalancing the chaos and uncertainty of African American life in the United States. T h e combination of a new outspoken expressiveness and a new knowledge of historical deeds has produced a climate in which the African American artist can work with a new sense of dignity and pride.

Contemporary African American artists do not hesitate to use diverse ideas and techniques in the production of art forms that speak to their people. Their techniques are derived from a variety of civilizations and are expressed in Social Realism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Conceptual Art, or any of the other popular styles. Subject matter and philosophical orientations are also diverse, though for many African American artists, Africa serves as the principal source of creative inspiration. The result of this new consciousness is an art in the process of realization, a process in which the single most important aesthetic principle to emerge is that differences are valid.

PAINTING ADEMOLA OLUGEBEFOLA (b. 1941) reflects the spirit of those artists who hold strong visual and spiritual ties to Africa. Born in St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands, he migrated to New York City with his family when he was four years old. Olugebefola's dynamic sense of movement in form and color has been enriched by his professional experience in music and drama. A double-bass player, he developed a desire to create visual sounds, and while working in New York City as director of the Jazz Art Development, executed paintings for the Blues for Nat Turner Jazz Suite. This experiment in the fusing of poetry, music, and art recalled the ceremonial traditions of African celebrations in which the visual, auditory, and literary arts are integrated. Olugebefola believes that he is not creating art as an individual but rather reflecting organic parts of an evolution. His primary aim is to reach beyond pictorial surfaces by spiritually expressing space, shape, and color. He views his art as visual equations created to awaken individuals to a higher potential and to bring out the Africanisms in them. In 1964 Olugebefola responded to the call for unity and positive direction in the arts of ethnic minorities by joining a group called the Twentieth-Century Creators. This group brought him into full participation in the development of its philosophy: African American Art - for African American People. Expressing contemporary manifestations of traditional lore and art forms, Olugebefola believes that the role of the African American visual artist is to provide the proper guideposts for African American people. He notes that the struggle is not so much a war of guns but a war of minds. His concept of racial power is reflected in images such as Shango [Illus. 120], in which the god of thunder and lightning expresses the "regality of our blood." Olugebefola's rendition of Shango is a mystical construction in which the color blue is used

120

Ademola Olugebefola, Shango. Construction with shells.

spiritually as an expanse of space. A double-headed ax bears leaves that are nourished and strengthened by a line of shells suggesting a continuous inner flow of life from roots that are firmly planted. This combination of forms expresses both stability and energy, while visually depicting the sensitivity and productivity of the Yoruba, god of lightning, thunder and justice.

HERMAN ("KOFI") BAILEY ( 1 9 3 1 - 1 9 8 1 ) also exemplifies the new di-

Herman ("Kofi") Bailey, Hausa Boy. Charcoal and wash, 30" x 20".

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mensions of African American art. With Pan-Africanism as his philosophy, he gained inspiration and motivation from a direct involvement in the social and political life of the international African community. His associations with W. E. B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, and Martin Luther King, Jr., placed him at the heart of some of the century's most potent social and political movements. His participation in public matters did not keep Bailey from becoming a highly productive and expressive artist, however. The numerous works he created employ both geometric and figurative elements and, while including aspects of character common to all mankind, usually speak directly to Pan-African people. Like numerous other African Americans, Bailey established a cultural base in Africa; and his works were nurtured by the powers and sensitivities he absorbed from "his mother continent," especially from Ghana. Baileys strong figurative style speaks of birth, life experience, and death. Combining both geometric and figural elements, he often used massive shapes to surround the sensitively rendered figures that serve as focal points in most of his compositions. The geometric elements are usually utilized as background forms that subtly emerge from space. Baileys Hausa Boy [Illus. 121] is a tender rendition of a child who, in a meditative stance, is peering into the distance. The figure is not static but seems to be intently concentrating on something that will affect his immediate course of action. The lone figure needs little background to define his situation, and what is required the artist leaves to the creativity of the viewer. The subtle, economical handling of light and shade expresses a completeness of form and benefits from the artists strong foundation in draftsmanship and his understanding of human sensibilities and emotions. An effective charcoal-and-wash drawing, Hausa Boy is a finished composition, not a sketch for a more detailed work. The majority of his compositions are done in charcoal or conté crayon (made of graphite and clay), but Bailey also worked in oil, acrylic, and several other media. Indeed, his technique relied heavily on a combination of substances; he sometimes used three or four in a single composition. And because Bailey employed primarily earth tones, color is always a secondary factor in his work; the graphic qualities of his compositions supply the visual impact. Birth [Illus. 122], through its effective combination of symbolism and realism, shows another characteristic of Bailey's style. The background and foreground are interrupted geometrically, sometimes subtly with wash and at other times dramatically with lines. This treatment effectively combines both subjective and objective use of form. The circle in the background and the corresponding implied circle in

the foreground create a figure eight that relates the two areas. A dramatic composition that demonstrates Baileys compassion, the work is a rare example of strength and sensitivity. Unity [Illus. 123], a mixed-media painting by Bailey, has notable political and social implications. A single figure is juxtaposed against subtle forms emerging from the swirling lines of the background. T h e heroic presence reaching for the star and crescent, symbols of unity, creates a strong visual movement toward these goals. T h e "all-seeing eye," the eye of African American unity, overlooks all.

122 Herman ("Kofi") Bailey, Birth. Mixed media, 40" x 30".

123 Herman ("Kofi") Bailey, Unity, 1961. Mixed media, 40" x 30". Collection of Samella Lewis.

RAYMOND SAUNDERS (b. 1934) is an artist whose works reflect a vigorous marriage of figurative, geometric, and calligraphic styles. Margery Aronson, formerly associated with the Museum of Modern Art, has said of Saunders and his works:

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I like Saunders because nothing about him is artificial. I like his art because it is a personal and exuberant visual diary which takes me beyond the confines of my experience and opens my eyes to the work, labor and effort required for the creative process. These are living works - real - not static. The works and their creator make me aware and glad to be alive. ["Artists' Biographical and Publicity Information." Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York, October 1972.] In his African Series, Saunders uses colored pencils and a highly fluid sense of line to delineate aspects of life viewed during the several months he spent in Africa in 1970. In one sketch his lively approach to design results in geometric African "fabric patterns," which, repeating the movements of figures in the lower portion of the composition, form the headdress for a massive h u m a n head [Illus. 124]. U p o n careful examination it is apparent that the large h u m a n presence is also a combination of two profiles; the realistic figures of an African mother and child appear in the center of the work in front of a billboardlike environment. W h i l e smaller in scale, the figure of the woman repeats the overlapping triangular forms evident throughout the composition.

124

Raymond Saunders,

Page from an African Notebook,

1970.

Colored pencil, 8V2" x 6lA". Courtesy of the artist.

Saunders' enthusiastic style is equally evident in his handling of portraiture. His Jack Johnson [Illus. 125] combines painting, drawing, and collage techniques to present an image of the Black champion, with such items as tickets and adhesive tape documenting his role in the world of prizefighting.

125 Raymond Saunders, Jack Johnson, 1971. Oil on canvas, 8 1 W x 6^/2". Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (purchased through the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy Women's Committee, and an Anonymous Donor, 1974).

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L U C I L L E M A L K I A ROBERTS (b. 1 9 2 7 ) h a s t r a v e l e d e x t e n s i v e l y in A f -

rica, Canada, Europe, Mexico, and the Far East, but it is clear that Africa has had the strongest impact on her work. Though her painting style is indebted to several sources, she generally finds her subject matter in African culture. Her travels in Africa have also affected her palette: "Now I find myself painting in the rich luminous colors of the landscape of the people." Roberts also manages to capture the spirit of

126

Lucille Malkia Roberts,

Natural Woman, 1972. Acrylic, 50" x 36". Courtesy of the artist.

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the African people and their environment. In Natural Woman [Illus. 126] Roberts combines an awareness of negative space - a traditional Far Eastern concern - with an expressive use of color; she also dynamically blends the spirits of African, Asian, and African American imagery.

DAVID DRISKELL (b. 1931) is an articulate spokesman for African American art. In 1969 and 1970 Driskell served as a visiting professor at the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ife, lie Ife, Nigeria. His experiences there differed from those of most other American artists visiting Africa in that his academic position provided unusual opportunities to exchange ideas and positions with some of Africa's best-known artists. Driskells works show the influence of his African experience, and such titles as Nok Honoring Walter (1972) and Shango Gone [Illus. 127] are obvious remembrances of Nigeria. With geometric principles underlying the basic structure of Shango Gone, its pictorial space is organized through conformity to rectilinear patterns. The frontal approach of the figure suggests Driskells interest in African sculpture. A simplified statement, Shango Gone exhibits a lighter palette than do most of Driskells other works. Somber in tone, the architectonic quality of this painting is expressed primarily through line and shape rather than through color.

127 David Driskell, Shango Gone, 1972. Egg tempera, 24" x 18". Courtesy of the artist.

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In Gabriel [Illus. 128], an earlier work, Driskell adhered to a similar geometric plan. Its semiabstract forms are enriched with expressionistic effects that resemble modern graffiti. Gabriel is related to Shango Gone in structure, spirit, and design; and its suggestion of a double-headed ax, a tool and symbol clearly depicted in Shango Gone, gives the two compositions a thematic resemblance as well. Driskell has described his art in the following manner: Art is the fulfillment of my human desire to be at peace with myself, my fellow man and my environment. If the world of experience does not provide the model for this fulfillment, then my art seldom imitates literal life, but it does imitate the ways of life. [Quoted in "David C. Driskell: Watercolors and Prints." Catalog of an exhibition, 6-17 March 1972, at Scarrit College for Christian Workers, Nashville. Tenn.]

FLOYD COLEMAN (b. 1937). The works of art created by Floyd Coleman prior to 1970 are devoid of representational elements. His early painting Yellow Square [Illus. 129] achieves its complex relationships through a combination of lively color and calligraphic markings. In more recent works, Coleman's style has become less painterly and increasingly more graphic. The exuberance of his early work is replaced by an evocative lyrical expression in which each shape is carefully and simply defined. His style incorporates patterns created by the interaction of advancing and receding planes. Using color only as an undertone, Coleman emphasizes cross-hatched lines and highly textured surfaces as principal structural elements in his compositions. Coleman's visit to Africa in 1971 resulted in extensive changes in both the subject matter and style of his work. Africa Series [Illus. 130J is a composition which effectively illustrates these changes. Clearly defined outlined shapes are assembled in quilt-like fashion to replace the gestural, expressionistic markings that typify the artists former style. Less colorful than his earlier works, this and Coleman's other recent compositions balance their loss of intense color with an increase in textural complexity.

130

129 Floyd Coleman, Yellow Square, 1967. Mixed acrylics, 48" x 36". Courtesy of the artist.

Floyd Coleman, Africa Series, 1971, Mixed media, 16" x 20".

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PAUL K E E N E (b. 1920) is the product of a strong traditional education; he attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art, the Tyler School of Arts, the Académie Julien, and Temple University. A master colorist with a fine sense of design, Keene has for many years concentrated on themes of African American life. Some of his works are The Cabinet of Doctor Buzzard (1968), Death Calls on the Root Man (1969) - both from Root Man Series # 2 , which features subject matter related to voodoo - and Garden ofShango [Illus. 131], inspired by the ancient Yoruba deity. In Garden ofShango one experiences a variation on geometric shapes in which design plays an essential role. The dynamism inherent in traditional African sculpture is felt in the pulsating motion created by the arrangements of shape and color. The life-giving force generated by the circular symbol penetrates every area of the composition, thereby creating a strong sense of energy. Keenes use of color and shape in this work produces a dynamic, spiritual environment suitable for Shango, the god of thunder.

131

Paul Keene, Garden ofShango, 1969, Oil, 40" x 60".

ARTHUR CARRAWAY (1927-94). W h i l e many African A m e r i c a n artists have been attracted to West Africa, the region of m a n y of their ancestors, Arthur Carraway, an experienced merchant seaman, spent considerable time in several regions of the continent. H e maintained that his travels in Africa had great impact on his art: I was in Africa for two years under the auspices of the United Nations. Though I traveled through the west, north, and south of Africa, I spent one year in east Africa - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Mombasa, Kenya. It was there that I became acquainted with Makonde sculpture by touring the museums and art shops. The work was most impressive. Through exposure to Makonde sculpture, different forms and ideas began to take shape in my mind. These ideas were to lead me to a new and positive approach to painting closely related to my own cultural direction and development. This direction is not yet clearly defined. [Personal communication with the author.] In his Fetish Form Series II [Illus. 132] Carraway presents a figure from which vibrations appear to flow. T h e monochromatic ground and shifting effects of light and shadow give an impression of changing space and continuous motion.

132 Arthur Carraway, Fetish Form Series II, 1968. Oil, 49 '/2" x 30". Collection of The Oakland Museum (gift of the Art Guild, Oakland Museum Association).

MIKELLE FLETCHER (b. 1945) derives her visual expressions from both Africa and the Americas. The symbols in her Guardian [Illus. 133J, for example, suggest that the cooperation of these two areas is necessary for the protection of the race. The most important symbol protecting the painting's Madonna and child is the aunkh, an African emblem of life and prosperity. Also among the guardians are a jackal, the African American liberation flag, and a small outline of the African continent. Encircled by these protectors, the figures of the mother and child are depicted in a style that seems to combine fantasy and reality. The interplay of these clearly defined shapes suggests movement, and the rhythmic quality is increased through the use of irregular shapes in contrasting colors, which extract a maximum decorative effect from each object or space. 133

Mikelle Fletcher, Guardian, 1971. Acrylic, 48" x 36". Courtesy of the artist.

Viewing the work of Mikelle Fletcher provides a powerful emotional experience. Because they reflect concepts and attitudes relevant to several cultures, her paintings can be regarded as visual expressions o f p a n . Africanism. This is in keeping with Fletchers belief that art must be functional: One picture is worth one thousand wordsl! That's an old cliché. Our role as African American artists is to provide that direction needed by our people through art, through "pictures." We cannot afford to relegate ourselves to art for art's sake. Throughout our history, from Egypt, the great empires of Benin, Ife, and Nok, to traditional African art, our art has been functional and created by our people for a purpose: for ceremonies, for celebration of birth, to mourn death. ... In our struggle for liberation, African American artists play a very crucial role. Because of our ability to express, in a picture, a thousand words, those words should be in some way functional, words relevant to educating our people to the need for liberation. Our art can begin to educate, to teach the three R's, but the three R's that are relevant to us now: Redefine, Reeducate, Redirect. [Personal communication with the author.]

VARNETTE HONEYWOOD (b. 1950) is a Los Angeles artist whose experiences in the South, as a student at Spelman College in Atlanta, reinforced her feeling for life and inspired her portrayals of African Americans. An impressive genre painter whose works are reminiscent of the early Archibald Motley portrayals of life in the 1920s, Honeywood approaches her subjects with empathy that stems from

134 Varnette Honeywood, Gossip in the Sanctuary, 1974. Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 30".

deep-seated spiritual convictions and also manages to capture both the serious and humorous aspects of a situation. In Gossip in the Sanctuary [Illus. 134] she finds far-reaching social implications in the concept of gossip: Gossip in the Sanctuary is one in a series of paintings in which I try to illustrate the strong, reassuring, and free expressions of proud African American people. The expressions of self-esteem, power, and self-determination were instilled in many of our leaders through the Church. Many experienced their first feelings of dignity and worth which fostered desires to keep the "faith torch" lighted as they led the way to the outside world so full of prevailing forces. In church, they felt free to dream, to hope, and to show all the human instincts ... even to gossip. [Personal communication with the author.]

PHOEBE BEASLEY (b. 1943) is distinguished for her oil and tissue-paper

collages. She incorporates paint, tissue paper, cloth, and a variety of found objects to create compositions that express experiences in the lives of her special people, people of ordinary means whose daily activities often go unnoticed. Beasley wrote about her special interest:

Most of my themes are what I know, based on my point of reference, just like any other artist. And certainly they are from my culture. But, there is a universality in my work of what it's like living alone, being poor and getting old. Important Papers [Illus. 135] is a composition in which Beasley demonstrates her astute handling of figure-field relationships. In this work, her organizational structure is based on basic geometric planes with decorative components that accent and strengthen the whole. In her recent experimentation, Phoebe Beasley began creating what she calls "relief collages." These works involve an increased number of found objects and give added dimension to the compositions. An excellent example of the use of this technique is seen in Zorcz and Langston [Illus. 136]. Another direction that Beasley is currently experimenting with is the use of clear acrylic as the foundation for the application of different materials which may be applied to both the front and back of the composition. With the aid of backlighting, a luminous stained glass quality is achieved. 105 Count Down # 1 [Illus. ljy] is a fine example of this technique.

135 Phoebe Beasley, important Papers, 1985, Mixed media collage, 30" x 28".

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136 Phoebe Beasley, Zora and Langston, 1988, Mixed media collage, 36" x 36".

137 Phoebe Beasley, 105 Count Down # 1 , 1989, Mixed media collage on clear acrylic, 30" x 40".

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BENNY ANDREWS (b. 1930) produces art that is uniquely his own, for it evolves from his deep concern for the people he considers frequent victims of society. His primary commitment is to the reshaping of society through the creation of art that will call attention to social evils and raise issues the viewer will, it is hoped, be encouraged to resolve. Andrews has a representational style that avoids the modeling of form. He relies instead on drawing, creating bulk by suggestion through the proper combinations of lines and voids. An example of this technique is provided by Put Up [Illus. 138], in which the artists economy of line forces the vievyer to concentrate on the subject's battered visage. Through his gestures, the scarred fighter seems to cry out for sympathy. Andrews also demonstrates his sensitive handling of line in Untitled [Illus. 139], in which the engaging posture of a female serves to represent a collective reflection of African American womanhood. In its use of the oil technique, Black [Illus. 140] represents still

140

Benny Andrews, Black,

1971. Oil, 34" x 24". Courtesy of the artist.

REGINALD GAMMON (b. 1921), possessor of an intense interest in the African American past, often chooses as artistic subjects individuals who have figured dramatically in the making of African American history. One dynamic commentary by Gammon deals with the much publicized Scottsboro case, in which a group of African American men were charged with rape. His gothic Scottsboro Mothers [Illus. 141 ] depicts grief-laden figures in poses that convey strength and aristocratic stamina. Highly formal in style, these geometric figures are echoed in the door and other background shapes. The composition suggests that unity brings strength, even to those who are seemingly helpless. In Freedom Now [Illus. 142] Gammon is also concerned with unity, but his style is different. Freedom Now takes its spirit from the 1960s, in which the oppressed sought to become aggressive seekers of freedom. The expressionistic technique used by the artist suggests the vitality and inspiration of the Civil Rights movement.

141

Reginald Gammon, Scottsboro Mothers, 1970. Acrylic on canvas, 30" x 22". Courtesy of the artist.

142

Reginald G a m m o n , Freedom Now, 1965. Acrylic on board, 40" x 30". Courtesy of the artist.

Like Scottsboro Mothers and Freedom Now, The Young Jack Johnson [Illus. 143], one of G a m m o n s hero portraits, has a highly emotional impact. Standing proud, Johnson is portrayed as a robust and challenging figure, velvet skin effectively displaying the muscular forms of his body. Radiant bands of color surrounding the fighter add to the impression that he is a powerful machine capable of standing against all challengers.

143 Reginald G a m m o n , The Young Jack Johnson, 1967. Acrylic on canvas, 32" x 24". Courtesy of the artist.

FAITH RINGGOLD (b. 1934) is an artist interested in capturing "the conceptual visions of images inherent in the sculptures and masks of African art." In her projection of faces and bodies, she struggles to free herself from what she considers the "yoke" of light and shadow. Since 1967 she has been using a unique style she terms "black-light painting," which abandons the traditional approach to lights and darks the value scale - in favor of contrast based on the intensity scale. Along with this color style and in order to liberate her works from the traditional up-and-down visual pattern, Ringgold employs "polyrhythmic space based on ancient African design," which, she hopes,

144

Faith Ringgold, Die, 1967. Oil on canvas, 6' x 12'. Courtesy of the artist.

will stimulate the viewer to look at her work from a multitude of directions and levels. Admitting that "black" painting is not new, Ringgold maintains that she first became aware of it through the works of Abstract Expressionist Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967). She adds, however, that her concept of black light differs from Reinhardts in that she "uses black as a symbol for humanity rather than as an abstraction of color vision or design." In such works as Die [lllus. 144] she expresses the emotional tension of ethnic struggle and violence. Though the composition is subjectively expressed, the shapes comprising it project abstract qualities. Subject-matter areas that are emotionally explosive are held in context through the artists keen sense of design.

145 Faith Ringgold, Aunts Edith and Bessie, 1974. Mixed media, life size. Courtesy of the artist.

Ringgold has long been involved in the struggle for equality for women, and she feels that her most profound artistic contribution has been in "women's art": "My art is for everyone but it is about me (my sisters)." In Aunts Edith and Bessie [///us. 145], from her Family of Women series, Ringgold shapes soft, pliable materials into lifesized human figures. The open mouths of these two subjects are meant to symbolize the need for women to speak out for themselves. Ringgold's interest in women's rights has not lessened her concern about the continuing racial oppression in the United States: "As long as sixty percent [the female sector] of the African American population continues under [its] double oppression, people of color will not be free."

THE FLAG: A SYMBOL OF REPRESSION During the late 1960s, there arose in the United States a reaction on the part of many African American artists against what they viewed as institutional racism. In an effort to focus public attention on this evil, a great number of these artists began to use the national flag as a visual symbol of their disappointment over the country's lack of social justice.

CLIFF JOSEPH (b. 1927), who believes that "the power of art belongs to the people," makes racism, war, and sexism his principal pictorial concerns: My art is a confrontation. Among the many realities of art expression, this remains the most constant purpose of my aesthetic. It is, of course, a social art, based on my "gut" perceptions of our worldly conditions; but it draws upon each viewer to confront himself in consideration of his role in affecting those conditions. As long as these conditions remain, I must continue to move between analysis, militant pride, and revolutionary suggestion in my search and struggle for true humanity. [Personal communication with the author:]

146 Cliff Joseph, My Country Right or Wrong, 1968. Oil on masonite, 32" x 48". Courtesy of the artist. (Photograph by Eric Pollitzer, Garden City, New York.)

Joseph is an artist who is highly conscious of the social and political problems of the modern world. His My Country Right or Wrong [Illus. 146] portrays Americans who, blinded by an inverted flag, stand oblivious to the skeletons of those fallen around them. This eerie, surrealistic comment on the destruction committed in the name of patriotism is meant to arouse feelings of indignation and to have a macabre effect on all who view it.

DAVID BRADFORD (b. 1937), in Yes, LeRoi [Illus. 147], provides a penetrating example of the use of the flag as a symbol of social and political repression. T h e dramatic horizontal stripes of the banner become symbols of environmental conflict when Bradford makes them a backdrop for his compositions humble figure. Josephs My Country Right or Wrong depicts the flag as a source of blindness. Yes, LeRoi associates it with a penal environment.

147

David Bradford,

Yes, Leroi, 1968. Oil, 36" x 30".

BERTRAND PHILLIPS (b. 1938), a Chicago painter and graphic artist, is another whose work projects anger over the broken promises of the flag. In his Stars, Bars and Bones [Illus. 148] jagged, brittle lines heighten the compositions emotional energy and express an intense reaction to death and destruction perpetrated under the guise of patriotism. An extraordinarily dynamic artist, Phillips has explained his work by saying: My objective as an artist is to portray in my work symbols and forms related to the history, experience, and aspirations of working people, African American people, and other suppressed people. It is important that the manner in which these portrayals are done be contemporary, but a favorable reaction from the viewer needn't follow. My art is done for the people. It is not void of figurative subjects or social and political concepts. It is dedicated to the freedom and liberation of humanity. As an artist and a sensitive human being whose historic roots bear witness to America's genocidal atrocities, I will not fall victim to the myth that art should not concern itself with social and political problems facing America and the world. [Personal communication with the author.:]

148 Bertrand Phillips, Stars, Bars and Bones, 1970. Oil on canvas, 4 ' x 4'. Courtesy of the artist.

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MANUEL HUGHES (b. 1938) provides another example of an artist's use of the flag. His painting The Chitlin Eater [Illus. 149] shows a flag bearer - a self-portrait of Hughes - who seems to question the awkward position in which he finds himself. T h e partially unfurled flag appears to be a burden to him, and his eyes stare in frustration and dismay. While motion is suggested, it is left to the imagination of the viewer to determine whether the figure is moving forward or hesitating.

149 Manuel Hughes, The Chitlin Eater, 1970. Oil, 3 ' x 3 Courtesy of the artist.

PHILLIP LINDSAY M A S O N (b. 1 9 3 9 ) h a s a distinctly p e r s o n a l p a i n t i n g

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style based principally on a unique use of color. His content ranges from themes of tender love and fertility to biting social and political

150 Phillip Lindsay Mason, The Deathmakers, 49 V4" x 5o3/4". Courtesy of the artist.

1968. Acrylic on canvas,

commentaries like that of The Deathmakers [Illus. 150], which recalls the assassination of Malcolm X. In this painting Mason points an accusing finger at the Establishment while it, represented by skeletal policemen, points an accusing finger at the fallen Malcolm. Prominent among the bright, primary colors that make up this tense scene is the chrome yellow of the field, a pictorial frame that alternately advances and retreats, depending on the colors that touch it. Figures are realized through abrupt value changes in shape rather than through the use of light and shadow. The dramatic bars of the American flag serve as a bull's-eye backdrop that further intensifies the death scene. Masons Woman as Body Spirit of Cosmic Woman [Illus. 151] is a predominantly cool composition that imparts a mood of serenity and meditation. The central sun disk radiates warmth and provides a contrast to the large, flat, light blue area of the frame and the bright blue of the background. The cosmic body serves as a backdrop for a rose

151 Phillip Lindsay Mason, Woman as Body Spirit of Cosmic Woman. 60" x 37". Courtesy of the artist.

A

floating in space. Contrasting colors and textures and a surrealistic treatment of space all contribute to this tribute to African American womanhood.

DANA CHANDLER (b. 1941) sees his role in art as that of a political reporter and a cultural historian for African American people. His 4(00) More Years [Illus. 152] shows people trapped behind bars formed by the American flag, to him a symbol of repression and "EuroAmerican genocidal practices":

152 Dana Chandler, 4(00) More Years, 1973. Acrylic, 75" x 35". Courtesy of the artist.

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I deeply believe that for our four hundred years of suppression of mind and body we are owed any monies necessary to pursue our chosen profession, without having to worry about our bills or measuring up to white aesthetic values. We should be able to do our thing for our people or for all people if that is our need. African American artists, as you can see, generally produce functional art: art with a message. I guess it's a part of our African heritage. I believe that art should reflect the needs of the community and be an integral part of the day-to-day existence of our people, relating to life in the way our African heritage in art does. [Personal communication with the author.]

153

Dana Chandler,

Household Weapons: Turpentine, Bullets, Salt, Pepper, 1975. Acrylic, 72" x 40". Courtesy of the artist.

Chandler admits that his art is propaganda created to reshape the attitude and values of African Americans toward the development of Pan-Africanism. Because, in his opinion, Africans in America are being killed mentally, physically, and economically, he attempts to create works that suggest methods of defense. In his Revolutionary Still Life series, departing from the conventional approach to still life, Chandler offers imaginative works that "become functional, as they depict the necessary tools for our survival in a land determined to exterminate us" [Illus. 153].

MALAIKA FAVORITE (b. 1949) continues to confront problems that African Americans born generations before her encounted. She is not satisfied with merely coping with adverse experiences as a source of learning and motivation. She believes that being African American and female provides her with a deeper understanding of the suffering that many people undergo in everyday life. This knowledge, Favorite insists, contributes to her strength as a person and to her growth as an artist. During the difficult, lean years of being a fulltime artist, Malaika Favorite, out of necessity, began to use any materials that were available to her. Unable to afford the traditional artist materials, she looked

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elsewhere for other sources. "I learned to do without what I didn't have and to use what was there. This forced me to work with washboards, warped stretchers, old frames, and other objects." The Flag Needs A Washing [Illus. 154] is a work in which Favorite invented new images based on materials available. In addition to expressing strong social and political concerns, this work allowed Favorite to express herself as a painter and as a sculptor. Fragments of canvas were stitched together, manipulated over a washboard and painted - a process which Favorite refers to as "canvas manipulation." In addition to continuing her interest in expanding her knowledge of African American history and culture, Malaika Favorite has a strong interest in using women and their activities as subjects for her art. When asked why she does not paint more men and deal with male themes, her reply is: "After all, enough men have talked about themselves to fill all the libraries in every city. Women need to discuss who they are and where they wish to go in life." 154 Malaika Favorite, The Flag Needs A Washing. Paint on Washboard and Stitched canvas, 24" x 24".

REALITY AND THE DREAM Artists are communicators who, through various media, express thoughts and feelings about their inner world and their perceptions of the outer world. Works of art are thus individualized expressions of the "real" world or the "unreal" world. They not only express the real as in "everydayness" but also the play or fantasy side of human nature, which is so often ignored in todays technological societies.

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BOB THOMPSON (1937-66), who died in Rome at age twenty-nine, was an artist concerned with expressing his inner feelings rather than depicting objective form. Because of the intensity of his involvement, he transformed ordinary experiences into pictorial works of extraordinary vitality. Painting for Thompson was a necessity. From 1961 to 1963 he traveled through Europe studying Western painters of the classical tradition, and later reshaped their themes into a record of his own fantasies and nightmares. Although derived from Goya, Titian, Poussin, and others, his art was very personal. Flat color areas, distortions, and spatial relationships all became personal symbols for his allegorical statements. 6

Thompson was preoccupied with the dualism of good and evil. He saw beasts as ferocious and meek at the same time and demons and lechers as both monstrous and gentle. He saw in mountains and trees the same sensuality that he saw in the bodies of women. To him, birds symbolized power and freedom; and the functions of the devil and the satyr excited him. The devil in his Maidens [Illus. 155] is portrayed in the midst of three maidens who are vibrantly painted in flat tones with no concern for light and shadow. The devil, the female figures, and the trees appear to be engaged in a common dialog. An unusual painter whose short life produced an amazing number of works, Thompson relied heavily on his one intense drive and resourceful imagination to catch glimpses of life's meaning: I had a dream once where the birds sort of went like that and swept up everything, including me, you know, and took me away. The wind was so strong and powerful and yet they were so free and soaring. [Quoted in "Bob Thompson: Important Works in New York Collections." Catalog of an exhibition, 3-30 March 1968, at the Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.]

155 Bob Thompson, Maidens, 1961. Oil on canvas, 26" x 21". Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks, Los Angeles.

EMILIO CRUZ (b. 1938), like Bob Thompson, orchestrates an art of imagination and fantasy, for his style is rich in challenging shapes, colors, and movement. The dazzling interplay of figure and field in Cruz's Composition 6 [lllus. 156] is typical of his artistic style. In this highly decorative, almost startling work, Cruz recalls sculptural human figures of the ancient past and places them in individualized settings. The figures are viewed from many perspectives simultaneously and Cruz combines vibrant colors and complex spatial relationships to produce a surreal yet perceptible world. In 1957, during a visit to Provincetown, Emilio Cruz met Bob Thompson. This meeting took place while Thompson was at the Massachusetts art colony studying painting with Song Moy and John Frank, his teacher from the University of Louisville. Before returning to Kentucky, Thompson invited Cruz to go back to Louisville with him and to share his studio. Cruz accepted the invitation and during this period each artist embarked on a style of painting which combined a distinctive blend of figurative and abstract forms. During much of his career, Emilio Cruz's painting style has fluctuated between abstract and figurative tendencies. In his later work, such as Straited Voodoo [lllus. 157] Cruz returns to combining these two tendencies and achieves results that are unique in design and strong in cultural awareness.

156 Emilio Cruz, Figure Composition 6, 1964. Oil on canvas, 32" x 40". Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Herberts. Falk, Greensboro, N . C . (Photograph by John D. Schiff.)

157 Emilio Cruz, Straited Voodoo, 1987. Pastel on paper, 27V2" x 30". Courtesy, Alitash Kebede Fine Arts.

LESLIE PRICE (b. 1945). Surrealism is perhaps the most important influence on the art of Leslie Price, for it has guided his unique synthesis of abstract form and romantic content. In his dreamlike portrayals, the spiritualization of matter seems a primary goal. Prices uncomplicated illusions are expressed through design concepts that combine geometric shapes with a world of natural growth. His works are symbols of nature in which lyrical, spatial configurations are enclosed in highly technical, hard-edged mathematical shapes. In his highly personal, mandalalike work Purusa [Illus. 158], Price uses nature as a silhouetted textural pattern. T h e paintings controlled forms suggest a spatial ambivalence that is emphasized by the radiating circular area in the center of the work. T h e bold, dramatic lines and torch shapes superimposed over the natural environment create a strange, unreal atmosphere that decisively combines the concepts of abstraction and surrealism.

158 Leslie Price, Purusa, 1971. Oil, 4V2' x 6V2'. Courtesy of the artist.

159 Irene Clark, Rolling Calf. Oil. Courtesy of the artist.

IRENE CLARK (b. 1927) uses traditional Caribbean folklore as subjects. In her Rolling Calf [Illus. 159], she expresses a Jamacian folktale in which a restless spirit reveals itself as an animal which has broken its tether. In this composition, the normal relationships of the size of the images are abandoned. The artist has given the following explanation of her work: Why folklore? As a child I was always fascinated by good stories. Having a vivid imagination, I made up many fantasies of my own. After reading many stories, I had to try to paint the substance of what I had read. [Personal communication with the author:]

AL HOLLINGSWORTH (1928-2000), in addition to painting, involved himself in creating mixed-media works that involve their viewers in a total sensory experience. Such assorted materials as wire hangers, fishbones, clotheslines, teeth, wood, cloth, and glass found their way into his collages. One of these, Memorable Wall [Illus. 160], also involves graffiti, a phenomenon common to Hollingsworth's expression:

176

Imagine walking down the street and suddenly you see a wall or a fence that has writing on it - you wonder who wrote the words, who carved the names. A thousand questions rush through your mind. It is so intriguing that you must see what's on the other side - however, you can't because you may have to leap over the wall or take ten minutes to walk around it.

i 6 o Al Hollingsworth, Memorable Wall, 1 9 6 3 - 6 4 . Oil, acrylic, collage, assemblage, 6' x 4'. Courtesy of the artist.

The painting Memorable Wall solves the problem. It is a painting based on typical neighborhood scenes of a decade ago but could very well be today. It interprets the feel of a "rumble" - a teenage fight - a "bop." I utilized some statements as design matter, such as "walk cool" - "no bopping." The wall is small enough to walk around (four feet wide) and see the other side - it is too tall to leap over (eight feet tall). [Personal communication with the author.]

Starting in the early 1970s, Hollingsworth focused exclusively on one subject — the female. He chose to combine spiritual, physical, and subliminal interpretations of women as subject matter. In his painting Mixed Dream [Illus. 161] from the "Subconscious Series," Hollingsworth combined all three of these properties to achieve a work of considerable contrast and drama.

161

Alvin Hollingsworth, Mixed Dream, 1984. Mixed media collage,

45" x 55 "-

WILLIAM PAJAUD (b. 1925) creates dynamic forms that have their

source in his early life as a native of the South and his later experiences as a resident of the urban West. His Solid as a Rock [Illus. 162], an expression of African American life on the bayou, reflects the mixture of sensitivity and physical strength that is the essence of endurance. Pajauds expressionistic handling of the subject is achieved through surface texture and application of paint rather than through choice of colors or the action of the figure.

162 William Pajaud, Solid as a Rock, 1970. Oil, 30" x 24". Courtesy of Contemporary Crafts, Los Angeles.

As a member of the National Watercolor Society, William Pajaud holds a place of prestige as a practitioner of this challenging medium. Among his most noted watercolors are his Twenty-third Psalm, 1981 and Destruction by the Assyrian [Illus. 163].

163 William Pajaud, Destruction by the Assyrian, 1981. Watercolor, 14" x 20". Courtesy of Alitash Kebede Fine Arts.

RICHARD MAYHEW (b. 1924) bases his painting method on unmixed color complements applied in juxtapositions that intensify the brightness of his compositions. He is principally a landscape painter, and, as in Meadow [Illus. 164], is often concerned with the effects of light as it falls on land and vegetation. His handling of changing light is unusually sensitive and lyrical. Mayhew aims for subtle surface effects, and though his landscapes are somewhat mysterious and always imply the dominance of nature, they are also calm and peaceful. He sums up, rather than represents, nature, changing it as necessary for richness of color and linear grace.

Oil, 48" x 50". Courtesy Alitash Kebede Fine Arts.

180

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BERNIE CASEY (b. 1939), a colorist with a strong sense of design, frequently uses geometric shapes in combination with subtle color changes; an example is provided by his Orbital Moonscape [lllus. 165]. His works are quiet but penetrating, and some are adorned with words of social significance. T h e locales they depict could be almost any place in the world, but their poetic statements generally deal with the social plight of African Americans in the United States. Since Casey is also a poet, this combination of forms and words is not unnatural. Born in West Virginia and educated in Ohio, Casey feels that life experiences become part of the memory bank that contributes to ones creativity:

165

Bernie Casey,

Orbital Moonscape, 1970. Acrylic on canvas, 28" x 22". Collection of Samella Lewis.

Sometimes ideas are given to you that you collect, keep, and hold dear for a very long time. During your lifetime these things come out (they come back). You reach into your storehouse of experience and you find an idea lying there waiting to be expressed. You may try to express this idea again and again only to have it defeat you. You know that you are doing it all wrong. But you know that you will try and try again. Then perhaps one long, long rainy afternoon you will try once more and the gods will smile upon you. Every brushstroke will be golden and you are "doing your own thing" and loving it. You have waited so long and you cherish that moment - that moment of creativity. [From the sound track of the film Bernie Casey: Black Artist, copyright 1971 by Samella Lewis.] Though it demonstrates an awareness of contemporary social problems, Casey's work generally reflects enduring universal values as well. Thus when asked to name the colors of his palette, Casey responded: I don't really know. What is the color of kindness? What is the color of communications? What is the color of compassion? What is the color of understanding? These, I hope, are my colors. [Personal communication with the author.]

181

FLOYD NEWSUM (b. 1 9 5 9 ) centers his art on the t h e m e of w o m e n .

"I've always dealt with placing women in unusual environments, presenting them as free spirits." He projects women as boundless humans who are capable of flying through air and convincingly defying all sense of gravity and the laws of nature. Certainly, Newsum must intend that such beings serve as symbols for a larger embodiment of humanity. In his Gathering at Blue Waters [Illus. 166], Newsum uses a combination of images to express, in allegorical terms, the liberation of a spirit. A woman flies effortless against the night sky, from which three ladders hang. She leaves the domestic chores and earthly life behind and seeks in its place - the mountain top.

182

166

Floyd Newsum, Gathering at Blue Waters, 1989. Mixed media, 43" x 55"-

FRANK WILLIAMS (b. 1959) creates unusual worlds in both his landscape and figurative paintings. An artist of great emotional intensity, he projects a kind of reality that transcends the visual and moves his viewers beyond tangible objects to psychological, emotional, and intellectual realities - thus avoiding academic concepts and traditional relationships.

167 Frank Williams, Environment. Alitash Kebede Fine Arts.

1987. Pastel, 511/2" x 60". Courtesy,

In his landscape painting, Environment [Illus. 167], Frank Williams uses intense unnatural forms and colors to heighten the feeling of drama in nature. He transforms tree branches and foliage into undulating patterns that suggest creatures from another world.

183

168

Frank Williams, City Life,

1988. Oil, 6' x 10'. Courtesy, Alitash

Kebede Fine Arts.

Frank Williams uses color arbitrarily in both his landscape and figurative compositions. In City Life [Illus. 168], he expresses the insecurities that are often experienced in urban communities. In addition, he effectively combines two disparate tendencies, external and internal, to create a work of compelling psychological dimensions.

Louis DELSARTE (b. 1944) creates pictorial compositions that are illusionistic and seductive. Using an exquisitely individualistic style, Delsarte recalls subjects from both his African American past and from contemporary urban life as he experiences it. Midnight Dance [Illus. 169] recalls the gaiety of the time when Harlem was the cultural "Mecca" of the African American world. The political parades, musicians, and dancers all grouped together, seem to transcend time, place, and space as is customary in Delsartes provocative narrative works. Like many contemporary artists, Louis Delsarte uses his creative ideas as a way of responding to the varied experiences of daily life. The "dreams" that he weaves reflect both rapture and rage. In the February, 1989 issue of Colorline Magazine, Delsarte states, "I am constantly going through rage and rapture. My mood swings are a result of feelings accepted or rejected. Issues, such as jealousy, fear, guilt, cause a war in my mind and a war on my nerves."

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169 Louis Delsarte, Midnight Dance, 1986. Graphite/colored pencil, 20" x 24".

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Illusions of Vanity [lllus. 170] is a complex work in which the artist exhibits enormous organizational skills and esthetic facility for embracing both sensuous and dramatic tendencies. In addition to his highly praised reputation as a painter, Louis Delsarte is known as an expert draftsman whose knowledge in this field has contributed greatly to his complex and unique painting style.

170

Louis Delsarte, Illusions of Vanity, 1987. Watercolor/pastel, 22" x 30".

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171 William Henderson, Non Violent, 1968. Oil, 6' x 10'. Courtesy of Contemporary Crafts, Los Angeles.

172

William Henderson, Home, 1971. Courtesy of the artist.

WILLIAM HENDERSON (b. 1943) has recently changed his artistic focus. In such early works as Non Violent [Illus. 171 ] he was concerned with emotional subjects of a predominantly social and political nature. Home [Illus. 172J and Hendersons other recent compositions are, in contrast, highly personal expressions. T h e loose, amorphous, geometric forms used in Home and its austere dark green and white colors suggest an otherworldly existence. But although they are different in subject matter and content, there is a conceptual relationship between Hendersons early and late styles. Both represent extremes in the world of reality.

SYMBOLISM Geometric, Organic, and Figurative

186

The 1950s and 1960s gave rise to a multiplicity of art movements, among them Hard-edge, Color-field, and Minimal art. Little known or recognized in the Western world before the twentieth century, these tendencies, common in traditional arts in Africa, Asia, and the majority of cultures in the Americas are based on geometric symbols of shapes and colors that express the essence of ideas. These non-objective and abstract styles form the basis for an art which departs from representational or recognizable objects.

Many contemporary artists have drawn inspiration from ancient relics in which forms expressed "passages of life." Some have expressed themselves through paintings, others through sculptures and still others through performance art. In many respects, these symbolic works represent a look "back to the future" with emphasis on a "new way of seeing" which integrates the past with the present in broadly conceived universal terms.

(b. 1938), in his Big Red [Illus. 173], exhibits a symbolic geometric arrangement of white, yellow, and red rectilinear forms. They enframe a central black square that is a collage of discarded items. The matte treatment given the black field puts it at variance with the other surfaces. The large, vibrant red area contains a discreet chromatic modulation that appears as a rhythmic and gently pulsating line. Big Red represents a transitional stage between Johnsons "black constructions" of the early 1960s and his recent brilliantly painted sculptures. D A N I E L L A R U E JOHNSON

173 Daniel Johnson, Big Red, 1963. Oil on canvas, 63" x 62". Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks, Los Angeles.

187

174

Joe Overstreet, Gemini IV, 1971. Shaped canvas, acrylic, and rope, 82" x 39". Courtesy of Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles.

JOE OVERSTREET (b. 1933) in the 1970s began experimenting with suspended painted canvases. After threading cords through eyelets placed along the edge of his paintings, he connected the cords to walls, ceilings, and floors within the display area, making these environments components of his compositions. Suggesting both painting and sculpture, the angular outline of Gemini IV [Illus. 174] creates a dramatic relationship between shape and space. Bold geometric motifs are combined with fluid, soft, and thinly applied figure images, which subdue the dramatic impact created by the diverse angles of the canvas. Through the use of manysided canvases, Overstreet avoids the conventional rectangular format. His compositions suggest brightly colored shields covered with cultural and religious symbols. The thrust of Overstreets large-scale compositions can be traced to his increased awareness of his cultural heritage; and his earlier success as an expressionist painter combined with a recent interest in traditional African imagery allows him to express with authority an art that is profound and dramatic. In his recent work, Overstreet has returned to traditional boundaries, using stretcher-bars for his canvas and oil as his medium. This method of application, however, is far from traditional in that he uses various unconventional methods and tools (sometimes applying paint with paper and a palette knife) to create the tactile surfaces of his paintings. Resembling surfaces of ancient encaustic compositions that have retained the beauty of their color and have been endowed with age, Overstreets For Buddy Bolden [Illus. 175] from his "Storyville Series" is based on life in old New Orleans. The series explores life during the days when the city's reputation as a place of magic, music, and mystery, came into being.

175 Joe Overstreet, For Buddy Bolden, 1988. Oil, 78" x 64".

188

ADRIENNE W. HOARD (b. 1949) lives in a world of brilliant colors and myriad abstract forms and shapes. Dreams, designs of Pueblo Indians, and the visual experiences of her travels to North Africa, Spain and Korea have been among the principal influences on her artistic expressions. It is from these sources and experiences that she has drawn the shapes and vivid color patterns that characterize her unique, evocative style of painting. Although Hoards early interest in art was in portrait painting, she progressively moved from figurative to a more abstract style while a graduate student at the University of Michigan. Adrienne Hoard soon discovered that non-objective art or abstract art allowed for greater expression of emotions. She further decided that this tendency offered opportunities more compatible with her temperament and her need to express feelings in a very personal way. In her work of a later period, Hoard began an investigation of boundaries - physical as in multiple horizons; metaphysical, referring to more than one level of awareness; and personal, in terms of limits, edges and interaction. Added to her strong interest in color and abstractions, Hoard developed an abiding respect and appreciation for nature. Her year as a Fulbright-Hayes lecturer to Seoul, Korea (1980-1981) and her Ford-Foundation Grant (1985-1986) provided the flexibility for a breakthrough and for her current way of seeing which is evident in such compositions as Le Phoenix [Illus. 176]. .. .Internally, the change has occurred. I am into nuances; tiny color changes, softness and motion and free-form. Now I am able to make my thoughts and my expressions match. And I love it...

176

Adrienne W. Hoard, Le Phoenix, 1988. Oil pastel/watercolor, 28" x 34".

189

As a dedicated teacher, Adrienne considers her work as a professional artist to be an important element in her role as a teacher. She further believes that being in the classroom makes an equally significant contribution to her own artwork. As a serious educator whose research is primarily in the psychology of esthetics, Hoard believes: ...Art teachers are the bottom line. If they don't teach people that there is an esthetic wealth in the community and that they should go and take advantage of the opportunities offered, a disservice is being done. The quality of life and culture is diminished.

SAM GILLIAM (b. 1933) is a prime example of an artist who produces works that bridge the gaps between painting, sculpture, and environmental "happenings." His works during the mid 1960s mark Gilliam's rise to prominence. He used flexible foundations and unsupported canvas to achieve spontaneous and emotionally expressive works by using the technique of controlling the flow of colors which he applied directly to raw, wet canvas so that they flow and mix, creating subtle surface modulations. In addition, he experimented by folding the canvas so that some of the paint could accumulate, thereby creating a

1 7 7 Sam Gilliam, Seahorses, 1975. Oil on canvas, center 30' x 6 0 ' , outside pieces 20' x 60', on the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

190

soft linearity. In his first outdoor painting Seahorses [Illus. 177], G i l l i a m created a work that measures thirty by ninety feet. T h e scale of this ambitious work of six canvas groupings is a notable example of Gilliam's mastery in combining painting and sculptural techniques. In S a m Gilliam's work, A Module for the Wind [Illus. 178], we experience the freedom of the artist who combines Color-field, Abstract Expressionism, and Hard-edge in a sculptural format which distinguishes him as an individualist. G i l l i a m believes: Color is the most tantalizing element in painting, but I'm very much involved with structure and shape. I don't feel that my inherent approach to painting has changed very much at all; whether the painting is on a structure or hanging free in space, or whether it is a found object or a paper sculpture on a pedestal, it is still a statement in terms of exact and inexact references ... [that is, it is a statement of] what can be controlled and what is spontaneous and open to allow things to happen. Keeping that freedom and sustaining that momentum is the daily job of the artist.

178 Sam Gilliam, A Module for the Wind, 1989. Acrylic and enamel on aluminum, 72" x 80" x 30".

191

MAHLER RYDER ( 1 9 3 7 - 1 9 9 2 ) believed that his experience as a musician and his long time association with some of this nation's best jazz performers contributed to his commitment to the philosophy that the arts have an inter-relationship and that there is a complementary element at every level. Ryder's jazz-related art includes a series of works entitled Homage to the Guitar. This series includes mixedmedia collages that pay tribute to notables such as George Benson [Illus. 179] and Sister Tharp [Illus. 180]. Among the other works in the series are Blind Lemon Jefferson, Big Bill Broonzy, Leadbelly and B. B. King. Ryder's collages are intricately designed two dimensional constructions that are organized to achieve the rhythmic juxtaposition and expressive nature of jazz arrangements.

179

M a h l e r Ryder, George Benson. M i x e d media collage.

180

M a h l e r Ryder,

SisterTharp.

M i x e d media collage, 25" x 25".

OLIVER JACKSON (b. 1935) paints power-packed images composed of shapes and spaces that express his energy and vision of a world permeated by imagination. Having made his art a conduit for him to speak to deep personal experiences, Jackson takes us to a world of added dimension - a world devoid of cliches and one without limits. Jackson's expressionistic, luminous colors, sometimes spilling into one another, are like moving forces that celebrate the coming together of worlds that are seen as diametrically opposite. Never in search of a style, Jackson moves through his work, guided by his personal vision which allows him to go beyond the visual to what is important for him at a particular time and place. During the 1960s and 70s, Jackson worked in a group of multidisciplinary artists in St. Louis, Missouri. This experience of working with writers, musicians, dancers, and other visual artists influenced Jackson in formulating the personal symbols that are present in much of his current work. T h e world of jazz music has been of special interest to Oliver Jackson. As is true with creative jazz musicians, Jackson has learned that creativity often calls for taking risks. In fact, he implies that risk taking can and should be natural and exciting. An example of Jackson's diametric view of the world is seen in Untitled [Illus. 181], a work in which he isolates two figures in an embryonic type form while surrounding them with another world which is contrary to their existence.

181 Oliver Jackson, Untitled, Oil, 9 5 W x 108".

1986.

Courtesy, Anne Kohs and Associates.

EUGENE COLES (b. 1945) creates complex abstractions using combinations of geometric shapes and planes to project symbols and metaphoric meaning. His particular style of abstraction investigates space, color, and dimensions, all of which are inherent in the structure of his work. In his painting, The Theory of Pyramid [Illus. 182], Coles uses simple masses of color on a scale which enables him to express differences in depth and perception by varying combinations of color, texture, and value. Resulting combinations of these elements enable the artist to evoke emotional sensations and encourage unexpected conceptual additions that often result from successful mergers. Coles' current work is a departure from the surrealistic, high-energy content that characterized his paintings of the 1970s. While energy and color remain important to his content, he now chooses to work with broad color-field shapes and prefers to reserve the more expressionistic, spontaneous effects for accents and evocative counterpoints.

182

Eugene Coles, The Theory of Pyramid, 1982. Oil, 4' x 6'.

V I N C E N T SMITH (b. 1 9 2 9 ) , best known as a painter, has also chan-

neled his energy into drawing and printmaking. N o matter what m e d i u m he uses, Smith has been able to maintain the high esthetic standards that he set for himself decades ago. Vincent Smith developed his artistic skills in the 1950s, during the time w h e n African Americans were not always accepted as legitimate artists - even in their own c o m m u n i t i e s . U n a b l e to exhibit in recognized galleries and m u s e u m s , Smith and his group of friends that consisted of artists, writers, and musicians, spent m u c h of their time working together, sharing daily experiences a n d e n c o u r a g i n g e a c h other. U n d a u n t e d by the negative attitudes of the "establishment", they saw themselves as y o u n g pioneers in search of n e w directions. " T h e juices were flowing. W e were going to be t h e movers a n d shakers." Smiths n u m e r o u s trips to Africa enabled h i m to establish a firm cultural base and to develop an understanding of ancient traditions that serve as the primary resource for his creative expression. In his Queen of the Nile [Illus. 183], Vincent Smith c o m m e m o r a t e s the passages of life and time as represented in the form of the "sacred m o t h e r " who offers birth and rebirth to all life. A m o n g the different cultures that have been important to Vincent Smiths development as an artist, those of Africa continue to predominate. This One's for Doc [Illus. 184] depicts a group of figures on a playground whose faces resemble african masks. T h e broken wind-up doll seems to symbolize the failure of the players to overcome and win in the bleek environment that surrounds t h e m .

184 Vincent Smith This One's for Doc. Oil collage, 72" x 36".

183

Vincent Smith, Queen of the Nile. Oil and sand, 42" x 54".

195

(b. 1 9 3 4 ) uses bold designs and intensely vibrant colors to address issues of identity and culture. His experiences as a muralist, an easel painter and as a commercial artist have enabled him to develop a successful combination of forms that range from objective documentation to non-objective spontaneity. In his evocative painting, Maskamorphosis I [lllus. 18$], Jones combines two stylistic extremes and uses symbolic shapes to form dramatic masks of unusual brilliance. In this complex work, he employs intersecting planes and a dynamic usage of lines, dramatically contrasting them with patterns that are reminiscent of African textiles. Upon close examination, the images seem to occupy an ambiguous middle ground between abstract and figurative, a personal domain where Calvin Jones invites us to follow the trajectory of his thoughts and his vision. CALVIN JONES

Jones' work resonates with cultural and traditional imagery. It can assist viewers in transcending time and place and also allow the past to co-exist with the present. His symbols reflect aspects of the vital forces that connect and make us one.

185

Calvin Jones, Maskamorphosis

1, 1987. Mixed media, 4 8 " x 8 4 " .

PHEORIS WEST (b. 1950) produces art which is closely allied to the expressions of his ancestors. As an African American, he looks back on the physical and spiritual life of Africans and peoples of African descent to capture their vibrations, feelings, and images in a unique and personal way. In 1989, Willis Bing Davis, Chair of the Art Department, Central State University, said of Pheoris Wests art, "His images move confidently and poetically from one plane to another. Skill alone would not support such mystical work. He gives tangible form to the ancient African concept of the co-existence of the physical and spiritual world(s)." True to his belief that Africa is the source of his understanding of the visual language, West produces vibrant expressions that reflect upon the spirit of African traditions. T h e basic structure of his work features principles of design that are most apparent in mask-making and sculpture-in-the-round. As a figurative artist, West chooses to combine different stylistic tendencies in a single composition. In his Two Sisters [Illus. 186], both the African and the African American presence are evident in this composition. One sisters attention seems directed towards the American presence while the other looks back to recall the spirit of the ancestors. T h e sculpturesque forms of his figures and the variable dimensions of the shifting planes that structure his compositions enable West to offer his viewers visual episodes of a continuum of the African presence in the Americas.

MIXED-MEDIA ASSEMBLAGES Assemblage is the art of combining varied materials to form an artistically interesting construction. When viewed individually, the components of a successful assemblage are often aesthetically insignificant. Much of the meaning and impact of an assemblage depends on the artists ability to orchestrate such materials into a creative whole. This challenge has become a popular one among African American artists, and "66 Signs of N e o n , " an exhibition of works fashioned from the debris of the 1965 Watts rebellion, is considered one of the most important shows to date by a group of "constructivists." Made into a traveling show, this unusual exhibition had great impact on artists and African American communities in many parts of the United States.

NOAH PURIFOY (b. 1917), one of the participants in "66 Signs of Neon," gives the following account of the origins of the work he contributed to the exhibition: While the debris was still smoldering, we ventured into the rubble like other junkers of the community, digging and searching, but unlike others, obsessed without quite knowing why. By September, working during lunchtime and after teaching hours, we had collected three tons of charred wood and fire-molded debris. Despite the involvement of running an art school, we gave much thought to the oddity of our found things. Often the smell of the debris, as our work brought us into the vicinity of the storage area, turned our thoughts to what were and were not tragic times in Watts, and to what to do with the junk we had collected. [Personal communication with the author:] Sir Watts [Illus. 187] illustrates Purifoys use of these found objects. T h e sculptural form, although intended to be seen from all sides, depends principally on a frontal view for its impact. T h e "knight," constructed of wood, metal, glass, an old purse, discarded drawers, and a multiplicity of safety pins, commemorates the struggles of a people in battle.

187 Noah Purifoy, Sir Watts, 1966. Found objects (wood, metal, glass, etc.), 24" x 20" x 6". Courtesy of the artist.

188 Noah Purifoy, untitled construction, 1970. Copper, brass, sheet steel, and tin, 88" x 55". Courtesy of the artist.

Another work Purifoy fashioned from the debris of Watts is an untitled combination of copper, brass, sheet steel, and tin affixed to a base of wood [Illus. 188]. The work displays subtle textural and relief qualities produced by the overlapping of rectilinear metal shapes. A large indented rectangular area at the top of the form is filled with bullet cartridges placed in a highly repetitive and emotional relief pattern.

EDWARD BEREAL (b. 1937) creates assemblages from an unusual assortment of materials. His Stuka }u 87 [Illus. 189], for example, is a combination of sheet metal, paint, valves, decals, and nails. T h e presence of both organic and mechanical references in the assemblage gives the impression of opposite forces in competition with each other. T h e stencils and cross at the base of the construction lead the viewer to believe that this could be a mass-produced object of destruction.

189

Edward Bereal, Stuka Ju 87. Assemblage, 14" x 11V2". Betty and Monte Factor Family Collection. (Photograph by Richard Fish, Los Angeles).

BETYE SAAR (b. 1926) grew up in Watts near the famous Watts (or Simon Rodia) Towers, whose construction she had watched from a distance. Although she first saw their majestic quality close-up after she reached adulthood, the impact of the towers upon her work is evident, and she feels that her memory of their construction contributed measurably to her artistic expression. T h e towering spirals, created from such castoff items as broken glass and bottle tops, in addition to steel and cement, apparently made a lasting impression on Saars artistic imagery. T h e occult, astrology, and social and political concerns have been among the other contributors to her mature style.

Saar's artistic production exhibits gradual changes in subject matter and execution. From prints on the occult she has moved to works expressive of her African ancestry, and her compositions have become more three dimensional. With Eshu [Illus. 1 go], for example, Saar reaches back into African tradition for roots buried in centuries of separation. Constructed of leather, wood, straw, shells, cloth, and feathers, the composition reflects the earth tones prevalent in traditional African sculpture. Saar's Nine Mojo Secrets [Illus. 191], which includes references to astrology and religion, is said by the artist to be a result of her concern with the mysteries of life embodied in "the secrets of Africa, Oceania; the limbo of before birth and after death." The works astrological symbols - moons and stars - combined with the mystic eye and other symbols of the cosmos form a rhythmic pattern enframed by the edges of the windowpanes. The central section of the work reveals a photographic depiction of Africans in ceremony. Below the window frame is a "skirt" made of fibers, seeds, and beads. The solid form of the window and the fibrous skirt create a combination that resembles a ceremonial mask.

i,V"f2a 190 Betye Saar, Eshu (The Trickster) (detail), 1971. Leather, straw, shells, cloth, wood, and feathers, 42" x 27". Collection of Alvin P Johnson, Charlottesville, Virginia.

191 Betye Saar, Nine Mojo Secrets, 1971. Fiber, seeds, and beads, 49?/4" x 23>/f x i W . Collection of Olga James Adderley, Los Angeles.

201

In the late 1960s Saar began to collect and use as art materials certain derogatory commercial images of African Americans. Hoping to expose the racism they conveyed, she incorporated into her work the emblems of such products as Darkie toothpaste, Black Crow licorice, and Old Black Joe butter beans. In her Liberation of Aunt Jemima [Illus. 192J the well-known symbol for a line of food products is transformed into a gun-carrying warrior. A collage of pancake-flour labels acts as a background for the imposing figure. Although the lower portion of the dolls body carries a sign of her former role, the viewer senses that the real Aunt Jemima will soon be free. Saar dissolves distinctions between painting and sculpture and compels us to experience her multidimensional works from an unusual perspective. In such attacks on traditional Western attitudes and images, she uses her mojo consciousness to aid in the liberation of all Aunt Jemimas and Uncle Toms.

192 Betye Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972. Mixed media, nV-t" x 8" x 2 W . University of California Art Museum, Berkeley (purchased with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; selected by the Committee for the Acquisition of Afro-American Art). (Photograph by Colin McRae.)

202

RON GRIFFIN (b. 1938) devises both two- and three-dimensional constructions. His Bound Figure [Illus. 193] is a combination of shaped canvas and sculpture; the canvas, open in the center, reveals a human form imprisoned in an irregularly constructed compartment. T h e figure is covered with a transparent black plastic film and a web of white string. The use of the wrappings imparts a feeling of terror and gives anonymity to the figure.

193 Ron Griffin, Bound Figure, 1971. Mixed media, 76" x 48" x 16".

203

JOHN OUTTERBRIDGE (b. 1933) is an enthusiastic exponent of junk art: A lot of times I go to junkyards because junkyards are groovy places. Junkyards illustrate to me much of what the society that we live in really is all about - discarded materials. Materials that have related to human experience in a very profound way. You go into a junkyard and you can pull these things out. You try and give them life again. This is realness, this is truthfulness to me from a people point of view, from a folksy point of view. I see much of my own existence as isolation, as sort of on the outside of the real perimeter of life, within the society we know. This is why my work involves so many materials and maybe many moods. [Personal communication with the author.] Outterbridges Shoeshine Box [Illus. 194] is a personal icon of his "past remembrances." This sculptural assemblage directly involves the viewer on an intimate level through the use of a highly polished reflective surface. Taking advantage of the stains often found on recycled surfaces, the piece exhibits interesting chromatic and textural qualities; and the subtle relief of its etched and engraved end panel provides a contrast to the smooth, polished metal. Contrasting with the metallic casing are an organic-fiber "shoeshine brush" and the interior wood support of the sculpture.

194

John Outterbridge, Shoeshine Box, 1968. Chrome, steel, and fiber,

1V2'x

x 1V2'.

(b. 1 9 2 0 ) makes painted constructions that are striking in their form, color, and texture. Her cut-out figures are often portraits of people she has known. Two-dimensional in appearance, they consist of a variety of materials but rely most heavily on old wood and clothing. Papa, The Reverend [Illus. 195], for example, is composed of a weathered wood that contributes to the representation of age and endurance. The detailed features of the figure are handled in relief, which increases the lifelike quality of the characterization. M A R I E JOHNSON

IBIBIO F U N D I (b. 1 9 2 9 ) builds provocative constructions using wooden blocks and industrial forms. In viewing Fundis Wooden Sketch for a Possible Non-Functioning Machine [Illus. 196], one recognizes bits of familiar objects - a chair and table legs, wooden disks, and laminated shapes. The interplay of thick and thin, curvilinear and angular, open and congested spaces gives heightened interest to the piece. Composed of many dissimilar shapes, the construction achieves its unity through basic color application.

(b. 1 9 3 5 ) , like Ibibio Fundi, creates wood constructions; but his are somewhat different in subject matter and style. Stevens' Silver Saddle [Illus. 197] is an additive sculpture that combines massive wooden components with metal, tar, and enamel. The basic structural simplicity of Silver Saddle suggests that it has much in common with Minimal, or Primary, sculpture, despite its expressionistic handling of paint and surface texture.

JOHN S T E V E N S

196

Ibibio Fundi, Wooden Sketch for a Possible Non-Functioning

195

Marie Johnson,

Papa, the Reverend,

1968.

. Mixed media, 36" x 24".

Machine,

1968. Wooden construction and paint, 24" high. (Photograph by Jonathan Eubanks.) 197 John Stevens, Silver Saddle, 1963. Tar, wood, metal, and enamel, 36" x 48". Courtesy of the artist.

SCULPTURE

ADDITIVE OR D I R E C T S C U L P T U R E

One of the most frequently seen examples of additive or direct sculpture is the construction. Constructions (or assemblages) can be made of one or more of a variety of materials, some of the most popular being wood, metal, fiber, and glass. The United States, a highly industrialized country, provides an abundance of discarded objects for the constructivist; and African American artists, because they generally cannot afford the traditional materials of sculpture, have been particularly apt to work with these less expensive, more readily available resources. Direct metal sculpture, a branch of assemblage, has become of particular importance to these artists. Metal has long been used as a medium by sculptors in Ghana, Nigeria, Dahomey, and other areas of West Africa; and, like their African ancestors, many modern African American artists have found metals to be expressive and aesthetically pleasing materials.

(b. 1946) explores linear space in sculpture. His Woman Reaching Out [Illus. 198] suggests a three-dimensional drawing in which contours serve to define voids, transforming them into meaningful shapes. A dramatic sweeping curve, the principal suggestion of movement in this composition, is supported by a strong vertical whose triangular tip advances the concept of motion. The movements of the JUAN LOGAN

198 Juan Logan, Woman Reaching Out, 1971. Welded Steel, 47" high. Collection of Samella Lewis.

199 Juan Logan, Growth Process, 1973. Painted galvanized steel, 53" x 53" x 84". Courtesy of the artist.

lines of the sculpture are swift and direct. The effective combination of a never-ending circular motion and a secondary vertical one stimulates contrasting energy forces, all of which are stabilized by the voids and series of triangular shapes located at the base of the sculpture. In Growth Process [Illus. 199] Logan uses repetitive curvilinear steel forms to explore aspects of growth. His series of homologous organic shapes transforms the hard steel into an assemblage of lyrical arrangements that interplay like a living organism operating a heavily vibrating machine. Logans art gives tangible qualities to abstract ideas and is based on a non-figurative style in which the major concerns are the formal organization of plane and the expression of volume by means of modern industrial material.

(1933-2002), a student of plant forms, produced metallic art that conveys a feeling of life and growth; in so doing, he extracted humanistic values from materials designed to serve a mechanized world. Although many of his geometrically structured sculptures were inspired by social problems and thus often carry social messages, Riddle kept the viewer of his sculptures conscious of their organization and complementary forms. Construction [Illus. 200], a reflection of Riddle's interest in African art, demonstrates his capacity to create a work in which form subtly takes precedence over subject matter.

JOHN R I D D L E

zoo

John Riddle,

Construction, 1972. Welded steel, 21" high. Collection of Samella Lewis.

201 Richard Hunt, untitled construction, 1964. Steel, 32" x 12" x 8". Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks, Los Angeles. (Photograph by Adam Avila.)

RICHARD HUNT (b. 1935), one of Americas leading direct-metal sculptors, acknowledges the strong influence exerted on his work by Julio González (1879-1942), the Spanish artist who, working in Paris in the 1930s, was among the first to devise welded-iron sculptures. Hunts own ability with the welding torch allows him to transform metal into clear, detailed, and highly plastic constructions which, though primarily abstract, often include human, animal, and plantlike shapes. The organic element in Hunts sculptures is demonstrated by Illustration 201, in which sinuously twisted branches and tendrils combine to add a sense of continuity. Hunt has also been involved in the casting of large figures. Castings of Why? [Illus. 202], his first large-scale bronze sculpture, are on display at the University of Chicago and at the University of California, Los Angeles. Richard Hunt is one of the most sought after sculptors in the United States. Generally known for his public works, since 1967 he has installed over fifty outdoor sculptures, thirty-four in his home state of Illinois. Hunt uses the fabrication process of cutting, shaping, and welding sheets of stainless steel together for most of his public pieces. "When I enlarge works, however, I consider myself to be re-creating the piece in full scale rather than simply copying a small model." Hunt believes

202

1 208

Richard Hunt, Why?, 1974. Bronze, 7Y1' high.

that this process of re-creating the sculpture in this manner gives the full-scale work a spontaneity and keeps the process open and alive. It further offers the sculptor the opportunity to re-experience the ideas that gave rise to the initial subject. Hunt sees the different metals that he uses as a palette. His cool colors are provided by the aluminum and stainless steel that he uses, while his warm tones by bronze and Cor-ten steel. Additional colors are created by the heat and patina often applied by the artist. One of the central themes in my work is the reconciliation of the organic and the industrial. I see my work as forming a kind of bridge between what we experience in nature and what we experience from the urban, industrial, technology-driven society we live in. I like to think that within the work that I approach most successfully there is a resolution of the tension between the sense of freedom one has in contemplating nature and the sometimes restrictive, closed feeling engendered by the rigors of the city, the rigors of the industrial environment. The theme of much of my work can be characterized as a fusion or harmonization of the vital tensions existing between dualities, such as the organic and the geometric, the organic and the abstract, or the past and the present, the traditional and the contemporary. T h e installation of Active Hybrid at Century City Plaza, Los A n geles, California [Illus. 203] gives a clear demonstration of Hunts philosophy of art. 203 Richard Hunt, Active Hybrid 1,1982. Welded Cor-ten steel. Temporary installation, Century City Plaza, Los Angeles, California.

MEL EDWARDS (b. 1937), a graduate of the University of Southern California, uses straight-edged triangular and rectilinear forms in his fabricated sculptures. In A Necessary Angle [Illus. 204], for example, there is a contrast between the geometric structures of the lower portion of the sculpture and the organic shapes of the upper section of the composition. These contrasting areas create a feeling of tension that is further emphasized by the sharp points of the hook that hangs from the central section of the triangular void.

204 Mel Edwards, A Necessary Angle, 1965. Steel, 53" x 19". Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks, Los Angeles, (Photograph by Adam Avila.)

210

T h e studio pieces of Mel Edwards are primarily political. These works contain a high degree of symbolism which at times may seem ambiguous, but according to Edwards is deliberate. Chains, ropes, and other items used to symbolize ideas, often carry double and sometimes triple meanings. Edwards' approach to creating large pieces is quite the same as when he develops smaller works... both are realized creatively. W h e n he develops an idea which seems appropriate for a particular site, he incorporates it in a model that serves as a point of reference for a larger scale work. Mel Edwards' interest in public art started in high school when he took a class in architecture and drafting. Since that time, he has wanted to make large pieces which, in most cases, called for public areas. 205

Mel Edwards, Gate of Ogun, 1983. Stainless steel, 8' x 8' x 2'.

Aware of his role as an African American artist, Mel Edwards believes his experiences during numerous trips to Africa are vital to his understanding of African American culture: One of the things I started to do about seventeen years ago was to visit Africa. Because of those visits, I have been internally satisfied with the notion of who we are ...I go to Africa every chancel get. I've probably been there more times since igjo than I've been to my home state of Texas. Clearly, Edwards has been inspired and influenced by his visits to Africa. Evidence of this can be seen in his Gate of Ogun [Illus. 205], a stainless steel structure where forms are assembled to express strength and power, the inherent qualities attributed to the spiritual Deity Ogun, the Yoruba god of metal. Southern Sunrise [Illus. 206] is another of Mel Edwards' numerous public works. In this piece, the artist combines diverse geometric forms in an informal arrangement. The scoured surfaces of the metal dramatically reflect the suns rays to create a silvery glow that appears to dissolve the solidity of the form and energize the surrounding environment. 206

Mel Edwards, Southern Sunrise, 1983. Stainless steel, 12' x 12' x 16'.

ALLIE ANDERSON (b. 1921), a constructivist who uses car bumpers as his principal medium, organizes and welds these castoffs into compositions whose patterns of light and shadow suggest gentle movement. Indeed, an Anderson construction often has a sensuous quality, for a feeling of embrace is provided by the curving automotive parts that form it, as in Illustration 207. ED LOVE (1936-99) made sculptures of steel that strongly recall powerful African deities. In Osiris [Illus. 208], from his Monster Series #3, Love combined steel shapes and parts of manufactured automobiles to create a figure that towers over the viewer and projects the strength and power of the Egyptian deity who rules the dead. In speaking of his guardians and "good" monsters, Love said: It is my intention to be able to confirm: to work towards an iconography that reflects the memories and prophecies of spirits, known and unknown. And in so doing, cause that energy, ancient and precognitive, to be released. This energy source, this repository of life forces, is what I wish to conform. [Quoted in the catalog of an exhibition, August 1973, at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.]

207 Allie Anderson, Specter of River Rouge, 1969. Welded steel, 7 6 " x 2 5 " . Courtesy of the artist. 208 Ed Osiris, Steel, 1 2 ' Courtesy of the

Love, 1972. high. artist.

P'LLA MILLS (1918-64) devised constructions that include welding rods and, in some cases, sheet metal, and that involve a distinctive buildup of form. T h e metal in her compositions has been cut, forged, and combined by use of an oxyacetylene torch, and the alternate heating and cooling of the metal is responsible for its rough texture or molded effect. In Star of Bethlehem [Illus. 209] Mills exploits semiaccidental effects to achieve a fascinating representation of Mary seated upon a donkey. Rods are curved and joined to suggest the complexity of a tunic that drapes but fails to contain the human form. T h e rough surfaces suggesting the bulk of the animal are arranged with greater simplicity. Its juxtaposition of linear and bulky textured forms helps to make the composition a visually rich and expressive statement.

209 P'lla Mills, Star of Bethlehem, 1961, Welded metal, 30" x 12" x 20". Collection of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co.

INDIRECT SCULPTURE Sculptural compositions devised in a highly plastic m e d i u m , such as clay or wax, and then cast in metal, are considered indirect sculpture. Bronze, a l u m i n u m , copper, and lead are among those metals most often used in sculptural casting, a process that has existed for many hundreds of years and one that has been used by diverse peoples in Africa, Asia, and Europe. T h o u g h an expensive material, bronze is probably the most popular of the metals; and those artists able to pay for it are usually satisfied with the warmth and character it gives their works. A n alloy of copper and other metals, bronze develops a patina as it ages, and its surface texture can be changed through burnishing or through the use of chemicals.

DOYLE FOREMAN (b. 1 9 3 3 ) is one of the few African American artists who create almost exclusively in bronze. His Corner [Illus. 210], a work with African references, was translated from wax into the more permanent material. A n d even in bronze the opposition of the high and low relief designs decorating the surface form a complex and u n c o m m o n relationship.

210 Doyle Foreman, Corner, 1968. Bronze, 40" high. Courtesy of the artist.

214

BARBARA CHASE-RIBOUD (b. 1936), like many African American artists throughout history, is perhaps better known in Europe than in the United States. Supported by an extensive academic background, she makes skillful use of a combination of materials and techniques. Chase-Ribouds sculptures demonstrate the traditional lost-wax technique and include braided-, knotted-, and wrapped-fiber areas that recall weaving and the fabric arts. Her reasons for combining "hard" and "soft" materials are both technical and aesthetic. T h e braided and knotted "skirts" on some of her works serve as a mask, or costume, that covers the supporting member. T h e flaccid, visceral forms of the cords provide a contrast to the obviously heavy and unyielding bronze. These supporting cords also act as a transition between the sculpture and the floor, allowing the viewers eye to travel along "lines" into the complexities of the form. Such long, wrapped cords emanate, for example, from the triangular form in She # 1 [Illus. 211]. T h e fabric elements tie the tangled mass of twisted fiber on the floor to the metal form on the sculpture stand. T h e sculpture is a beautiful example of contrasts - in materials and in the projection of ideas.

211 Barbara Chase-Riboud, She # 1 , 1972. Polished bronze with silk cords, 20V2" x ly'/z" x y'/z". Courtesy of the artist. (Photograph by Jonathan Eubanks, Oakland, California.)

ARTIS LANE (b. 1927) has been winning awards for her painting since she was fifteen years old. Among her numerous prizes were the Dominion of Canada Award for portraiture, a four-year scholarship to study at the Ontario College of Art and the O'Keefe fellowship for Creative Painting. In spite of her success as a painter, Lane decided to return to the discipline of her greatest forte - sculpture. Artis Lanes favorite theme for her sculpture is that of "women emerging." Her subjects are based on women in motion in search of opportunities and self-determination. Titles such as New Woman, Emerging Woman, and Release [Illus. 212] illustrate her efforts to explore the potentials of human movement as she takes her viewers on intimate encounters with her most profound beliefs regarding the human condition.

216

Having retained an introspective focus, which gives her sculpture internal energies, Lanes forms grow almost as if they were natural uncoverings on her figures. Thus her works are best experienced empathetically. Artis Lanes sculptures can be read as symbolic of modern woman's fragmented state of being. While her figures imply the sensual aspects of the material world, their spirits, confronted with the challenge to transcend, struggle to be free. Artis Lane achieves a fine balance through the infusion of representational imagery with abstract elements. This range of expression allows the artist to create multiple levels of meaning and as a consequence dissolve the traditional conceptual barriers between objective and nonobjective content and imagery.

JOHN SCOTT (b. 1940) uses materials as divergent as cast bronze, thin brass strips of wire and bent hardwood to create sculptures. Although his work affirms elements of African and Western traditions, the results are a blending of two traditions that Scott has molded into a unique style of his own. Regardless of the style or the tradition, art for John Scott is a means of communication. Moon Song [Illus. 213] is from Scott's Ritual of Oppression Series. A segment of a face, covered with what appears to be fragments of a garment, held in place by metal nails, holds a symbolic figure in bondage. The flanges jut out into space in an expressionistic fashion suggesting strain and struggle.

213 John Scott, Moon Song (from the Ritual of Oppression), 1978. Bronze.

217

S i n c e the 1 9 7 0 s , Scott's work has shifted f r o m a figurative style to a m o r e abstract s y m b o l i c o n e . His recent work reflects ideas, tensions, and historic relationships of the survival and experiences of peoples and places. Just Two [Illus.

214]

is an e x a m p l e of Scott's m o r e recent

kinetic works that were first inspired by the A f r i c a n diddley bow, an instrument w h i c h was used by hunters to express remorse for taking the life of an a n i m a l .

214 John Scott, Just Two (Street Dancers). Courtesy of the artist.

S u B T R A C T I V E SCULPTURE

T h e carver, or subtractive sculptor, begins with a block of material and cuts or grinds away areas until the desired form is realized. T h e properties of the material - its grain and density, for example - are significant in determining the nature of the forms that emerge. Along with careful planning, the subtractive method of sculpture requires a thorough knowledge of the physical properties of sculptural materials. Stone and wood are the two media used most frequently in this process.

WILLIAM ANDERSON (b. 1 9 3 2 ) A native of Selma, Alabama, uses wood for his principal medium to create impressive expressionistic sculptures. Primarily a figurative artist, Anderson gained m u c h of his motivation to carve when, as a child, he spent time combing the creek banks near his home in search of soapstones to sculpt. Life in Selma, Alabama, motivated Anderson to respond to more than the physical aspects of his environment. T h e volatile social and political climate of Selma during the Civil Rights era made a lasting impression on Anderson and contributed to the emotional character of his art. T h e disadvantaged of the urban and rural South are often the subject of Anderson's art. As a student at Alabama State University at Montgomery he was encouraged by his mentor, Professor Hayard L . Oubre, to devote his attention to the visual arts. Following his graduation from Alabama State with a bachelor's degree in art, W i l l i a m Anderson moved on to work towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Wisconsin's Layton School of F i n e Arts, and a Master of F i n e Arts from the Institute Allende in San Miguel, Mexico. W h i l e attending these institutions Anderson continued to express his concerns for ordinary people and for the deprivation that continued to dominate their lives. Regardless of the circumstances behind the expressions of his sculptured figures, Anderson manages to imbue them with a presence of dignity, pride and self-esteem. In his sculpture Minority Man, [Illus. 215] W i l l i a m Anderson, as is true with all good sculptors, strives to maintain the character and special nature of the materials that he uses. T h e majestic features of the life-sized head of Minority Man elevate the subject from an ordinary person to one who is strong, benevolent, wise and omnipotent. This positive image of African American life is one of the many icons that William Anderson has devoted his life to producing in service of h u m a n dignity and American social justice.

2 1 5 William Anderson, Minority Man, 1963. Wood (lignum vitae). Life size.

2 1 6 William Anderson, Solace, 1986. Wild cherry, z g V f h.

219

MIXED-MEDIA SCULPTURE/CONSTRUCTION MARTIN PURYEAR (b. 1941) was the jury's choice to receive the first prize at the Sâo Paulo Bienal in 1989. T h e lone official representative for the United States in Brazil's 20th annual international art exhibition, this award for best artist was decided by a five-member jury of international art professionals. A sculptor of extraordinary sensitivity and discipline, Martin Puryear regards both the past and the present as essential to his work. He is a hands-on artist who prefers to execute his own sculptural ideas rather than assign the préfabrication of works to technicians. He believes that the way in which a work is expressed is directly tied to the conceptual process. Puryear acknowledges that while art can only come from the individual, it is sometimes difficult to find the self because of group pressure.

217

Martin Puryear, Untitled, 1989. Painted red cedar, 96" x 81" x 43". Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Anderson, Atherton, California. Photo: Douglas M . Parker.

220

Martin Puryears Untitled, 1989 [Illus. 217] is a painted red cedar sculpture in which he utilizes numerous techniques learned from experiences and influences during his travels to Africa, Asia and Scandinavia. Fundamental to Puryears development was his two year stay in Sierra Leone as a Peace Corps volunteer during the mid 1960s. His manner of cutting, joining and assembling his materials is in much the same manner that would be expected of a fine boat builder or craftsman who constructs fine furniture. Maroon [Illus. 218] is a sculpture that visually is in opposition to the elegant, graceful and flowing forms that are common to Puryears joined and laminated wood structures. Made of wire, mesh, wood and tar, this textured enlarged kidney shape, with an attached circular wooden shape, supports a square opening. The interior reveals a dark pitch lined area which is neither menacing nor threatening but instead evokes a power of mystery and timelessness.

218 Martin Puryear, Maroon, 1987-88. Steel wire mesh, wood, tar, 76" x 120" x 78". Courtesy Donald Young Gallery, Chicago.

Truly an artist who has closed the gap between the fine arts and crafts, Martin Puryears works are abstract reminders of many forms in nature. They embody a kind of "controlled naturalism" that grows out of methods of expression that encourage the synthesis of creativity, patience, passion and an abiding dedication to technique.

221

THOMAS MILLER (1945-2000) believed that his twenty years of experience as an elementary school teacher in Baltimore, Maryland, contributed significantly to his ability to maintain the uncommonly high level of creativity that pervaded his work. His uninhibited approach and special way of seeing set his work apart from the usual and conventional. Miller combined and altered shapes and forms to an extent where new identities were formed. Children use simplified shapes to talk about complicated things. You sort of pick up on that and get their feeling for using symbols. Kids aren't scared to do a lot of things that adults are afraid to try. An examination of Miller's art confirms that he was not afraid to try experimental approaches. In his Smiling Face [Illus. 219], a drop leaf table is used as a foundation for this brightly colored, decorative work. As an additional adornment, a bird with a clock in its mid-section perches on the edge of a table leaf resembling a kind of symbol of time.

219 Thomas Miller, Smiling Face.

Oil enamel, 45"x 2 8"xi3".

Following many years as an easel painter, Miller was encouraged by an artist friend to experiment by painting on used furniture. This enabled him to achieve three dimensional compositions and to consequently convert objects into remarkably exciting painted sculptures. Boxer [Illus. 220} is a work in which the artist painted a figure on a cabinet and extended the top to include a head that resembles a warrior. T h e muscular figure is adorned with brightly colored shorts and boots that suggest a kind of sustained energy when seen against the cool planes of the environment. T h e boxer figure looks as if he were ready for action. Miller used his uncanny skill and knowledge as a designer to assist us in viewing his compositions as a whole. He considered the juxtaposition of black and bright colors as symbolic of Africa and peoples of African descent.

•5

ACRYLIC/RESIN SCULPTURE

Plastic, a product of modern technology, is a medium African American artists have not utilized on a wide scale. Since its use in art has no historical precedent to serve as a guide, this medium offers the artist an opportunity to express ideas and feelings in innovative ways. T h e many types of acrylic material now available make them suitable for almost any artist, whether he or she works in the direct, indirect, or subtractive method.

FRED EVERSLEY (b. 1941) creates his sculptures largely from cast resin, a medium that makes possible many different effects, ranging from opacity to complete transparency. Eversley casts resin, a technically demanding material, into large cylinders; then, through cutting and polishing, alters their form [Illus. 221J. Care must be taken in handling the sculpture, since the stresses created by variations in its thickness can result in the shattering of a work before it is annealed. T h e subtle, transparent colors Eversley uses in a work intensify as the body of the piece thickens. Trained as an engineer, Eversley does not rely on chance to determine how his medium responds to light and color. Structually, because of his skill in handling his materials, he is able to pre-determine the "accidents" that unite form and give harmonious interplay and sensual fluidity to his creations.

221

Fred Eversley, Oblique Prism II, 1969. Polyester, 6" x 4V2" x 5 !/2". Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks, Los Angeles.

LARRY URBINA (b. 1943) employs the additive method in working with Plexiglas, as in Pink Fluorescent [Illus. 222]. The cubic form of this work is a simple one, but its diagonal interior planes capture the viewers interest. The color and spatial relationships between planes vary with the viewing angle.

222 Larry Urbina, Pink Fluorescent, 1968. Plexiglass, 4V4" x 6". Courtesy of the artist.

223 Ben Hazard, Modular Series II. "Sweet Dreams," 1974. Acrylic plastic form, 6' x 12'. Courtesy of the artist.

BEN HAZARD (b. 1940), like Urbina, works with sheet acrylic, but he handles his forms in quite a different manner, assembling his vacuum-formed acrylic components in low relief. Hazards Modular Series II [Illus. 223], simple in form, is composed of several interlocking shapes. The highly reflective surface is made rich and interesting through the refraction of light and the reflection of surrounding forms. Hazards experiences as an art teacher, a sign painter and as an easel painter, contributed to his knowledge of color and design. During the early 1970s, he decided to accept a position at the newly opened Oakland Museum where he worked for approximately ten years as the Director of Community Outreach - a program designed to involve the museum in the ethnic and cultural affairs of the city.

225

ART/CRAFT

226

The artificial division between crafts and the so-called fine arts is a relatively recent Western device. Today this division has become more difficult to justify or explain because much of contemporary art is not only aesthetic but utilitarian. The craft items of the colonial period in America were generally useful, handmade articles; some were also unique and beautiful. Most artisans, however, exhibited a relative sameness in their work and, with few exceptions, produced forms that carefully repeated traditional European design principles. This repetition fostered a high degree of technical skill but little innovative design. The history of African American involvement in crafts is long and varied. In seventeenth-century Africa the crafts of weaving and woodcarving were usually practiced by males, whereas the making of pottery was undertaken principally by females. This was the reverse of the European pattern. Because they were forced to adhere to colonial labor patterns, Africans brought to America had to abandon their customary division of these labors: the men became potters, bringing to the work their design experience in weaving and woodcarving, and the women switched to weaving, bringing to it their knowledge of ceramic design. Examples of the resultant influence of woodcarving on pottery can be seen in the "monkey pots," or grotesque jugs, produced by slave artisans for use by field hands (see Illus. 2). In the nineteenth century the effects of the Industrial Revolution forced many American craftsmen to approach their craft as a pastime rather than as a major source of income. The weaving of cloth, for example, once a "cottage industry" in the United States, became primarily a factory-based operation after 1840 due to the introduction of the power loom. Individual craftsmen who had previously competed with each other for trade now had an additional competitor in the machine, one that could reproduce a design a thousand times without perceptible variations. Unable to compete successfully with the more profitable and more productive machine, many craftsmen were forced to take a greater interest in the creative application of their skills rather than the "utilitarian." They began to produce creative, one-of-a-kind items, for individual clients or for sale in shops whose patrons demanded something unique and displayed their possessions as symbols of affluence. But with increased machine production, many craft items became common, their possession indicating little about class status. Technology had reduced their social and economic significance by lowering production costs and making more of them available at lower prices. The machine was also partially responsible for the loss of the few "African memories" that existed in early American crafts. Though

these Africanisms survived until the late nineteenth century in remote areas of the New England states or among those Americans too poor to afford the products of the industrial age, they gradually disappeared as improved transportation routes created a large migrant population and as a culture based on standardized material goods developed. SARGENT JOHNSON, well-known as a sculptor (see page 78), was also accomplished in ceramics and enamels, areas in which he was strongly influenced by the works of Mexican, pre-Columbian, and African artists. Johnson made numerous trips to Mexico between 1945 and 1965 and was particularly inspired by the archaeological finds at Monte Alban and Mitla. A ceramic teapot by Johnson now in the Oakland Museum collection [Illus. 224] shows the influence of folk art on his work; the lithe, feline handle, for example, has affinities with both African and Mexican motifs. Oval-shaped, the teapot is made of a low-fire earthenware and is glazed brown. Its slow, gentle curve, echoed by the jaguarlike handle, shows the artists concern with elongated form as a means of suggesting movement. T h e enameled metalworks created by Sargent Johnson demonstrate a primarily industrial technique. Indeed, because his friendship with one of the firms owners allowed Johnson to experiment in its workshop, most of these pieces were made on the premises of the PaineMahoney Company, a manufacturer of industrial ceramic products in San Francisco. Thus provided with the space and equipment necessary for such work, Johnson produced, between the years 1947 and 1967, over one hundred enameled compositions.

224 Sargent Claude Johnson, Tea Pot, 1941. Glazed earthenware, 4'A" x 8" x 3V2". Collection of The Oakland Museum (gift of Mrs. Dorothy Collins Gomez).

DOYLE LANE (b. 1925) is an outstanding ceramist whose work ranges from utilitarian earthenware and stoneware to "clay paintings" (clay pieces in which the glazes have been applied like oils) and murals. Usually classical and simple, his pottery achieves a sense of intricacy through its special glaze effects. The surface of Lanes pottery often exhibits a visual quality that all but forces one to handle the work. His glazes are sometimes matte and low-key; and other times brilliant, intense, and glowing with color. The clay paintings by Lane represent a variety of shapes and styles and frequently are given rich textural treatments through unusual glaze applications [Illus. 225]. In addition to being a recognized master craftsman, Doyle Lane continues his commitment to an aesthetic that is closely allied to nature. In his Bud Vase [Illus. 226], he maintains a delicate balance between clay and glaze. Although wheel thrown, this work conforms essentially to the natural order of nature. Residing in east Los Angeles, Lane continues to work in one of the earliest and most universally known art forms in existence. Discovered thousands of years ago, ceramics continues to be recognized as the major art form of most Asian and indigenous American cultures.

Doyle Lane, untitled construction, 1975. Clay, 21" x 21". Courtesy of the artist.

226

Doyle Lane, Bud Vase, 1975. Clay, 3" high.

WILLIS (BING) DAVIS (b. 1937) views his art as a reflection of c o m m u -

nity - a community which spans the oceans to Africa and back to the Americas. Since the early 1970s, following a study fellowship to Nigeria, Davis has focused on the investigation and interpretation of African history and culture. These studies resulted in an extensive body of works that reflect an overriding dedication to the vision and spirit that he attributes to his African roots.

227

Bing Davis, Ritual Box # 2 , 1987. Clay, 18" x 18" x 22".

A ceramist, painter and graphic artist, Bing Davis transfers his knowledge of one medium to another. Much of his work in clay is approached in much the same manner that he uses for making collages. He arranges pieces of clay as he goes along, preferring to use the slab method or the coil method of construction. His Ritual Box # 2 [Illus. 227] is an excellent example of Davis' expressive approach to building his containers. He admits that his primary interest is in making his statement rather than in exhibit-technique. He believes that if he wants to say something badly enough, he will find the necessary technique to do it.

229

CURTIS TUCKER ( 1 9 3 9 - 1 9 9 2 ) recalled his summers on his grandfather's farm in Texas where he first learned to appreciate the physical and spiritual wealth of the earth. Following behind his grandfather's plow, Curtis began to develop a direct link to nature and to the earth which he and many others believe gives us life. His knowledge and appreciation for earth grew as he traveled to various places in the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean and observed how different cultures responded to their land. A strongly spiritual person, Curtis Tucker believed that his work was alive. An examination of The Feather is Still Strong [Illus. 228} gives us insight into the special symbols he used to express movement in form and spirit - symbols that are the result of combinations of old and new techniques, as well as an extensive knowledge of science and art.

230

YVONNE TUCKER (b. 1941) views her work in clay as her centering point in life. T h e sensitive nature of her medium encourages her to project and express experiences of diverse dimensions. In her view, "Clay is a medium which becomes alive, as one senses the spiritual dimensions of the millions of years of earthy and organic sludge, thereby taking on a new form and life of its own." During her developing years in Chicago, Yvonne Tucker was exposed to a life that was filled with a variety of activities that would later serve to enrich her life as an artist. Experiences at the South Side Community Art Center and classes at the Art Institute of Chicago offered Tucker a full range of opportunities for participation in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment. "These experiences and the questions they stirred up in me, became a part of my sense of being." As a graduate student, Yvonne Tucker began to focus primarily on expressing her creativity as a ceramist. She was particularly attracted to the process of Japanese RaKu that has its roots in Zen Buddhism which emphasizes spontaneity and a reverence for nature. Working along with her husband Curtis, she experimented with the process of fusing elements from Native American, African, and African American heritages to develop what they have chosen to label AFRO-RAKU. In her Spirit Vessel, Mississippi Mud [Illus. 229], Yvonne Tucker has created a work which has both functional and spiritual values. While the body of this piece takes a traditional form and serves as an anchor, the lid consists of flanges that project into space recalling the process of rebirth which is in keeping with Tuckers philosophy of making the past a part of the present.

Mill

229 Yvonne Tucker, Spirit Vessel, Mississippi Mud, 1989. Raku Ceramics, Wheel Thrown and Slab Built,

BILL MAXWELL (b. 1934) has experimented with most of the textures possible for clay pottery. Inventive and executed with a raw directness, his forms include many organic icons that recall the African Past [Illus. 230]. Most of Maxwell's pieces are hand-built, but some are combinations of hand-built and wheel-thrown sections. His ceramic sculpture Jomo # 1 [Illus. 231] is a product of Maxwells slab construction method: clay is rolled on textured surfaces, draped, and formed into slabs that, after being paddled into shape, are often decorated with stamping and iron oxide to give them more exciting surfaces. Composed of several clay pieces, Jomo # 1 , a "cruciform sculpture," gets much of its impact from the placement of heavily textured areas alongside smooth projecting planes. The work conveys the presence of an ancestral figure without resorting to a duplication of African forms. Maxwell's Double-Spouted Weed Pot [Illus. 232], also a slab construction, reminds one of a monumental edifice covered with sandy debris. This unglazed clay form takes full advantage of the subtle light-reflecting properties of its sand-flecked surface. The projecting double necks are integrated by a horizontal clay slab, which also creates visual interest and breaks the plane of the body of the vessel.

230

Bill Maxwell, African

Past,

1968. Stoneware, 24" high.

231 Bill Maxwell, Jomo # 1 , 1968. Earthenware, 14" high.

232

232 Bill Maxwell, Double-Spouted Weed Pot, 1970. Stoneware, 7" high.

CAMILLE BILLOPS (b. 1934) produces imposing combinations of wheel-thrown and hand-built forms. Her terra cotta Three-Headed Fountain [Illus. 233], for example, consists of several wheel-thrown forms that have been joined to several hand-built ones by means of fine, incised lines and painted decorations. The three heads seem both human and animal, and the hornlike projections of their faces create visual interest and complexity that contrast with the long, unbroken curve of the central form. Billops work reflects the influence of her frequent travels to, and study in, places such as Egypt, India, Japan, and China. The influence of Japanese and Egyptian cultures can be seen in her ceramic vessels. As a ceramist, sculptor, printmaker, photographer, and filmmaker, Camille Billops combines a variety of techniques to create unique and striking works of art.

233 Camille Billops, Three-Headed Fountain, Ceramic, 28" high. Courtesy of the artist.

1969.

233

JAMES TATUM (b. 1954) through exquisite craftsmanship, creates works of art by using elements of both traditional ceramics and contemporary sculpture. His uniquely personal approach and style provide an opportunity to explore and understand the fallacy surrounding the belief that there is a major difference in the aesthetic quality and value between items regarded as fine arts and those traditionally considered as crafts.

234

234

James Tatum, Oba, 1982. Earthenware, 38" high.

Trained in both painting and ceramics, Tatum says of his approach to making art: As an artist, I primarily work in two diverse media; paint and clay. I strive to create with both media ambiguously ancient and mysterious quality that suggests something sensual and ritualistic. The forms and images that are generated from paint and clay are directed toward similar ends and are dependent upon each other for continued growth and development. By juxtaposing such opposites as painting vs ceramics, ancient vs modern, flat vs relief, or biological vs mechanical, I challenge the viewer to re-evaluate the way he is conditioned to perceive opposing entities.

235

James Tatum,

Ancestral

Drum,

1982.

Terra cotta, 28" high.

Regardless of the form Tatums work takes, the inspiration for it seems philosophically rooted in African traditions. His Oba [Illus. 234], a beautifully structured hand built piece with its monumental presence seems well suited to house the spirit of the king. Ancestral Drum [lllus. 235], is a ceramic work in which Tatum clearly demonstrates his ability to successfully join traditional and modern forms. T h e surface of the unglazed terra cotta drum is incised to form designs of vertical columns. These designs contrast with scored horizontal areas to create a textured contrast that contributes to the restrained emotional impact of the work.

Stained-glass murals represent an art form that is frequently but seldom effectively revived. The "light murals" of DOUGLAS PHILLIPS (b 1922) provide exception to this rule largely because they are unencumbered by the medieval methods and forms common to most revivals of this pre-Renaissance art. Phillips creates stained-glass windows that are compatible with the simplicity of contemporary architecture. His windows for the First Congregational Church in Painesville, Ohio [Illus. 236], are excellent examples of his style. The windows are devoid of traditional spiritual representations and, through the sweeping upward movement of their leaded dividers, suggest humanity's striving for greater worlds. Adding to the overtone of transcendence, the rich blues and greens, vibrant purples, yellows, and reds of the lower portions of the windows give way to lighter, more aerial shades in their upper sections.

236 Douglas Phillips, window for the First Congregational Church, Painesville, Ohio, i960. Stained glass. Courtesy of the artist.

236

237 Art Smith, earrings, 1968. Silver, 3" wide. From the collection of Val Spaulding.

238 Art Smith, earrings, 1968. Silver, 3" wide. From the collection of Val Spaulding.

was one of Greenwich Villages first creative jewelry makers. His work often combines sterling silver and semiprecious stones and, over the last four decades, became progressively more delicate. Many of Smiths later necklaces, for example, include fine wires that coil around the neck or hang like miniature mobiles from a circular support. This simplicity also extends to Smiths other jewelry forms. His rings have simple cabochon-cut stones and pearls as their dominant design element, and the earrings that he created are simple and unobtrusive [Illus. 237, 238]. ART SMITH ( 1 9 2 3 - 1 9 8 2 )

(b. 1 9 4 3 ) uses a rather personalized technique in creating jewelry. Delicate explorations of space, many of his jewelry forms show the influence of his training in furniture design and welded-steel sculpture. One such piece, the pendant in Illustration 239, consists of a single-gauge wire that has been cut and soldered to create appealing linear relationships. BOB JEFFERSON

239

Bob Jefferson, pendant, 1968.

Gold. Courtesy of Contemporary Crafts, Los Angeles.

237

EVANGELINE MONTGOMERY (b. 1933) works primarily in metal and produces such items as lost-wax cast boxes and incense burners. A good example of her work is provided by Ancestor Box I, Justice for Angela [Illus. 240]. T h e piece is dominated by the Ashanti symbol for justice, which, in this reference to Angela Davis, represents the tie between contemporary Black Americans and their African past.

240

Evangeline Montgomery, Ancestor Box I, Justice for Angela,

1971.

Bronze, 3" x 4" x 3". Courtesy of the artist. (Photograph by Jonathan Eubanks, Oakland California.)

Montgomery is also an accomplished jeweler, and her jewelry forms exhibit the spontaneity and expressionistic textural properties of her boxes. Usually fusions of such metals as bronze, copper, gold, and silver that have been combined with uncut stones or rock crystals, Montgomery's "crusty" jewelry forms convey a sense of undulating movement and are often both sophisticated and evocative [Illus. 241].

241 Evangeline Montgomery, pendant, 1970. Copper, silver, brass, enamel, 4" x 3".

238

In Western cultures, jewelry is usually thought to involve "precious" or "semiprecious" materials. Elsewhere in the world rarity does not play as great a role in determining highly valued objects of personal adornment. T h e work of MANUEL GOMEZ (b. 1948) echoes this regard for more commonplace materials. His pendants and combs are made from pieces of wood that have interesting grain patterns and coloration; their impact is provided by their subtle coloring, finish, and design rather than by their qualities of light reflection. [Illus. 242].

242 Manuel Gomez, Wooden Natural Comb, 1971. Rosewood, 11" x 3K2". Courtesy of the artist.

JOANNA L E E (b. 1937) takes macramé beyond its traditional role as a fabric-making technique into the realm of jewelry design. T h e neckpiece by L e e in Illustration 2 4 3 makes effective use of a single type of knot, varying it only in terms of direction. T h e shiny metallic surface of the copper tubing acts as a contrast to the subtle sheen of the fibers.

243 Joanna Lee, macramé neckpiece, 1972. Courtesy of Contemporary Crafts, Los Angeles.

239

ALLEN FANNIN (b. 1939) hand-spins the yarns he uses to make his expressive weavings. Unlike much of the work made with handspun yarns, his pieces are usually quite fine, their texture showing excellent control of the processes of yarn preparation. Fannin suggests that every handweaver "must ultimately spin in order to have complete design control over his product." Many of Fannin's weavings are interesting conjunctions of handspun wool, flax, rayon, and monofilament line. Often three-dimensional, or exhibiting depth by means of overlapping planes, his works contrast areas of uncovered warp with areas of solid weaving. Some of them also juxtapose the controlled irregularity of handmade yarn and the glossy, shimmering regularity of the monofilament. T h e woven images created by Fannin have much in common with Minimal painting and sculpture in that they rely on simplicity of shape and surface texture rather than on chromatic complexity [Illus. 244]. Although he was among the first to create sculptural woven forms, his work never gained acceptance within the contemporary craft community, nor, more important, among the general public. Because of this, and because of his dedication to handloom weaving as an economically viable twentieth-century trade, Fannin ceased to pursue weaving strictly as an art form. Instead, beginning in 1971, he expanded into what had once accounted for only a small portion of his total output: the production of handspun, handwoven specialities for direct retail sale. Since that time, Fannin has become one of the foremost authorities on small-scale handloom production, from both a technical viewpoint and an economical one.

244 Allen Fannin, untitled construction, 1969. Nylon, linen, and plexiglass, 7' x 3'. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Glaser, Los Angeles.

LEO TWIGGS (b. 1934) views his batik, not as textile art but as paintings: "I paint with dyes and use wax on fabric instead o f . . . pigment on canvas." His works make effective use of the colorful, crackled textures achieved when dye is applied to a layer of cold wax bent so as to expose areas of the fabric beneath it. T h e irregular lines produced by Twiggs' brush or other painting tool clearly show the fluidity and spontaneity of his technique. Occasional accidental drips of wax are allowed to remain on the surface of the fabric in order to add to its texture.

240

Window [Illus. 2 4 5 ] , through its strong yet sensitive treatment of forms, exhibits Twiggs' fine control of his medium. T h e overlays used to produce this work give it m u c h the same feeling as a watercolor. T h e descriptive treatment of the interior images reflect the graphic simplicity and the spontaneity c o m m o n to L e o Twiggs' work. Having chosen batik as his m e d i u m , L e o Twiggs devoted many years developing the technique to master this ancient art form. However, for him, the m e d i u m is not the issue. " T h e ability of the artist to achieve his magic is all that counts."

245

Leo Twiggs, Window. Batik, 22" x 22".

241

JAMES TANNER (b. 1941) during the 1960s studied in the graduate school at the University of Wisconsin with the distinguished artist/ teacher, Harvey Littleton. Like his teacher, Tanner worked in both ceramics and glass and following his graduation began to distinguish himself in both areas of concentration. Tanner began his teaching career at Mankato University where he remains and where he worked with the late, great William Artis (page 105). In addition to his teaching he began to participate in national and international exhibitions. Among the most important of these exhibitions was the landmark "Objects U.S.A." which traveled to major museums in the United States and Europe. In this exhibition Tanner displayed fine glasswork in the style and tradition of Crambrook Academy and Scandinavia. In his later work, Tanner began to focus entirely on ceramics. His painted slab constructions, although less functional than previous works, reveal high levels of cultural consciousness and an affinity for mask shapes. Old Ghost [Illus. 246] is an excellent example of this type of heavily painted mask forms that typify Tanners current work.

246 James Tanner, Old Ghost, 1987. Clay, glazes, Handbuilt, 19V2" x 14" x 7 V f . Courtesy, Maurine Littleton Gallery, Washington, D . C .

242

THERMAN STATOM (b. 1953), a rarity among African American artists, uses glass as his principle medium. This Florida native who holds a B . E A . from the Rhode Island School of Design and an M . E A . from Pratt Institute is one of the least predictable and unique artists in the field. Statom has benefited from the pioneering efforts of artists such as Harvey Littleton and Domenick Labino, who participated in the development of the use of glass as a medium for studio artists. However, Statom's approach to the medium is far more rustic and devoid of the delicacy that mark the traditional approaches to working with glass. In constructing his Green Ladder [Illus. 247], Statom adds green and yellow paint with accents of red to the surface of the glass - thus, creating a dichotomy between work and play. The limitations of glass as a medium does not restrict Statom in his desire to create public works. Among his commissions are Portable Works, City of Seattle, and a Brody Arts Foundation Grant to design and install works for windows in abandoned buildings in urban areas of Los Angeles.

247 Therman Statom, Green Ladder, 1988. Glass, mixed media, Constructed, painted, 76" x 15" x 3". Courtesy, Heller Gallery, N.Y.C.

243

DRAWING

A

248

Marion Sampler, Chair, 1969. Ink, 26" X 20". Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks, Los Angeles.

One of the earliest forms of communication, drawing, is held by many artists to be the most basic artistic expression and the one most useful for experimentation. Line, shape, texture, and value are among its major variables; color, since its use is infrequent, must be considered only a supportive element. An absolute, clear distinction between painting and drawing is difficult to make; however, drawing is, in general, a more conventional graphic art, with a linear emphasis rather than a strong reliance on color modulation. For most purposes, the medium is the basis on which the two types of art are usually distinguished - charcoal, pastel, conté crayon, ink, and graphite being the characteristic media of drawing.

MARION SAMPLER (b. 1920) is an artist whose drawings make skillful use of line. Chair [Illus. 248], an ink drawing by Sampler, provides an example of his sensitive rendering of everyday objects. It also illustrates that, though ink is his principal medium, Samplers works incorporate a great deal of control and value gradation.

ARTHUR MONROE (b. 1935) creates drawings that are expressionistic and full of spirit and vigor. Incorporating energetic, semiautomatic strokes, his style is indicative of gesture drawing and may be regarded as a blending of drawing and painting. In his Self-Portrait [Illus. 249],

244

249 Arthur Monroe, Self-Portrait, 1965. Ink wash. Courtesy of the artist.

for example, the means used to apply the ink range from wash to dry brush, and the brushstrokes vary from long to short and from thick to thin. The figure Monroe presents is filled with restless energy, his clothing and hair depicted through a combination of splashes and turbulent strokes. An exciting graphic portrayal, this self-portrait gives the viewer significant insight into the personality of the artist.

JAMES LAWRENCE (b. 1947) produces drawings distinguished by their imaginative quality. In Growth of a Child [Illus. 250J, for example, he combines visual realism with distortions of pictorial space. Increased interest in the figure of the child is achieved through the division of the composition into two rectangles. The upper rectangle is limited on two sides by broad coarse-textured bands; these form a "frame" that blends with the stark silhouette of the trees.

MARVIN HARDEN (b. 1935) creates intricate compositions that express a unique and personal iconography. An outstanding draftsman, he relates images of animal and plant life by combining visual symbols of contrasting dimensions. Hardens placement of precisely drawn cows or trees against a broad simplified expansive shape introduces concepts of photographic realism and clean simplicity [Illus. 251].

250 James Lawrence, Growth of a Child, 1970. Ballpoint pen, 24" x 18". Courtesy of the artist. (Photograph by Jonathan Eubanks, Oakland, California.)

251 Marvin Harden, ritual of consumption, illusion, share and salient flaw, 1971. Pencil on paper, 30" x 22V2". Collection of Clark Polak.

245

RAYMOND LARK (b. 1939), a contemporary Realist, gives his subjects pictorial conventional form but personalizes his images through an a b u n d a n c e of detail and surface texture. Displaying a stylistic kinship with art of the past, Larks drawings are intense renderings of subjects with strong emotional impact: I try to throw myself into the complete feeling of the subject that I am recording.

I will only work from the surroundings

stimulate

and people

that

me. People often ask me why I always paint and draw old

people, poverty, and depressing subjects; they would buy some of my work if I would draw or paint concerned

with pleasing

not get that certain something],

them,

the public

emotional

I will not attempt

this, or the other. I am

with my subject

feeling

and dynamic

not

matter. If I do charge

[from

to record it. I may get turned on by

an old pair of shoes, a scrub bucket and a mop, a poor old lady, fire, a child of poverty, color in a dress, or the structure of a body. I can see beauty in earthy subject nificant.

matter that most people feel is very insig-

I usually elevate to full status subject matter that

seems to care about.

[Personal communication

nobody

with the author.]

Larks figurative compositions are enriched with line patterns that act as nets covering the surfaces o f his works. In Bernard's

Daddy

[Illus. 252] the surface planes are animated by the inclusion of a w e b of lines that at times follows the form of the figure and at other times opposes it. T h e s h i m m e r i n g surfaces that result suggest the reflections of light o n a body of water.

246

MURRY DEPILLARS (b. 1938). Uncle Remus, Aunt Jemima, and other stereotypical characterizations of African Americans are used by graphic artist Murry DePillars as subjects for his compositions. He attempts to reverse the past influences of these submissive characters by placing them in scenes in which they aggressively participate in the struggle of African Americans and other third-world peoples against exploitation and discrimination. In DePillars' In Tribute to the Family ... The People of the Sun [Illus. 253] the major figure, a defiant Uncle Remus, is shown emerging from a book of folk tales, beneath which lie the littered remains of a decadent society. Overweight white nudes disport themselves beneath a monumental cross bearing the "crucified" seal of the United States, and a reference to the fate of minority cultures is made through the "Indian" skulls at the foot of the cross and at the base of the United States history book.

253 Murry DePillars, The People of the Sun, 1972. Pen, ink, and pencil, 40" x 32". Courtesy of the artist.

DONALD COLES (b. 1947) has developed a drawing style that is highly disciplined and imaginative. Filled with awesome constructions, his dreamlike compositions are intended to awaken in the viewer imaginings generally suppressed. As in the surrealistic pencil drawing in Illustration 254, Coles often uses massive constructions to represent the systematization of human life and the denial of individual rights. The loneliness of people in the modern mechanized world is a recurrent Coles theme.

254

Donald Coles, untitled drawing. Graphite.

JOSEPH GERAN (b. 1945), a close observer of nature, uses natures amazing structural designs as the basis for much of his art. The delicate lines in the drawing A name [Illus. 255] resemble the web of a spider, and Geran has combined them with masks and small human figures that suggest Africa and its cultural experiences. (The heroic spider Ananse is an important character in African and Caribbean folklore: his web symbolizes the sun and its rays and, therefore, God.)

255 Joseph Geran, Ananse, 1971. Pen and ink, 10" x 12". Courtesy of the artist.

256

Ron Adams, Skull,

1968.

Ink wash, 2.0" x 14". Collection of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance C o .

RON ADAMS (b. 1934), by using freely brushed patterns, gives his drawings a spontaneous, relaxed effect. Skull [Illus. 256], a black-ink rendering by Adams, is representative of his bold drawings. Going beyond mere factual representation, the artist depicts his subject with ambiguous features that suggest a variety of forms. Like most of his compositions this one has a brooding, ominous quality and seems to hold a mystery within.

249

KENNETH FALANA (b. 1940), like many artists who also work in other media, considers drawing important in his continued development as an artist. Known primarily as a printmaker, he is also an expert draftsman who uses a well defined figurative style to express the illusion of three dimensional form. In his Portrait of A Young Black Man [Illus. 257], Falana approaches the subject with great sensitivity and expression. Although executed in black and white, there is a richness of tone and value that adds "color" to this penetrating study of man.

257

250

Kenneth Falana, Portrait of A Young Black Man, 1975. Graphite.

GRAPHIC PROCESSES: ECONOMICAL AND AESTHETIC APPROACHES TO COMMUNICATION Among the major problems that confront artists today are earning a living and communicating with as many people as possible. Printmaking and other methods of creating quality productions offer answers to both these imperatives. Improved printing methods have made it possible for more people to own original works of art and fine reproductions by outstanding artists. Thus we are witnessing a renaissance in the production of original prints - that is, prints made from artwork created especially for reproduction and, generally, offered in limited editions supervised by the artist. For the most part, the methods used to create such prints fall into four categories: relief, intaglio, planographic, and stencil. Relief prints are made by transferring ink from a raised surface onto paper or some other two-dimensional material. Intaglio, the reverse of relief printing, is the making of impressions from recessed surfaces that hold ink. Planographic prints are pulled from smooth, inked surfaces on which drawings have been made and, in most cases, sensitized for printing by means of chemicals. Lithography, in which the drawing is generally executed on limestone or on a metal plate, is a planographic process. The stencil method of printmaking involves the masking of certain areas of the surface being printed on so that the only areas left open and receptive to ink represent the desired design. When the masking material used is silk, treated so that some of its areas are no longer porous, the process is called silkscreening, or serigraphy. Although most collectors still prefer the small-edition original print, a good case can be made for the production of less-limited originals and other quality reproductions. The issue should be quality, not quantity. For rather than decreasing interest in original works, inexpensive prints and reproductions tend to encourage collecting by those who might not otherwise be able to afford commercial works of art. The fact that several thousand records of a musical composition are produced in no way lessens the quality of the composition as created by the composer. Stone, metal, wood, linoleum, and screens of various materials (primarily silk, nylon, and metal) are the surfaces most commonly used in graphic design. The relative inexpensiveness and ease with which prints can be produced from linoleum and wood make these materials particularly popular among artists involved in print-making. The linoleum print and the woodblock print are both examples of relief printing, an ancient graphic process that lends itself to a wide variety of subjects and stylistic variations.

251

RELIEF

RUTH WADDY (b. 1909) often uses linoleum as a principal medium. The Key [Illus. 258], one of her early works, is a linoleum composition in which both geometric and figural elements are used. Waddys ability to handle the medium effectively is demonstrated by her retention of a major portion of the linoleum in creating her image. Another Waddy linoleum print is a boldly colored but simple statement that echoes forms common to African sculpture [Illus. 259]. Because inks are applied to the linoleum by means of a brush, it is possible to print several colors simultaneously using the same master. Largely self-taught, Waddy is a California-based artist and the founder of Art West Associated, an organization of artists established in the early 1960s. Through Art West and independently, she has been instrumental in encouraging many African Americans to pursue their interest in art.

258 Ruth Waddy, The Key, 1969. Linoleum print, 24" x 18". Collection of Samella Lewis.

252

2 59 Ruth Waddy, untitled linoleum print, 1969. 24" x 18". Courtesy of the artist.

VAN SLATER (1937-1989) is another printmaker who created compositions in relief. One of these, his Eula Seated [Illus. 260], contrasts a forceful geometric background and a dejected female figure. The effective use of the wood surface gives a spontaneous appearance to the print and convincingly suggests the material used.

260 Van Slater, Eula Seated, 1964. Woodcut, 26V2" x 18". Courtesy of the artist. (Photograph by Ivor Protheroe, Los Angeles.)

253

JOYCE WELLMAN (b. 1949) used the relief printing technique to create Pathway Dancers [lllus.261], a complex linocut which features anthropomorphic forms that represent four stages of life. Created in 1984 this graphic expression is a part of a suite of works that express phases of physical and spiritual development in the life of a female character. The four stages pictured in this work symbolize the life of a little girl, a teenage girl, a post-teenage girl, and a sensuous and self-aware adult woman. Through the movement of the dance the figure shifts from one phase of life to another. In Pathway Dancers Wellman has managed to carry the technique of the linocut to an involved and intricate level, similar to that of the woodcut. She makes use of line and overlapping forms to create a lacy quality and integrate the web-like nature of her composition. Joyce Wellman is a versatile artist whose range in style and media includes the traditional and the experimental. Her works, although exhibited primarily in the eastern United States where she lives, can be found in numerous national publications on art and culture.

254

261

Joyce Wellman, Pathway Dancers. Linocut, 41 X 51 cm, 1984.

WILLIAM SMITH (1919-2000) worked exclusively as a printmaker. A veteran artist, Smith, along with Hughie Lee-Smith and other notables, was a member of the famous Karamu House in Cleveland, Ohio. During the 1930s and 1940s, Smith's linocut prints were exhibited widely and attracted the attention of critics and collectors who placed his work in the vanguard of the important emerging artists of that time. Throughout his career, William Smith maintained the dramatic style and subjective interpretations of local scenes that brought his work to the attention of luminaries such as Alain Locke and James Porter. His Native Son [Illus. 262] and Bill Johnson as Emperor Jones [Illus. 263] are examples of Smith's sensitive and penetrating figurative style. A longtime resident of Los Angeles, William Smith throughout his life continued to produce prints with the same vitality and spirit that marked his work decades ago.

262

William Smith,

Native Son. Linocut.

263

William Smith,

Bill Johnson as Emperor Linocut, 12" x 10".

Jones.

INTAGLIO

The intaglio printmaking method, the reverse of relief printing, produces impressions from recessed surfaces housing ink, rather than from inked surfaces that are raised. LEON HICKS (b. 1933) makes use of the intaglio process in a series of etchings called New Faces. As shown in Illustration 264, one face from the series is an effective work that has the soft quality produced by close value changes and luminous yet earthy color tones. With gentle and subdued shapes, Hicks fuses the haunted face with an environment to form a composite view of figure and field. The resulting quality is one of subtle splendor. Known for his fine technical ability, Hicks demonstrates a facile use of line that ranges from intricate vertical patterns to delicate horizontals. At times his lines are incised so deeply that they appear to be excised on his prints. Generally the artist covers the entire area of his printing surface and does not allow any of the ground to appear. Because of this approach and his use of closely related colors, Hicks creates works that reflect soft monochromatic patterns achieved through overlays of separate plates. His special sensitivity in the use and variation of line gives his work the visual richness achieved only by a mature and dedicated artist.

264 Leon Hicks, from the series New Faces, 1969. Intaglio, 20" x 16". Collection of Samella Lewis.

MARION EPTING (b. 1940) uses a variety of printing techniques to produce strong social and political statements, and he frequently makes visual phrases an integral part of his design. For example, in Alternative [Illus. 265], an etching that attempts to call attention to racial struggles in America, he places a flag in the upper area of the composition to express idealized, organized, and stately aspects of the nation; the lower portion suggests the realities of life and its growing conflict and opposition. Alternative is about conflicts and dualisms, subjects of marked interest to the artist: To find yourself attempting to defend one side or the other of a dualism is to find yourself in a position that is uncomfortable, confining, limiting, prejudicial, impossible to maintain, and dishonest. Dualisms, or what may be referred to as examples of the operation of the "rule of two" are, by their nature and definition, situations which are potentially conflicting. [Quoted in Samella S. Lewis and Ruth Waddy, Black Artists on Art, vol. I (Los Angeles: Contemporary Crafts Publishers, 1969), p. log.]

265 Marion Epting, Alternative, 1968. Intaglio, 38" x 28". Courtesy of Contemporary Crafts, Los Angeles.

Epting also expresses his concern for the struggles of African Americans in an intaglio print titled Share [Illus. 266]. In this composition he uses a field of red, white, and blue to suggest the flag. A black arrow confronts a white barrier that it must penetrate in order to share in the benefits of the nation.

266

Marion Epting, Share, 1969. Intaglio, 16" x 10". Courtesy of Contemporary Crafts, Los Angeles.

RUSSELL GORDON (b. 1932) is the creator of Kaleidoscopic Portrait Series # 5 [Illus. 267], an intaglio print whose upper portion is filled by bristling hairs that resemble the tentacles of a squid. T h e individual hair shafts are enlarged and their rhythmic movements and abrupt changes in direction create strong visual and textural interest. A wide variety of grays is achieved through the use of the aquatint technique, and the etched and aquatint areas combine to make the work an epitome of "psychedelic" portraiture. Monumental in scope, Gordon's prints are like photographic close-ups.

267 Russell Gordon, Kaleidoscopic Portrait Series #5, 1970. Color etching 27" x 23'A". Collection of The Oakland Museum (gift of the Donors' Acquisition Fund).

LITHOGRAPHY

Lithography, unlike relief and intaglio, is a planographic method of printing. Smooth limestone that has been chemically sensitized and inked is the surface from which a lithographic print is pulled. Closely related to drawing - crayon or touché drawings are sometimes made directly on stones - lithography provides for a wide range of value changes, from extreme lights to darks.

STEPHANIE POGUE (b. 1944) is one of the participants in a virtual explosion of innovative printmaking. T h e s e enormous innovations became possible during the early twentieth century when artists were freed from the notion that printmaking was specifically for commercial production.

With restrictive boundaries removed, artists are free to employ combinations of materials and techniques that push printmaking beyond traditional limits. Stephanie Pogue in her color etching Bangalore Skylight [Illus. 268] expands the expressive possibilities of color and shape through the use of simplified geometric shapes and complementary color combinations. Although the abstract forms are reminders of contemporary times, the subtle modulating forms that cover the surface of the central yellow rectangular shape retain the properties of an ancient cave dwelling. All of this grows out of the artists experience and identification with time and place from which these forms can be traced. India gave to the modern world her strong color sense and clarity of line and movement. Pogue's studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art

268 Stephanie Pogue, Bangalore Skylight, 1982. Color etching, 20" x 16".

260

surely had some influence on her pursuit of an architectonic style, just as her studies and travels in India have influenced her choice of colors. A striking example of this Asian influence is seen in Pogues Palace Passageway [Illus. 269]. In a statement regarding her work Pogue writes: My recent works were inspired by images gathered during travels through India in the summer of 1981. The excitement of the colors and patterns that are found everywhere; the rhythms of the land, sea and sky; the ancient windows, walls and temples; and the people weaving their lives in and out of the temples, patterns and sea provided visual stimulation that is with me as much today as it was then. So much from India that has been inspiring is new and different and yet so much is close to that to which I have responded in the past. Ultimately, it is the mystery of the similarities and differences between that culture and my own that I am exploring and recording in my prints and paintings.

269 Stephanie Pogue, Palace Passageway, 1982. ly'/z" x 22V2".

261

DEVOICE BERRY (b. 1937) creates lithographs that reflect a mixture of symbolism and realism. An artist who captures the inner mood of his subjects and exhibits a great capacity for compassion, Berry is able to combine his sensitive style with a high degree of drama and a great facility for design. Berry is concerned with social issues, and his highly expressive themes extend beyond the realm of personal matters. Figures [Illus. 2 70] is a composition in which he expresses the essence of struggle by means of repeated angles and dynamic figures filled with anxiety and Compassion. The orchestration of the bodies, their intense religious gestures, convey passion and suffering.

w>$m

262

270 Devoice Berry, Figures, 1970. Lithograph, 4 3 " x 33". From the collection of Dr. Herman W. Dorsett, Miami, Florida.

271 Margo Humphrey, Crying Ain't Gonna Help None Baby or Don't Shed Your Tears on My Rug, 1971. Lithograph, 14^/2" x 14". Courtesy of the artist.

272 Margo Humphrey, A Second Time in Blackness (from the Zebra series), 1968. Lithograph, 22" x io3/i". Courtesy of Contemporary Crafts, Los Angeles.

MARGO HUMPHREY (b. 1942) more than a decade ago, began producing works based on the activities of inner-city dwellers, subjects that make us realize how tenuous is our hold on life. Her Crying Ain't Gonna Help None Baby or Don't Shed Your Tears on My Rug [lllus. 271], a strong composition of pure, brilliant colors, demonstrates Humphrey's command of the difficulties of close color registration. In an early stage of her artistic development, Humphrey directed her attention toward the African past, gaining from it inspiration and material for her creative production. Among the important lithographic works she produced during this period is the outstanding Zebra series [lllus. 272], whose animal and human forms are sharply delineated from their environments by means of light lines.

263

SERIGRAPHY

Serigraphy or silkscreen, is a branch of stencil printing whose history can be traced back to ancient China; its development in the West is as recent as the 1930s, however. An opportunity for the artist to create complex and exciting visual relationships through line, shape, and color, the process involves blocking out areas of a mounted screen - with glue, shellac, wax, paper, or plastic film - to create a stencil of the desired image and then applying ink so that it passes through the remaining porous areas onto a surface beneath. Some of the most exciting artwork produced by serigraphy is that done by HOWARD SMITH (b. 1 9 2 8 ) , a Philadelphian who has been a resident of Finland since 1 9 6 2 . Smiths Design Multiple [Illus. 2 7 3 ] is a highly successful print derived from a stencil of plastic film. Its

264

273

Howard Smith, Design Multiple,

1969. Silkscreen, 54" x 42".

repeated triangular shapes form a complicated optical pattern, and its color scheme - red, black, and white - emphasizes the interplay of shapes through contrast. Smiths bold use of color and honest regard for clean shape help him create imaginative, lively designs that coordinate old- and new-world qualities. African and Asian cultures have been of special interest to Smith, and his designs, whether for paper prints or for textiles, show the influences of both continents [Illus.

274].

Despite the transference from the United States to Finland, Smith does not see the development of his art as "discontinous", because "What was going for me here only continued and flowered in Finland. I did not suddenly discover the Finnish landscape to the exclusion of all else and get myself drowned in all of those virtues in the summer. In fact, I actively resisted the threat of being totally engulfed by the Finnish culture. I had to, because I just couldn't manage i t . . . the whole specturm of the thing. But I would say that what has happened did happen as a logical development, a change of place."

274

Howard Smith, Personages, 1980. Serigraph on Egyptian cotton, 38" x 40".

265

JEFF DONALDSON (b. 1932). T h e credo of numerous African American artists who gained attention in the late 1960s and early '70s demands that they view themselves first as responsible members of cultural groups and only secondarily as individual contributors. Because these artists believe that maximum fulfillment is obtained by pooling their efforts, they have joined organizations that foster coordinated explorations of African American aesthetics. T h e work of Jeff Donaldson, an A f r i C O B R A founder, must be considered within the context of that organization. Sharing the belief that there are qualities intrinsic to African American people, A f r i C O B R A members have decided to use specific visual elements to express their common denominator as a group. These elements are "bright colors, the human figure, lost and found line, lettering, and images which identify the social."

275

Jeff Donaldson, Victory in the Valley ofEshu,

36" x 26". Courtesy of the artist.

1971. Gouache,

Like other members of AfriCOBRA, Donaldson produces art to communicate and to express positive modes of thought. In the silkscreen print Victory in the Valley of Eshu [Illus. 275] Donaldson makes a positive, direct statement. He uses the organizations "bright, vivid, singing Kool-Aid colors of orange, strawberry, cherry, lemon, lime and grape" to express the "pure vivid colors of the sun and nature. Colors that shine on African American people, colors that stand out against the greenery of rural areas."

T H E PHOTO SILKSCREEN

Photography has contributed a new dimension to printmaking, the photoscreen. Originally developed primarily for commercial use but rapidly becoming important in the fine arts, photoscreening is the process of transferring a photographic image to a screen. It can be accomplished through two basic means: direct application of a photographic emulsion or the use of photo-sensitive film. A photographic emulsion is usually a light-sensitive mixture of gelatin and chemicals (halides) and can be prepared commercially or by the individual artist. Its direct application to a screen most often involves spraying or the use of a brush or squeegee. Photo-sensitive film is coated with a similar gelatin-based mixture. It is solidly affixed to a plastic backing and serves the same purpose as a directly applied emulsion but with greater ease and efficiency. Both photographic emulsions and photo-sensitive films vary widely in light sensitivity. Some require a sophisticated darkroom to transfer the image from the negative successfully, while other emulsions and films are "slow" and can be exposed under natural sunlight. Multiple-color prints are also possible through photoscreening. Color separation, variation in the exposure times of a negative, and combinations of photo imagery and hand-cut screens are all effective ways of introducing color into prints. Color separation is achieved by photographing an image through variously colored lenses. When the resulting negatives are transferred to screens and each is printed in one of the four basic inks (magenta, blue, yellow, and black), they can be combined to reproduce the color of the original image.

267

LEV MILLS (b. 1940), on graduation from the University of Wisconsin, was awarded a Ford Foundation fellowship that allowed him to study at the University of London's Slade School of Fine Arts and at Atelier 17 in Paris. Mills is typical of the highly talented, universitytrained graphic artists who develop their creative talents in conjunction with a great respect for contemporary materials and techniques. In his prints Mills combines an immaculate technical facility with a personal vision of the meaning of ethnic identity. The serigraph I'm Funky, But Clean [Illus. 276], a highly decorative work, shows the architectural boldness of his design. It also shows the sincerity of Mills' psychological insights into the spirit of the contemporary young African American male. More and more the artist is becoming a technician, constructor, or a "structurist." This is due to the ever-changing society in which we live. All of us are living closer to machines, tools, computers, and materials that are used in our everyday endeavors. I am greatly influenced by the discovery of new materials that might be used to produce a work of art. It is necessary to define these components that make art meaningful as new media are produced.

276

268

Lev Mills, I'm Funky But Clean, 1972. Serigraph, 3o"x22 H . Collection of Samella Lewis.

The ongoing effort of a "structurist" is to struggle with forms - to build up, modify, tear down, and build up again before the resolution of a given piece of work finally does take place. This has opened new avenues to visual expression. Certainly this new art is not quite like any art of the past. However, the times in which we live and the materials now available to use are not like anything we have ever known before. [Personal communication with the author.]

CAROL WARD (b. 1943) uses photo collage and multiple-color screens to create such prints as Foloyan [lllus. 277J, a study of tenement living. The dramatic geometric pattern evident in the print is achieved by the inclusion of such shapes as the window and the American flag. Significant among the colors used are black, red, and green, the triad symbolic of African American liberation. Like numerous other artists, Ward finds her subjects in everyday scenes involving ordinary people. Because of her fine ability as a photographer, she finds photoscreen a natural medium for her provocative visual statements.

277 Carol Ward, Foloyan, 1973. Photo-silkscreen, 40" x 30". Courtesy of the artist.

MONOPRINT

Making a monoprint involves a type of printmaking in which only one copy can be made from each prepared plate. This type of art is recognized as belonging to the oldest print category - the planographic. Felix Brunner, in his book A Handbook of Graphic Reproduction Processes, rather skeptically holds that "the monotype (monoprint) is strictly not classifiable as graphic art. . . . Only one print can be made and the intermediary of the plate is used only to obtain certain effects." The monoprint makes use of a technique in which an image is applied to a plate and lifted when paper is placed on the surface and limited pressure is applied. Since most of the pigment is removed on the first application of paper, additional prints cannot be made until another image is applied to the surface of the plate.

278

David Hammons, Couple, 1970. Bodyprint and paint. Collection of Dr. and Mrs. J. Eugene Grigsby III, Los Angeles.

DAVID HAMMONS (b. 1 9 4 3 ) is the African American artist who has contributed most to the resurgence of the basic monoprint (bodyprint). During the 1960s, Hammons produced a series of exceptional works in which he used the human body and other objects as transfer agents. Hammons capitalized on the potential of the monoprint as an avenue for experimenting with many devices and materials to produce a single print. Couple [Illus. 2 78] is an example of Hammons approach to body printing. This life-size black-and-white portrait of two figures in decorative robes demonstrates the control and technical proficiency exhibited by the artist in the execution of this complex work. In creating Couple and other works such as Injustice Case [Illus. 279], Hammons covered the forms or materials to be printed with a substance consisting of a greasy transparent base. The act of transferring the desired images to the transitional paper ground and separating the objects from the ground without smudging them presented a major challenge for the artist. When the images have been transferred to the ground, powdered pigment is then dusted over the surface, where it adheres to the grease. A strong fixing agent is then applied, and the resulting image resembles a reversed photographic negative. In a number of his compositions, David Hammons combines body printing with direct painting and sometimes serigraphy, thus producing mixed-media arrangements.

279 David Hammons, Injustice Case, 1970. Mixed media body print, 60" x 40V2".

271

MICHAEL KELLY WILLIAMS (b. 1950) has been making monoprints for

the past two decades. The method he uses to produce his prints utilizes stencils and elements of color viscosity. The color viscosity approach to monoprinting is an involved process. A zinc plate is etched or engraved to roughly two different levels, and its relief surface is either textured or left plain. Then three inks of differing tackiness, three viscosities, are applied: the thickest to the deeper recesses, the thinnest to the upper level of the intaglio, and the ink of middle viscosity to the highest of the relief surface of the plate. These inks are usually of three different colors and, since their viscosities differ, they interact somewhat unpredictably. Since the inks are applied by hand, there is another element of chance present another reason why no two prints that come off the same plate are alike. The print is pulled from a single pass through press. Suited to producing work of an abstract nature, viscosity/monoprinting is the approach that Michael Kelly Williams finds most appropriate for his style of printmaking. Around About Midnight [Illus. 280] is an impressive print in which abstract shapes are arranged to suggest human figures and stylized versions of musical instruments.

280 Michael Kelly Williams, A round About Midnight, 1984. Monoprint, 30" x 22".

272

281 Michael Kelly Williams, Isis, 1984. Monoprint, 30" x 22".

instruments. Similar to other works by Williams, this composition resembles a ritual celebration with jazz, or African American music, as the core of the ceremony. Isis [Illus. 281], another work by Michael Kelly Williams portrays the Egyptian Goddess of motherhood and fertility. This work consists of shapes that are strongly influenced by patterns traditionally used in collages and often found in African appliques of historical significance.

273

LAURIE OURLICHT (b. 1953) is another of the many printmakers who studied with Robert Blackburn at his workshop in N e w York City. In addition to her studies at other facilities in N e w York, she has lived and studied at workshops in Siena and Rome. Ourlichts recent work consists of large scale monoprints featuring images of wrestlers and bodybuilders. " T h e s e figures suggest power struggles and bravura. I've always been interested in working with the h u m a n body." Bodybuilders [Illus. 282J is a dramatic monoprint in which Ourlicht demonstrates her ability to apply color in an expressionistic manner while maintaining concise and distinctive figurative forms. Ourlicht states that her ultimate aim is to create work that is honest to herself and true to her viewers. Through her art, she is interested in expressing a quality of beauty that extends beyond the narrow limits that dominate contemporary society.

274

282

Laurie Ourlicht, Bodybuilders, 1988. Monoprint on handmade paper, 22" x 30".

GARRY BIBBS (b. I960) creates monoprints that are rich in color and complex in form and structure. He employs motifs and themes, inspired by personal myths that evoke energetic responses from viewers. In addition, Bibbs combines figures and landscapes in a surrealistic manner using a special style that he refers to as "funk art." Bibbs attributes his special feeling for color, which is essential to his style, to a former professor from California who taught him at Kentucky State University. "His California influence really opened my eyes. It was really bright, real active and colorful; just some things that I could really relate to." House Party [Illus. 283] is an example of Garry Bibbs' vivid imagination and his active symbolic vocabulary. In this print, he adopts a playful and highly emotional approach in which he creates figures that float, dance, and play against a graffiti environment. In this composition, two worlds exist concurrently and viewers are led to vicariously feel the movement of color and figures evolve into a precarious balance.

283

Garry Bibbs, House Party, 1988. Monoprint, 18" x 26".

275

PERFORMANCES/INSTALLATIONS/ENVIRONMENTS During the 1960s and 1970s, African American Artists were experimenting with works specifically designed for outdoor areas. Such works differed from traditional public monuments because, in addition to sculptural forms, artists viewed nature and the environment as essential components of their works. Earthworks, constructions, and various other kinds of projects assembled out of different materials from nature, such as stones, plants, twigs and a variety of other types of found objects, were used by many artists whose main purpose was to complement and relate to the natural order of existing outdoor spaces. Along with their increased concern for the environment, artists committed themselves to the proposition that their work should be regarded primarily as serious attempts toward improving the quality of their physical and cultural surroundings, rather than as mere commodities to be bought and sold. Parks, fields, alleys, farms and numerous other types of alternative spaces proved to be suitable sites for excavations and installations. African American artists involved in performance, installations and environmental art forms are inspired by traditions that date back to ancient times. These traditions are basic to African societies and are symbolized by the creation of shrines and the organizing of ceremonies and festivals. While Africa is recognized as the primary source for the development of ritual art forms, areas such as South America and the Caribbean Islands are also places where spiritual influences are prevalent in daily activities affecting the lives of many groups among these populations. Performance, installation and environmental art are often related to and dependent on other art forms such as painting, sculpture, drama, and dance. Artists engaged in these art forms, frequently rely on their peers working in traditional media to assist them with the activities necessary for the development and execution of projects. Artists involved in performances, installations and environmental art are primarily interested in the process, rather than the product. They act out, or construct areas of influence where spirit worlds often specify behavior and also function as the primary source in determining the quality of aesthetics. In this arena "true art" cannot be directed by the uninspired or the impure. Artists guided by these views are committed to the sacrifice of self through spiritual contemplation and expression, and aesthetic concerns. T h e communicative power of performances, spaces, and environments is designed to evoke significant memories that inform and enrich society as a whole.

276

HOUSTON CONWILL (b. 1947) decided early in his artistic career to focus on traditional values germane to his environment and his cultural heritage. Having grown up in a deeply religious family, ritual was no stranger to this artist who, in 1963, entered a monastery with the intention of becoming a Catholic priest. However, after three years of monastic life, Conwill decided that experiences as a visual artist would likely provide greater opportunities to express his deep-seated social, cultural, and spiritual commitments.

284

Houston Conwill,

The Passion of St. Matthew, Mixed media Installation.

1986 (detail).

277

As an artist, Conwill continues to probe the mysteries of the life/ death struggle where meaning and understanding tend to be evasive. In a 1986 essay for Conwills The Passion of St. Matthew [Illus. 284], Madeleine Burnside states: ... As an artist, Conwill does not press for mass subscription to any one faith or creed, no matter what his own personal beliefs might be. What he does ask is that his audience should not allow themselves to be alienated by the difficulties inherent in solving large questions, but that they should accord them their deserved seriousness and, through their own passion achieve their own understanding. In his installation, Easter Shout [Illus. 285], Houston Conwill created a work which responds to the energy and vitality of contemporary religious celebration. He extends our sensibilities beyond the realm of the traditional concepts of religion. His combination of expressionistic and formalistic environmental elements, exposes the viewer to both artistic tendencies, thereby, drawing on the full range of human perception.

285

278

Houston C o n w i l l , Easter Shout,

1981. Mixed media Installation.

JuJu Funk [Illus. 286], an earlier work by C o n w i l l , is one in which he serves as both maker and priest (shaman). T h e red carpet is placed on the floor (ground) to define the sacred space where the ritual is performed. O n e boundary is marked by a ceremonial stool, which serves as a seat for the shaman, while the other boundary is marked by a ceremonial bucket wrapped in embossed latex and bearing tiny J u J u bags. This bucket serves as a symbol of the survival tactics often used by African Americans in the Southern areas of the United States who, during periods of hardship, sustain themselves and their families by collecting and sharing unused items of foodstuffs and other materials. In JuJu Funk, Houston Conwill reaches back to the mid 1970s, during the time when he chose to abandon stretched canvas and replace it with sheets of latex, on which he embossed patterns and textures reminiscent of ancient symbols of cultural and historical significance. Houston Conwills art is a strong mixture of the richness of African and Western traditions. Acknowledging and accepting both worlds as his own enables Conwill to enlarge his perspective and contribute significantly to a broader interpretation of aesthetics.

286 Houston Conwill, Ju/u Funk, 1976. Mixed media Performance/Installation.

Houston Conwill, JuJu Funk performance.

MILDRED HOWARD (b. 1945) ended her career as a dancer when, following an accident, she realized that she would never be as good a dancer as she had been, and certainly not as good as she wanted to be. Because of her desire to continue to express herself creatively, Howard decided to spend more time making the paintings and drawings that were already an important activity for her. Because she viewed her involvement in dance as an art form, Mildred Howard believes that she simply changed mediums. The process of making art and how it makes you feel, really comes from within. The involvement gives you a sense of purpose - a sense of place. Because I draw from my background and my environment, I can see myself in all of my work. Tap: Investigation of Memory [Illus. 287] is Mildred Howards version of the past and incorporates details of how her memory of those experiences are colored by the present. Her dream about shoes and the important function tap dancing played in her family served as a principle motivation for this imaginative work. This installation, with its dearth of color, resembles a shrine in which the formal design of the shoeshine stand and the arrangement of the taps suggest a profound state of silence. 287

Mildred Howard, Tap: Investigation of Memory, 1989 (side view). Mixed media Installation, 10' high x 1 3 . 5 ' wide x 5 1 . 5 ' deep.

However, this assumption of silence is short-lived, for a hidden microphone in the shoeshine stand records the sounds of footsteps and the voices of viewers as they approach the work. Speakers mounted in the work play back every sound made by the viewer, following thirtysecond intervals. T h e thousands of taps that line the floor, along with the twenty-four pairs of shoes, suggest the presence of "greats" from the past whose names should be recorded as legends in the field of dance.

Mildred Howard, Tap: Investigation of Memory, 1989 (front view).

MARTHA JACKSON-JARVIS (b. 1952) uses the ancient medium of clay to explore and define the prevalence of spirit and substance in life and art. Her work consists of installations for interior spaces using a broad field of glazes, stains and color applications. Through her work, Jackson-Jarvis has developed an elaborate language, rich in texture and symbolism, and complex in meaning and interpretation. In speaking of her art, Martha Jackson-Jarvis says: I want to go to the beginning and search through those very basic things that work for me as an artist. These are probably things that don't get addressed publicly that often, but they go into the work. I can only hope that once I've produced the work, once I've laid it bare, that I'll indeed begin to communicate some of these things. I have to search within myself, my existence, for a functioning definition of what I believe art to be. For art is that thing that has carried me from being a student to making my way in the real world. Clay has been important to Martha Jackson-Jarvis' real world from her early childhood when she recalls accompanying her grandmother to the spring near the family home in Lynchburg, Virginia, where Jackson-Jarvis was born. One of her greatest joys was to fashion small dolls and other objects from the clay. This preference for clay continued, and through continuous study during the years that followed, she developed a great proficiency and expert means of handling the medium.

288

Martha Jackson-Jarvis, The Gathering, 1988. Ceramic shard/Installation.

282

In her installation The Gathering [Illus. 288J, Martha JacksonJarvis focuses on endowing "dead" substances with new life - a recurrent t h e m e of great interest to the artist, and one which she expresses in m a n y of her works. In The Gathering, the circular centerpiece functions as a source of vitality f r o m which pieces of richly textured ceramic forms seem to be propelled to other parts of the environment. T h e room in which the installation is assembled is visually alive and full of energy as the carefully chosen, irregularly shaped forms transform themselves into sources of power. Belena S. Chapp, Director/Curator for the University Gallery of the University of Delaware, where The Gathering was installed in January, 1988 said of this work: The start/stop action and the lively transmutation of the once formal room reveals Jackson-Jarvis' interest in the syncopated rhythms of jazz music, the profound impact of her Afro-American heritage, and the influence of the frenetic pace of her contemporary urban lifestyle. If one looks closely at the actual surfaces of the installation, a personal narrative emerges in the details of embedded bits of plates, cups, saucers, and fired and glazed clay.

Martha Jackson-Jarvis, The Gathering,

1988 (detail).

283

ALISON SAAR (b. 1956) has the unusual distinction of being part of a family in which each immediate member is a practicing artist. Her mother, father, and two sisters are all professional artists. In spite of their great admiration for each other's work they have managed to establish their individual esthetic identities. Accomplished in a variety of media, Alison Saar is equally effective as a sculptor, a painter, and as an installation artist. Having graduated from both the university and art school, she managed majors in both studio art and art history. Saar's tendency towards the intuitive developed over several years. As a small child she frequented the home of her grandmother in Watts [a community in South Los Angeles] where she was fortunate to visit the Watts Towers, a monument constructed by Simon Rodia, one of this country's most important folk artists. As a junior in college, Saar was awarded a travel grant to visit and study the works of

289

Alison Saar, Dying Slave, 1989. Wood, tin, plexiglass and nails. 9' h. Courtesy of Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles.

284

numerous folk artists in the southern United States. This experience helped to strengthen her knowledge of the intuitive tendency and enabled Saar to effectively combine it with an intellectual disposition resulting in an unique and powerful fusion. Her sculpture, Dying Slave, is an excellent example of this fusion and of her provocative work. Inspired by Michelangelo's 16th century work, Dying Slave, Alison Saar's sculpture, executed in wood as is Michelangelo's work, is an impressive example of her ability to reinterpret ideas and extend meanings. A study of both these important works leads viewers to understand that their similarity ends with their title and stance. Alison Saar's slave is interpreted from an African perspective. Both slaves clearly reflect spiritual symbolism: Michelangelo's with an agonizing gesture of hands raised as in search of an unseen power, whereas Saar's dying slave, bound in chains, has planted in his belly an instrument of spiritual power consistent with the beliefs of his ancestors. In her version of Diva [Illus. 2QO] Saar continues to create roughlyhewed sculpture of wood. This work is a brightly painted bust of a w o m a n whose eyes are made of stones. T h e expressionistic surface is bright blue. It recalls folk carvings often found in Central and South America.

290

Alison Saar, Diva,

Wood,

tin,

paint

and

1988. shell.

32" x 30" x 10". Courtesy of Jan B a u m G a l l e r y , Los Angeles.

Another aspect of Alison Saar's art is a reminder of the time she spent as an artist-in-residence at the Studio M u s e u m in H a r l e m . D u r i n g this period Alison had opportunities to view a side of A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n life seldom experienced outside H a r l e m — t h e special walk, talk, and general m a n n e r that is not revealed to outsiders or understood by strangers. Like a patois, the signs of life and symbols m a y suggest meaning; however, the substance of ideas can only be c o m m u n i c a t e d f r o m within. T h e visual language of the H a r l e m streets is captured in works such as Sweet Thang [\llus.2g1J and Champ

[Illus.

292J

In acknowledging the great art of the past Saar is proving that academia need not d i m one's vision or spirit. K n o w l e d g e of traditional and contemporary ideas can offer today's artists different ways of seeing that can result in the past giving vent to the present. Alison Saar has an u n u s u a l way of creating installations. Her individual sculptures are arranged in groups to suggest special relationships. T h e arrangements are loosely organized to stimulate ideas rather than to promote messages. T h i s concept involves the viewer's participation in a m e a n i n g f u l dialog, and encourages an ongoing relationship a m o n g the artist, the viewer, and the work of art. Alison Saar's insightful introspective vision enables her to exploit this level of c o m m u n i c a t i o n . [Illus. 293]

291 Alison Saar, Sweet Thang, 1983. Wood, tin, glass, mixed media. 19" X 17" X 5". Courtesy of Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles.

293 Alison Saar, Love Potion #g, 1988. Courtesy of Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles.

LORENZO PACE (b. 1943) celebrates the passages of life through the act of performance. His art is based on ceremonies of the ancient past, ceremonies concerned with transitions from life to death. Pace's performances suggest that a belief in myth and magic, or truths, are necessary components for the reality he seeks. Along with a company of musicians and an audience that he involves as initiates or participants, Pace attempts to evoke the powers that will allow him as the principal subject to enter the realm of his forebears and discover lost secrets of the past. Originally a sculptor, Lorenzo Pace became involved in performance following his return from numerous African countries. His study of African art led him to understand that the art of performance must be viewed as an essential part of the traditional past upon which a meaningful present and future must be based. In his Mummification Series Pace is wrapped in the symbolic manner of an early Egyptian deity. This performance piece took place in 1982 in an underground space at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The space was transformed into a sacred temple in which Pace took his audience on an excursion into the ancient where he probed the questions of life and death. Regarding his performance Pace implied that he was especially intrigued by the Egyptian mummification process, the ritual and technique of the whole preparation for the sarcophagus. "There was a strong and very defined sense of what is supposed to happen in the afterlife." He continues: "Life and death have always been a mystery to mankind. We live constantly in their presence, yet we have not touched the power of their source. "This performance is to express the entanglement of life and death, for it can be said that this cyclical ritual is a continuous evolution in the universe. "The ancient Egyptians were masters of these mysteries. They knew and understood the thread between past, present and future life. "That spiritual enlightenment, advanced technologies, and the interrelationships between his sculptural concerns and ancestral heritage have brought this artist to deep searching and to the threshold. ..."

288

294

Lorenzo Pace, Mummification

sculpture. Mixed media, life size.

Series,

1982. Lorenzo Pace wrapped as

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From Painting to Technology: Art before and into the New Millennium

IQQ0-2002 T h e development of African American art in the United States has depended largely on support systems that give artists the freedom and opportunity to explore and experiment in creating works of art. Artists now are able to sharpen their perceptions, skills, and techniques with the aid of public and private commissions and grants. Some artists, feeling hindered by the tendency in the past to categorize art according to style, have sought independent forms of expression to free themselves from fixed modes and ideas and establish their own direction. These artists do not represent the avant-garde, for their works are based on the proven ideas and artistic merits of past and present explorations. But their works do represent a deepening of cultural awareness and an evolution of identity as well as a broadening recognition of and alignment with artistic expression in diverse societies of the world. As we move into the new millennium, African American artists are expressing themselves in limitless styles and media. These artists have used their freedom of choice to take their work in new directions, based on combinations of past and present forms of expression. Such works use contemporary media, including technological media. T h e artists included in this chapter — painters and sculptors as well as those producing installation art and personal adornment — represent the many creative individuals today producing an impressive variety of work.

PAINTING KERRY JAMES MARSHALL (b. 1955), a native of Birmingham, Alabama, moved at age eight to Los Angeles, where he spent his formative years. 291

He received his bachelor of fine arts degree, in 1978, and an honorary doctorate, in 1999, from Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles. His solo exhibitions include 1980s Unique Woodcut Prints, at Koplin Gallery, West Hollywood, California, in 1997; The Garden Project, at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York City, 1999; and Kerry James Marshall: Mementos, 1998-2000, which was mounted at the Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, and traveled to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. The artist's work has appeared in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Ludwig Foundation, Vienna, Austria; Ludwig Museum/ Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium; de Beyerd, Breda, Amsterdam; Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands; and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Marshall's works are included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Studio Museum, Harlem; the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Denver Art Museum, Colorado; and the Art Institute of Chicago. During his adolescent years Marshall decided that he would work, study, practice, and gain the experience necessary to become an artist of merit and integrity. His inspiration to create pictures began when he was in kindergarten in Birmingham, where he demonstrated an unusual aptitude for art. He decided then that he wanted to make pictures like those in a scrapbook collected by his teacher, which included greeting cards drawn by artists as well as photographs and magazine clippings showing places Marshall had never imagined. By 1963 Marshall's family had moved to Los Angeles — the city that would have a significant impact on the child's life and his ambition to become an artist. The family first settled in the Nickerson Gardens public housing project in Watts, a place that would be the subject of one of Marshall's epic paintings. His family later moved to South Central Los Angeles, where Marshall set up his first studio in the family's garage, even installing a skylight to give his space the northern light artists prefer. An elementary school field trip to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art proved to be an exciting learning experience for him. It was his first visit to a museum, and he was moved to see actual works of art. He became a frequent visitor to the museum, exploring the galleries and the library for information on artists of the past and present. Through the art and literature he discovered there, he learned of the diverse cultures of the world.

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One of Marshall's formative experiences in Los Angeles was his meeting with the African American artist Charles White, then a professor at Otis Art Institute. During a class visit to White's studio on campus, Marshall noticed that White's drawings were all of African American people. Prior to seeing those works, Marshall had not considered the issue of race, but only art in and of itself. It became increasingly important to him that he see someone who looked like him creating works of art, and he too ultimately focused primarily on images of African Americans. After meeting Charles White, moreover, he determined that he would attend Otis Art Institute. He enrolled there as a regular student in 1977. Before that time, he had managed to complete three courses at the institute: one while he was still an elementary school student; another (a drawing class with Charles White) while he was in high school; and a third in the summer of 1972, when he was enrolled in an adult painting class. These classes gave Marshall firsthand knowledge of the discipline that becoming an artist would require of him. In 1978, as Marshall was completing his studies at Otis Art Institute, he began to produce socially and politically oriented collages, finding in that medium a way to build compositions without preliminary drawings. Although the subject matter was varied, the work at times included images of African Americans that became a significant feature in Marshall's later works. After graduating from Otis, Marshall returned to figurative painting but used what he had learned in making collages combining abstract and figurative elements. And he employed what he had learned from his study of the works and processes of the great masters — particularly the early European painters. He resolved to be informed, knowledgeable, and proficient enough to earn his works the esteem accorded those artists. Marshall realized early in his career that ideas about art vary widely from one society to another. In fact, none of the non-Western traditional cultures even had a word for art. What Western society has traditionally viewed as crafts, societies in Asia and Africa have defined as meaningful objects that are part of life's activities. Having chosen to work in a figurative style and to focus on people of African descent and their experiences, Marshall has incorporated many events from his own past in his compositions, culling ideas from the scrapbooks he has collected through the years as well as from photographs, history books, and even comic books and posters. Able to work in a range of media, Marshall mostly paints, but will do so only as long as the medium of paint is pertinent to his message. Marshall's depictions of African Americans focus not on individual personalities but on the larger concept of blackness, and he produces images of African American people that are both realistic and honest

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Kerry James Marshall, The Lost Boys, 1993. Collage and acrylic on canvas, 104" x 120". Courtesy of The Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa, and Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles. (Photograph courtesy Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles.)

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Kerry James Marshall, Bang, 1995. Acrylic and collage on canvas, 108" x 113". Collection of the Progressive Corporation. (Photograph courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.)

[Illus. 296}. Marshall is not averse to combining elements from African, European, and American cultures to achieve his goal of creating significant paintings. He focuses on narrative as he continues to define his own personal direction. Currently living in Chicago, he produces distinctive paintings that transcend boundaries, cultures, and traditions. (b. 1939) is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, who earned his bachelor and master of fine arts degrees from Boston University. An extraordinarily gifted artist, he has had an extensive history of solo and group exhibitions since 1970; Celebrated as a visual artist, Yarde has also been acknowledged for his outstanding teaching at several prestigious East Coast colleges and universities. He currently holds a distinguished professorship at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Yarde dedicated much of his earlier work to the personalities and themes of the African American experience. Though he has transformed his own ideas and experiences into convincing and colorful works of art, he has consistently pursued the aesthetic element. An individual who truly understands color, he is able to make it speak almost musically, in tones that vibrate. He is indeed a master of watercolor painting. The artist had his first solo show at the Studio Museum, Harlem. In that exhibition he wanted his art to reflect the lives of African American heroes such as Jack Johnson, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, and other significant figures. His intent was to speak through his art to working-class men and women, conveying a message of celebration and awareness. During his second solo exhibit at the Studio Museum, in 1977, the New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer praised him for his unusually adept use of his medium. Kramer had acknowledged Yarde in his previous New York show as a gifted artist but had expressed doubts about his choice of individual heroes. In the review of the second solo exhibition, Kramer noted the preponderance "of watercolors, and there is no doubt of his mastery here. In this medium at least, he is completely in control. Watercolor requires precision of feeling and touch, and Mr. Yarde has it. And this medium also elicits his real powers of pictorial invention." RICHARD YARDE

Some of the artist's additional solo exhibitions include Mojo Hand, which traveled from Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, to the Studio Museum in Harlem, in 1997; Recent Watercolor Studies: Works on Paper, Richard Yarde, New England Foundation for the Arts, Boston, in 1999; and Recent Works on Paper by Richard Yarde, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, Massachusetts, in 2001.

Yarde participated in group exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, in 1998, and at the N e w M u s e u m of Contemporary Art and the National Academy (both in N e w York), as well as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1999. His work was also part of the exhibit When the Spirit Moves, originating at Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D . C . , and traveling in 2000 and 2001. Yarde's works are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N e w York; the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington; the M u s e u m of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; the Studio M u seum, Harlem; the Herbert F. Johnson M u s e u m of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut. Richard Yarde has a unique way of applying watercolor. He frequently uses geometric grids formed by soft, irregular lines and value changes, which involve related shades of color. In his interior compositions he often creates two or three dimensions of projected space by applying floral patterns to contrast with the grids. His expression of space, both dynamic and dramatic, avoids the delicate qualities and romanticism traditionally found in watercolor painting. T h e artist explained his process in an interview at the Smith College Museum of Art in 1977: I start with the idea for an image which will resonate strongly in me. I construct it from a fragment of the whole. Because many of my images grow so large, I often work flat on the floor. I establish a palette, often from the memory of a color in a dream. I arbitrarily apply an irregular rectangle of color and then I respond to that until the surface is covered. The grid of irregular rectangles is really my main vocabulary. I try to get the negative space to read as positive space. I come back in later and paint the figurative elements. Working this way gives me a lot of flexibility. T h e Apartment series, which includes the 1987 opaque watercolor Edgar Alone [lllus. 297], takes the viewer back to Yarde's childhood. He depicts scenes from life in the 1940s and 1950s that recall the Caribbean heritage of his parents, with its decorative modes. In 1991 Richard Yarde suffered a debilitating illness resulting in kidney failure. He was unable to teach or produce art for at least a year. His illness limited his ability to move his limbs and left him unable to speak. He believed at one time that he would surely die. Refusing to succumb to what many would have accepted as their fate, however, Yarde fought back: " M y illness forced me to confront another aspect of my humanity: my need [for] and dependence on other people and on my spirituality."

297 Richard Yarde, Apartment Series: Edgar Alone, 1987. Opaque watercolor, 60" x 97".

Having confronted death, the artist understood more profoundly the innermost aspects of mind, body, and soul. He discovered that the catastrophic illness had thrust him into a new reality, dramatically transforming his art. He continued to produce remarkable work. Although his recovery remains incomplete, and he awaits a kidney donation, spending many hours each day in dialysis, his determination to use his art as a healing force has brought an extraordinary direction to his work. As Yarde focused on the workings of his mind and body, he established a closer relation to the universe. In the aftermath of his struggle to regain control of his body, he began to use the grids he had placed in the background of his earlier works, relating them now to the body. Yarde appeared to be seeking access to the spiritual. In 1993 the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, in the Roxbury area of Boston, mounted a major retrospective of Yarde's work. Among the paintings exhibited, in a section of the retrospective called "Memory Theatre," was a 1992 triptych, Josephine's Baffle, in homage to the internationally renowned entertainer Josephine Baker. In it Baker is presented in her characteristic costume, bare-breasted, with arms extended like a winged bird. T h e foliage behind her seems to represent the connection between nature, body, and spirit. In another section of the retrospective Yarde focused on a series titled Self that marks a period of expanded self-exploration. In these works the artist visually defines himself using heads, hands, and other body parts whose surface is covered with dots that appear to penetrate 297

298 Richard Yarde, Mojo Hand, 1995-96. Opaque and transparent watercolor, 76 " x 146".

and give life and light to the inner self. The artist said that he used dots "because visually I liked the patterns. I feel, for me, they represent also the mystery of basic building blocks of life that hold us together." The artist frequently listens to blues and jazz while working, borrowing their improvisational methods to compose his art. In Mojo Hand [Illus. 298j, a name Yarde adopted from a Lightnin' Hopkins blues song, the artist floats the X-ray image of a torso against a background of squares in rich blues that could be interpreted as sky, sea, or an operating theater of the spirit. On either side of the torso are six pairs of hands, palms fanned in a gesture of blessing. Nearby are patterns of dots that look like cosmic formations of stars but are actually the Twenty-third Psalm written in Braille. In 1996 Yarde created a diptych titled Back with Dots 1, a monumental work in which he combined grids and dots with two massive backs in which hands and cranium are highlighted, as if charged with electric or cosmic forces. The artist has said of these nude portraits that before his illness he had considered nudity improper, but now he believes he no longer has anything to hide. His figures generally adopt simple, straightforward poses. Yarde has used his own X-rays as a reference point for some of his current works, creating lyrical, fluid bluegray paintings, a marked change in his palette. Mojo Hand and Ringshout [Illus. 299J are excellent examples of Yarde's recent works. Yarde has said that his "early work is all about pride, heroism and the struggle to be creative. Now, I am dealing with the contradictions, the fragility. There are tremendous contradictions in the roles required

299 Richard Yarde, Ringshout, Watercolor and gouache. Two panels, 120" x 120". (Photograph by S. Petegorsky.)

of African-American males in this society, which contribute to the pressure we live under, and they can be deadly. These contradictions are in the very fiber of my work." He continues to produce exceptional paintings, as powerful as those of any of the great masters of watercolor. M A R Y LOVELACE O ' N E A L (b. 1942) h a s p r o d u c e d o u t s t a n d i n g

and

provocative works for more than three decades. A master colorisi and an exponent of Abstract Expressionism, she paints powerful, energetic large-format works, forceful and explosive, that dominate the space around them. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, O'Neal earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Howard University in Washington, D . C . , in 1964. She received a master of fine arts from Columbia University in New York City in 1969. She has spent most of her professional career in northern California, where she continues to work as an artist and also serves as professor of art at the University of California, Berkeley. O'Neal has received numerous national and international awards and honors. Recent solo and group exhibitions of her work include those at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Bomani Gallery, San Francisco; the Stella Jones Gallery, N e w Orleans; the Mississippi Museum of Modern Art, Jackson; the National M u s e u m of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile; and the Musée d A r t Contemporaine de Chamalières, France. Her work is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the National M u s e u m of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile; the National Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, San José, Costa Rica; Cité International des Arts, Paris; the

2000.

Brooklyn Museum, N e w York; and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D . C . According to the artist and teacher Robert Colescott, "Mary Lovelace O'Neal is one of the most important painters of this time . . . , one of a dying breed of painterly painters. Her sense of color is a wonder, and there is a great richness of c o n t e n t . . . in the form and color as well as representation in her work." Following World War II both Figurative and Abstract Expressionism developed as means by which artists asserted their personality, identity, and individuality. T h e Expressionist artists respond intuitively to their environment and their own life experiences. T h e resulting works call for intense examination on the part of viewers. T h e message is there for us to discover; without study and concentration, however, we are likely to miss it. In her work as an Abstract Expressionist, Mary Lovelace O'Neal expresses the ideas and experiences of the many cultures that have influenced her — she has traveled to France, C h i n a , and Chile as well as to North and West Africa. Her creative vocabulary is expansive, and her art contains many facets of her life experiences. O'Neal consistently makes color a prevailing element in her work. Her vibrant colors lodge themselves in the mind's eye. They combine with a sense of turbulent movement to express the artist's intense emotional involvement. In 1990 Robert McDonald, the director of the de Saisset M u s e u m at the University of Santa Clara, California, said of the artist that she "uses each of her canvases as an arena of improvisation in which she struggles to create a work of art whose coherence satisfies her and instructs and delights us. T h e issues of large scale, an unlimited vocabulary of forms, and a full palette of colors present initially, ironically, a tyranny of free choice." Following a visit to North Africa in 1988, O'Neal added another cultural dimension to her canvases. She began to present atmospheric forms in a fractured, shallow space and to use richly keyed color with gestural overtones, and she continues to employ these methods. Figurative forms reappeared, reminiscent of her works of the 1970s, but now those forms are those of Moroccan market women, portrayed in O'Neal's Desert Women Series [Illus. 300] — monotypes executed on glass in 1990-92. In these works figures are defined by calligraphic lines applied in a brisk expressionistic manner, retaining the power and energy of Abstract Expressionism. O'Neal's recent works reflect a different and more calming environment than past works as she produces paintings concerned with her home life and elements of her surroundings, like blossoming plants and trees, that are new and fresh to her [Illus. 301-302]. According to the artist,

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300 Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Desert Women Series, 1990-92. Monotype, 30" x 40".

301 Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Set Them Wings on That Table, 1998. Oil on canvas, 7' x 5'.

The first plant I bought, a hibiscus, appeared magically in a painting. Then I started making other kinds of flowers. Then I mixed in memories of North Africa — the desert women and the markets. The experience is as if I'm using new words in my works, a new vocabulary. It doesn't destroy the old vocabulary, but the new works come to the fore. A synthesis of past and present is evident in these recent works. O'Neal's expressionism has become more personal, and the artist seems willing to imply narratives. Her gestures, unlike the more ab301

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Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Orgasma Anticannonica,

1999. Oil on canvas, 7' x 12'.

stract brushstrokes of her earlier work, have begun to reveal identities, forms within her environment, such as plants, flowers, and stones, along with references to clouds and sky. She continues to execute her art in large-format works that juxtapose lights and darks and frequently use calligraphic lines to define and give motion to her shapes. Complex internal forces of expressionism and references to recent experiences reveal themselves in these compositions, which convey conviction through strength and beauty. DANNY SIMMONS (b. 1953) is an artist of many facets. His concern for community, for giving it the opportunity to appreciate art, and his concern for underrepresented artists are at the forefront of his activities. While many artists focus on their own careers, Simmons has devoted much of his time to assisting other artists, particularly emerging practitioners of abstract art, giving them exhibition space in his Corridor Gallery in Brooklyn. In addition, he is president and founder of Rush Arts, a gallery in the Chelsea district of New York City, as well as curator of two internet galleries. Simmons's experiences have nurtured his two goals: "to use my paintings to provoke thought and dialogue about the social and cultural issues facing the black community and . . . the community of man as a whole" and "to help other artists to get a start in the art world." His intense interest in others has infused and enriched his own artistic growth and expression. Working in oil and pastels on canvas and paper, this dedicated artist has created an

impressive body of work that has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums. Among the artist's solo exhibitions are those at the U F A Gallery, N e w York, in 2000; and the Noel Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Hammonds House Galleries, Atlanta, Georgia, in 2001. His group exhibitions include shows at the Jewish M u s e u m , N e w York, and the Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D . C . , in 1999; the Hampton University Museum, Virginia, and the Studio M u seum, Harlem, in 2000; and the Skoto Gallery, N e w York, in 2001. Raised in N e w York in a middle-class family where high achievement was the norm, Danny Simmons was encouraged from an early age to seek experiences that would contribute to his becoming an artist. With a mother who was an amateur painter and a father who was a professor of African American history, as well as brothers who are gifted musicians, Simmons lived in a creative home that emphasized learning and imaginative expression. Because of his extraordinary exposure to the arts, Simmons did not regard art school as a necessity and instead pursued an undergraduate degree in social work and a master's degree in public finance, both of which prepared him to better understand art as a social, political, and cultural force. Simmons became actively involved with the Black Panther Party and, later, the hippie drug culture. He used the understanding of life on the streets he gained to broaden his perspective and to relate to the needs of ordinary people: As a young man, I embraced the philosophy of existentialism and the notion that the universal human condition is one of chaos and struggle. I never saw African American identity as separate from the human condition. For African Americans, ours is a social, political, and economic struggle. Bui for all human beings, there is the struggle that's tied to our relationship to God and nature. All beings go through it. There is the African American struggle and there is the human struggle. Both are depicted in my paintings. Danny Simmons combines music, visual art, dance, and literature in his work. T h e painter's language is inspired by African art and his own experience, and he freely pursues new ideas and directions that present themselves. During his life he has learned from artists of African descent in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America; many of those artists are represented in his private collection. That . collection reveals his preference for the innovative and spiritually oriented artists of Africa and the Caribbean, as well as for the geometric paintings of the Australian Aborigines. For Simmons these works express "intellectual and spiritual freedom where logic, lines, and design conform."

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Wilfredo L a m , a preeminent twentieth-century Cuban-born artist, particularly influenced Simmons's art, which reflects both African and Asian qualities. His work can be viewed as both geometric abstractionism and Abstract Expressionism. Abstract designs in African traditions generally convey cultural, social, and spiritual ideas. Simmons, like Lam, establishes a visual link between African sensibility and European traditions. He allows his African roots to take precedence, however, whereas many African American artists prior to the 1960s learned the African tradition only indirectly, in Paris. In developing a style that is his alone, Simmons has assimilated the influences of the generations of artists preceding him as well as a range of African cultural traditions. T h e presence of African spirits is pervasive in his work, which synthesizes artistic value and philosophical significance. For example, Simmons sees dots, frequently projected on traditional African sculptural figures by healers, as points of spiritual focus and has incorporated them into his work in different sizes and colors [Illus. 303-304]. His inspiration grows out of direct communication with African spirits through dialogues that are possible only for someone who lives in an environment where ancestral objects are part of everyday life. He has never held himself aloof from the struggles of ordinary people. His commitment is clear in his deeds and his determination to make a difference.

303 Danny Simmons, Maiden Voyage, 1999. Oil on canvas, 30" x 30".

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304

Danny Simmons,

Harmony, 2000. Oil on paper, 22" x 30". (Photograph by Mark L. Blackshear.)

SCULPTURE MARTIN PAYTON (b. 1948) is a N e w Orleans sculptor who creates his art primarily in the spirit of African cultural traditions. After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting from Xavier University, N e w Orleans, in 1973, he received a master of fine arts from Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1975. He has been associate professor in the Art Department, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, since 1990. Soon after graduation Payton became dissatisfied with painting and decided that he needed to work in an art form that allowed for greater spatial expression. Consequently, in the late 1970s he enrolled in an industrial welding course. Midway through the course he stopped painting altogether and began making sculptures of welded steel. He investigated a range of artistic possibilities using this material, associated with industrial technology and traditional metalworking. He began producing both simple and complex effects with sculpted spaces and creating openwork with solids forming contours and boundaries.

Impressed with the power and strength of steel, Payton believes it is an appropriate material for expressing both African and African American traditions. A great many of the West Africans who were enslaved and brought to this country had been accomplished metalsmiths in their homeland; they continued to use their skills on plantations in the South, particularly in Louisiana and South Carolina. As a New Orleans native, Payton was exposed to the strong African influences that persist there. In the French Quarter, for example, the magnificent iron grillwork originally produced by slaves is characteristic of the architecture, lining the balconies and the entries to courtyards. African influences are also evident in festivals, reenactments of African celebrations in New Orleans's Congo Square, where African slaves once gathered to dance to the bamboula, an African drum. Another African tradition is to place inverted glass vessels on a grave to symbolize libations to departed spirits. The distinctive sounds and voices of the New Orleans jazz musicians, moreover, represent the spirit and traditions of those descended from African slaves. Jazz in particular has informed and inspired Martin Payton's works [Illus. 305-306]. When Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd, director and curator of the Visual Arts Department at Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, interviewed the artist in 2001, he commented on the West African influences prevalent in his native city: Here in New Orleans, African American musicians are such a valuable and important repository. They held on to the culture through all those chants and polyrhythms and they kept it, whereas writers and visual artists were expressing themselves in almost purely European modes. So I'm trying to take cues from those who worked in an improvisational manner and created all these beautiful things and held on to our culture. Among Martin Payton's solo exhibitions are those at the LeMoyne Art Foundation, Tallahassee, Florida, in 1988; the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, in 1998; L S U Sculpture Park, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, in 1999; and the Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, in 2001. The artist has been included in group exhibits at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans; Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans; Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Texas; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the New Orleans Museum of Art; and the Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans. As an artist Martin Payton strives to create sculpture that is natural and richly organic. He prefers to use rusted steel and found materials because he believes that such items have life:

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305 Martin Payton, Oya, 1998. Welded steel, 73" x 28" x 18". (Photograph by Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans.)

306 Martin Payton, Basie, 1999. Welded steel, 64" x 45" x 10". (Photograph by MaPo Kinnord-Payton.)

I go out and I find these materials wherever they happen to be, and they have a voice, they have something to say. They have a history of supporting some structure, whether it's a house or bridge, being of service in this society. And the dings, marks, and rustings — whatever happened to these pieces — help to inform the work. I think all of that is important. Martin Payton's art epitomizes his dedication to a rich cultural tradition and its inspirational and educational value.

CHAKAIA BOOKER (b. 1953) grew up in Newark, New Jersey. An innovative artist specializing in sculpture made principally from used automobile and bicycle tires, she says that she is "a narrative environmental sculptor whose work acknowledges the struggles and the victories in human aspirations and involvement. My art focuses on social and cultural issues, on being female, and on the creative diversity of found objects which are metamorphosed into works of art. The work expresses my observations of life." The tires that are her medium give her work pliancy and flexibility, and make it changeable. Although she uses machine-made materials, she breaks free of their more industrial aspects, those associated with their original use that involve rigorous processes with little or no room for imperfections. Echoes in Black (Industrialization Cicatrization) (1997) is an effective example of this transformative process.

The artist's studio in Harlem is filled with used materials to be recycled into works of art that challenge and inspire the participation of the viewer. According to Booker, "People looking at my work usually start to question structure, rules and society" (New York Newsday, November 10, 1994). Booker regards her medium as fundamental to the expression of her ideas and beliefs. She associates the color and design of the tires with the abstract patterns and motifs found in African textiles and engraved or painted on the exterior walls of African buildings. The color is also important to Booker for its relation to the race of African peoples. The worn treads symbolize the effects of life, as events and experiences wear people down and they lose some of their vitality and stamina. The circular shape of the tires suggests mobility but also limitations, as we move in circles, bound to old ideas, old attitudes, and old patterns of behavior. The tire's shape associates it too with union, the joining of hands or spirits in a cause. Booker's work inspires the viewer to consider the circle in the traditional African context, where it represents the cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. The artist has indicated that she hopes the circular form, which reflects people's struggle against the destructive influences of society, can inspire viewers to imagine breaking free from whatever constrains and limits them. Although she creates her sculptures with the plight of African Americans in mind, in multiple ways those works address universal human experience — the people pained by what Booker has described as "unmet needs." The works represent the fragmented lives of oppressed people: education delayed or not completed, the difficulties of simply surviving and maintaining their families and communities, and their sense of nature and the environment. Chakaia Booker's art form profoundly recalls the southern tradition of African Americans who created "something from nothing," who used discarded materials, transforming them into innovative and significant works of art.

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307 Chakaia Booker, Dorothy Shoes, 1994. Rubber tire, wood, and paint, 26" x 19" x 18/2".

In Dorothy Shoes [Illus. joy] of 1994, an assemblage of tires painted red and mounted on a milk crate, Booker suggests a reality different from that presented in the film The Wizard of Oz — oppressed African Americans have little expectation that such shoes might provide a magical or dreamlike experience for them. Booker often focuses on subjects that involve female sensibilities. Sculptures such as Wrench (Wench) of 1999 and Chakaia Reclining Torso Breast Feeding Herself (2000) refer to the feminine experience — some of it mirroring the artist's own — and speak of needs not met by partners, family, or community. It's So Hard to Be Green [Illus. 308], included in the Whitney Biennial Exhibition 2000, is among the numerous sculptures art critics have praised for their exceptional quality. Francine Prose, in Leisure and Arts, described it as "an explosive, original, intensely energized and utterly fresh use of an unlikely medium." Chakaia Booker holds a master of fine arts degree from the City College of New York and has been awarded numerous scholarships and fellowships from sources that include the Joan Mitchell Founda-

308 Chakaia Booker, It's So Hard to Be Green, 2000. Rubber tire and wood, 12/2' x 21' x 24".

tion (1995-96), the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., Art Fund, Inc. (1999), and Anonymous Was a Woman (2000). Booker's solo exhibitions include the Neuherger Biennial Exhibition of Public Art, Purchase College, State University of New York (1997); the Industrial Subliminal-I-zation, Laumeier Sculpture Park and Museum, St. Louis, Missouri (1999); and New Sculptures, Marlborough Chelsea, New York (2000). Among the group exhibitions in which she has participated are Twentieth Century American Sculpture at the White House (1996); Passages: Contemporary Art in Transition, the Studio Museum, Harlem, and the Chicago Cultural Center (1999); the N'Namdi Art Gallery, Chicago (2000); and the Whitney Biennial Exhibition 2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. SONYA CLARK (b. 1967) was reared in Washington, D . C . , and now

lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and Madison, Wisconsin, where she is a member of the faculty at the University of Wisconsin. She earned a bachelor of fine arts degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993 and a master of fine arts at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 1995. Clark creates sculptures involving meticulous bead and fiber work. She combines embroidery, weaving, dyeing, and crochet, using materials such as cloth, metal, glass beads, silk, wire, nails, hairpins, and copper to create complex works of art. Clark's solo exhibits include Diadems: Recent Sculptural Headdresses by Sonya Clark, at the Museum of Decorative Art in Montreal, Canada, in 1998; Head Ways, at YMI Cultural Center, Asheville, North Carolina, in 2000; and Sensory Perceptions, at Galerie Fran310

coise e.s.f., Lutherville, Maryland, and Couples, Duples, Bineries, and Twins, at Anderson Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan, both in 2001. Clark has taken part in group exhibitions at a range of galleries and museums in and outside the United States: Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus; University of Hawaii Art Gallery, Honolulu; American Cultural Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Hampton University Museum, Virginia; American Craft Museum, New York; Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey; the Oakland Museum of California; the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; the St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri; the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska; the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; U C L A Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles; Natal Society of the Arts, Durban, South Africa; and the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Florida. Sonya Clark has said of her art and beliefs: "The head is a sacred place, the center where spiritual and cultural influences are processed and retained. The sculptural headdresses I create are repositories for my interest in spirituality, psychology and empowerment as they relate to African identity in the diaspora." With her focus on the head, Clark draws heavily on her knowledge of African art, particularly ancient African crowns and African American headwear and hairstyles [Illus. 309]. A first-generation American of African-Caribbean heritage, she regards herself as an inheritor of the African craft continuum. Fusing a variety of materials, the artist produces works in contemporary forms that are rooted in tradition. For Clark, the head is an avenue of thought, sight, sound, speech, and breath as well as a home for the soul [Illus. 310]. According to Jodie Clowes, associate curator of decorative art at the Milwaukee Art Museum, in the winter 2000 issue of Surface Design Journal, It is this understanding of the head's spiritual importance, drawn from African tradition — particularly the Yoruba concept of asé, the divine life energy which moves in and out of the body through the head — that drives Clark's interest in headdresses and hairstyles. If the head houses the spirit, then its adornment and protection is a sacred act of reverence and celebration. Clark conceives her headdresses to articulate and extend communication with the spirit world, marking and strengthening a channel for the soul. The spiritual references in Clark's work reach as far back as 1000 A.D., when Nigerians were producing sculptures of terra-cotta, wood, and bronze to celebrate their leadership and their heritage. The city of Ife in western Nigeria is regarded as the spiritual capital of the Yoruba peoples, whose cultural influence has spread to many parts of the world, including the United States, the Caribbean, and Central and 311

309 Sonya Clark, Bristle Sprout, 1996. Linen, beads, and copper tacks, 8" x 8" x 8". (Photograph by J. Nedresky.)

310

Sonya Clark, Eye to Eye, 2001. Found glasses and beads. (Photograph by Tom Mclnvaille.)

South America. In that culture, and in the cultures of other parts of Africa, the heads of rulers were represented naturalistically but with somewhat exaggerated features to reflect the belief that the head is the center of being and the source of power and intelligence. Sonya Clark also draws inspiration from more contemporary sources, the braids, Rastafarian dreadlocks, and Afros that originated in Africa and became popular in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s and experienced a revival in 2001-02. Clark believes that these styles deserve the same consideration as African headdresses of earlier times. Contemporary African American hairstyles involve beads that are woven into braids. According to Clark, glass beads in her work have an important symbolic and historical value: Beadwork is another medium ... for my interest in identity and communication. Beads connect because they have holes through which thread can pass. People communicate with each other because we have holes (eyes, ears, mouths, etc.) through which our inner thoughts can pass. Often I use beadwork as the conduit between two objects or two people to indicate communication and connection. The Yoruba in Nigeria have a saying, ikeke l'omo, which translates as "beads are like children." The more beads one stitches or strings together, the less likely the beadwork will break. The beads protect each other just as communities do. There is safety in numbers and power in accumulation. The Yoruba traditionally value having many children to ensure that there will be more people to communicate their stories to the next generation. . . . The beads become the connection between the generations. Cultural customs and objects we have regarded as commonplace take on new significance and value in Sonya Clark's artwork. Its complexity, breadth of expression, and depth of symbolism enable us to expand our perceptions of life and art.

INSTALLATION ART ANNETTE LAWRENCE (b. 1965) spent her childhood in Rockville Center, New York, and currently lives in Denton, Texas. She earned her bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Hartford, Connecticut, and a master of fine arts from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Initially interested in graphic design, Lawrence expanded her graduate studies in 1988 to include courses in sculpture at the College of Creative Arts at West Virginia University, in Morgantown. Her studies in design and in sculpture laid the foundation for her current work as an environmental artist. 313

3ii Annette Lawrence, Installation, African American Museum, Dallas, Texas, September 11-December 11, 1998. (Photograph by Alex Contreras.)

/ ;

H The artist's solo exhibitions include Annette Lawrence Installation, African American Museum, Dallas, Texas, and Recent Works, Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa, both in 1998; First Dance (installation), Dallas Visual Arts Center, in 1999; Indigo Sun, Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas, in 2000; and Annette Lawrence, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2001. Her recent group exhibitions include the Whitney Biennial Exhibition 1997, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and a show at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, in 1999; Project Row Houses, Houston, in 2000; and an exhibit at the African American Museum, Dallas, in 2001. Lawrence's works are in the collections of the Jack S. Blanton Mu314

seum of Art, University of Texas, Austin; the Dallas M u s e u m of Art; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Environmental works are usually created and installed in a particular location as temporary exhibits. If the artist decides to move the project to other venues, the specific elements of the installation may change. As a consequence, an artist like Lawrence conceives the original design to accommodate both its original site and subsequent venues. Annette Lawrence sought alternatives to traditional forms and searched for more expressive ways to create art. Interested in exploring the uses of space in her installations, Lawrence began using industrial materials, including string, paint, and glue [Illus. 311]. T h e resulting works combine sensuous and abstract minimalist forms that connect with real-world ideas. Mathematics and architecture have served Lawrence as liberating influences in her art. Using string, paper, and tape, she projects space as shape in her compositions. T h e string, anchored to wall, ceiling, and floor, makes mysterious and complex forms. Lawrence orchestrates space and shape so that the works seem to expand and contract when viewed from different perspectives, sometimes producing a mesmerizing, even confounding, effect on the viewer. T h e string compositions may look like musical instruments, flowing water, or shimmering lights [Illus. 312]. Lines of string appear and disappear in space as light passes over and through the work [Illus. 313]. T h e formation seems to pulsate with energy as it reshapes the space surrounding it.

312 Annette Lawrence, Concentrations: 36, 2000. Dallas Museum of Art, Texas. (Photograph by Tom Jenkins.)

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313 Annette Lawrence, Transparent/Opaque, 2000. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor. (Photograph by Pat Young.)

Annette Lawrence's work allows viewers to use their imagination to experience a marvelous tension, luminosity, and order. WILLIE LITTLE (b. 1961) is a North Carolina native currently living in Charlotte. He focuses in his art on the traditions of his close-knit family and his recollections of childhood on a tobacco farm, remembering that "all the elders, my mother, father, and grandparents were an integral part of my life T h e landscape with its old tobacco barns and old farm equipment is inspiring. Parts of eastern North Carolina are unique because they are frozen in time." Little believes his art reflects "the extraordinary within everyday life." Like the Harlem Renaissance artists Melvin Gray Johnson, Palmer Hayden, and William Henry Johnson, he depicts ordinary people. Little attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Like many students from rural communities, Little chose not to reveal the true circumstances of his family. When he was asked about his father's occupation, he usually said he was a storeowner. That claim was partly true: in addition to farming, his father ran what was a general store by day and an illegal juke joint by night. People came from great distances to drink, dance, and socialize there. Such places were common in African American communities in the rural South like Pactolus Township, where Little's family lived. Little later drew on his memories of the juke joints and the people who frequented them as a resource in his art. After beginning studies in art at the University of North Carolina, Little changed his major to communications on the advice of friends, who convinced him he could not earn a living in art. After graduat-

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ing, however, he realized that his passion for art remained strong and that he could apply his communications skills to making works of art. Among the artist's solo exhibitions are those at the Harriet Tubman African-American Museum, Macon, Georgia, in 1997; the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History, Detroit, Michigan, in 1998; and the Afro-American Cultural Center, Charlotte, in 1999. In 2000 his exhibition Through the Window into My Grandmother's Garden was on view at Noel Gallery, Charlotte, and his Juke Joint (installation) could be seen at the African American Museum in Dallas, Texas. Little has participated in group shows at the LewAllen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2000, and at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, in 2001. A multimedia installation artist, Little was driven to tell the stories that formed his life: "Like the tradition of the griot, I pass on the history and share the often untold stories through my visual medium. I utilize vintage family photographs, found objects, and personal narratives. Then I hold them together with paint like an embrace and house them in shadow boxes made of wood from the region." The artist's touring installation work, Juke Joint, includes studies of the colorful patrons of his father's nighttime place of business. For example, in a dark and smoky environment several mannequins, made of paper, clay, peatmoss, and acrylic paint, enjoy the music and the rural culture of a bygone era [Illus. 314}. As Little describes these figures, Romie Dee "had a golf ball-sized goiter"; Miss Margaret Washington (in a raffia wig) "was a dark, slender dignified woman"; and Mr. William Godley was "tall" and "lanky . . . with two long, yellowing

314 Willie Little, Juke Joint: Romie Dee, Miss Margaret, and Mr. William Godley, series, 1996-. Mixed-media installation.

317

315 Willie Little, Kin Folks, 1998. Window, mixed media, 36" x 24".

walruslike teeth. That man did love to dance." Little uses audio tracks installed in an actual jukebox to re-create the setting. Juke Joint is a portal through time to a vanished way of life. Kin Folks, a collection of thirteen shadow boxes filled with memorabilia, brings to life aunts, uncles, and cousins, including Cake, the Chitlin Queen, and Great Aunt Rachel [Illus. 315]. In fact, the artist's grandmother, whom Little describes as the family matriarch, best remembered "the good old days" and passed on those memories to other family members. The Good Ol' Days, a mixed-media assemblage from Little's Kin Folks series, includes sepia-tinted family photographs, found objects, and narrative text. The work is presented in folk style, with discarded pieces of wood encasing the vignettes, each representing a specific memory. Poignant phrases written on the surface of the piece in cursive relate the memory of a person or experience, binding the series together. Willie Little's interest in traditions and his determination to document the everyday experiences of ordinary people make his art speak across the boundaries of race and culture. 318

MIXED MEDIA ART (b. 1949), a native of Atlanta, Georgia, received a bachelor of arts degree in photography and art history from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, in 1980. She earned a master's degree in modern European and American art and a doctorate in twentiethcentury American art and culture from Emory University, Institute of Liberal Arts, Atlanta, in 1992 and 1994. Amaki has served as an instructor in art history, most notably at Spelman College in Atlanta, and is currently assistant professor of Black American Studies for the Art History Department at the University of Delaware, Newark. Amaki was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in photography in 1995. Her work is in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and the Tubman Museum in Athens, Georgia. The artist's solo exhibitions include Women Who Lived and Sang the Blues, Hughley Gallery, Atlanta, 1991, and the Light Factory, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1993; Buttons and Blues, Atlanta Financial Center, 1994, and Emory University Psychology Building, Atlanta, 1995; When Duty Whispers, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, Texas, 1995; and When Duty Whispers, Part 2, Hammonds House Galleries, Atlanta, 1999-2000. Amaki has taken part in group exhibitions at the Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, in 1985; Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, in 1993; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1994; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, in 1995; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., in 2000; and LewAllen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1998 and 2001. Amaki uses photography in portraying African American culture. The artist assembles photographs of people known and unknown, combining them with fabrics, buttons, music, and storytelling. These works mix the familiar with the bizarre to reflect the historical experiences of African Americans in the United States [Illus. 316-py]. The intimate portrait of life, family, and heritage that Amaki presents is both informative and stimulating. Amaki's compositions address not only a history of African Americans, but also women's domestic experiences — their creation of something useful and practical from discarded materials, the something-made-from-nothing that sustains families living under oppressive circumstances. Incorporating personal, historical, domestic, and political impressions, Amaki creates portraits of individuals, families, or groups of people, remembered or imagined, interweaving her own experiences with those of her community. Donald D. Keyes, the curator of paintings at the Georgia Museum AMALIA AMAKI

319

316

Amalia Amaki, The Last Two-Step #1, 1999. Mixed media, 48" x 36". Collection of the City of Atlanta and Hartsfield International Airport. (Photograph by the artist.)

317 Amalia Amaki, Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue #16, 1997. Mixed media, 48" x 32". (Photograph by the artist.)

of Art, Athens, describing Amaki's art in the Southern Arts Federation Supplement to Aperture Magazine, suggests that it addresses the misconceptions resulting from information based on false assumptions: if we do not simply accept everything we are taught, we open ourselves to new discoveries and enlightenment. Amalia Amaki's work inspires the viewer to consider another, often hidden, side of the story. RADCLIFFE BAILEY (b. 1973) began his life in Bridgeton, in rural New Jersey, moving with his family when he was five years old to Atlanta, Georgia, where he continues to live and work. In 1991 he received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Atlanta College of Art. Following his graduation, Bailey exhibited widely. His solo exhibitions include Recent Works, Arthur Roger Gallery, N e w Orleans, Louisiana, and New Works on Paper, at Hammonds House Galleries, Atlanta, in 1997; Radcliffe Bailey, at Albany M u s e u m of Art, Georgia, and Date of Arrival, at David Beitzel Gallery, N e w York City, in 1998; Kindred, at Jack Shainman Gallery, N e w York City, in 1999; and Radcliffe Bailey: The Magic City, at the Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri, and Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, in 2000. T h e artist participated in group exhibitions at the Studio M u s e u m , Harlem, and the High M u s e u m of Art, Atlanta, in 1994; Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, in 1996; the Cline LewAllen Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1997; the Samuel P. H a m M u s e u m of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, and the San Francisco International Art Exposition, Fay G o l d Gallery, California, in 1998; University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, in 1999; and the Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington, in 2000. Bailey's philosophy of art is closely tied to his bicultural heritage as an African American and Native American. These cultures have much in common, particularly their view of what the Western world calls art. In both traditional African and Asian cultures, art is inseparable from life. Always functional and related to everyday life, it also informs and educates spiritually. Both cultures, moreover, emphasize ceremonies that combine music, dance, and visual arts to create a whole. With this powerful fusion of cultures and his knowledge of contemporary Western art, Bailey has produced works that he feels express his thoughts and ideas. Music is an integral part of his art. As he explains it, I try to create a ritual to begin each painting. My starting point is frequently . . . listening to music. Music by jazz greats such as John Coltrane. . . . I feel a kinship with Sun-Ra. . . . He fuses different sounds from different time periods, and also . . . different African instruments. I look at him as a big influence, especially how he moved, and his attitude toward space.

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318 Radcliffe Bailey, Roots That Never Die, 1998. Mixed media, 90" x 90".

319 Radcliffe Bailey, Untitled, 1999. Mixed media on wood, 90" x 90" x 5".

Bailey works on several pieces of art at one time. He does not make preliminary sketches or drawings when beginning a painting but instead works directly on the canvas, moving freely and swiftly back and forth between the pieces. He skillfully composes and organizes as he creates his works with brisk and spontaneous brushstrokes. In numerous compositions the artist uses photographs given to him by his grandmother, some of which date back to the Civil War and document the family members who served in it. Bailey links his own past to these photographs [Illus. 318-pg]: "If I use something from the past, like a photograph, I try to use it to move forward It's hard to work with photographs of ancestors. That's the reason why I don't necessarily put the images in my work at first, because it's easy for the image to predict the painting." T h e art of Radcliffe Bailey is challenging. It includes variations in expression that are layered, so that each application of paint has a distinct identity. In their completed state, Bailey's compositions offer viewers bold, complex, and rewarding experiences. His work is as much about life as about art. He makes a complex self-portrait of his evolving vision of life as he experiences it through his ancestors and the visual artists and musicians whose works he deeply admires.

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DIGITAL/COMPUTER ART L. PERKINS (b. 1948) grew up in Chicago and currently lives in San Francisco. She received her bachelor of arts degree from California State University, Los Angeles, School of Fine Arts. Afterward she worked as a freelance graphic artist and designer, subsequently earning a master in design studies in 1990 and a doctorate in design in 1993 from Harvard University School of Design, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Perkins has served as an instructor of design at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, as a teaching assistant/research fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and as a computer graphics instructor at the Boston Architectural Center.

ANGELA

Angela Perkins represents a relatively new and rapidly developing group of artists using computer technology as an art form. When she was a fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988, she became interested in computer graphics. (She had already explored holography and laser imagery.) The incandescent light of computers and the luminous colors visible on their screens fascinated her. For her, "the process of making art using the computer... [was] as magical as using a brush, [or] crayon o r . . . crafting. Whether I clicked keys, [or] used a mouse or stylus in front of a screen, the event became transparent. The computer and I were one." Edmund Barry Gaither, director of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Boston, describing the artist's work in the International Review of African American Art (vol. 10), notes that with computers Perkins can visualize figurative images that superimpose formal elements, such as patterns and repetitions, on a background of computer-generated structures. In creating her figurative works, the artist may begin with a photograph of the subject, often a well-known black woman in the arts and sciences. She alters that photograph, manipulating it to create abstracted images [Illus. 320]. The faces may become mask-like. Overlays of patterns resembling those of traditional African fabrics are applied, resulting in dramatic images that are rich in associations. The computer and printing technology Perkins uses to make these images gives them an intriguing presence. According to Gaither, Perkins seeks less to redefine art towards the acceptance of information-based vehicles than to manipulate the media of computer images and imaging so as to metamorphose the original image into something new and visually interesting on its own merit Using applications which create the impression of true three-dimensional, architectural or mathematical/geometric constructions, she creates apparent structures which give the impression of substance [T]he resulting pseudo-structures are then placed... into otherwise natura323

320 Angela L. Perkins, Portraits of African American Women 1998. Digital image, variable dimensions.

(Celebrate),

listic landscape settings Using a radically different approach, she has largely accomplished the dream of the surrealists who sought to integrate the real and the superreal [lllus. pi]. In the catalogue for the exhibition The Computer in the Studio, at the Computer Museum, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Boston, Nicholas Capasso, associate director of DeCordova M u s e u m and Sculpture Park, explained regarding the artist's Interiors series how Perkins investigates the inner dimensions of fruits and vegetables, accentuating their softness and sweetness, illuminating them with light [lllus. p2]. She invokes them as symbols of growth and regeneration and simply as objects of beauty. Capasso notes that to create these images, Perkins scans directly from the ripe fruit and fresh vegetables. Using computer software, she manipulates the images extensively... and outputs them as ink jet prints on paper The illuminated interiors suggest a spiritual presence, acting as metaphors for human emotions and enlightenment. Perkins seeks to reveal the presence of the sacred in the mundane. In the past few decades computer software programs, scanners, and printers have transformed the art world. T h e work of Angela Perkins represents the exhilarating and dynamic possibilities of the computer as art tool.

321

Angela L. Perkins,

White Pines, 1991. Digital image, variable dimensions.

322

Angela L. Perkins,

Interior, 1992. Digital image, variable dimensions.

Conclusion

I he majority of twentieth-century African American artists living in the United States have, at one time or another, acknowledged cultural ties to Africa. The extent of this association depends largely on their ability to identify with meaningful experiences that have directly or indirectly influenced their lives. In the 1920s and 1930s, as African American artists discovered Europe, Europeans in turn discovered Harlem and the richness of its creative vitality and artistic expressions. Study in Europe, especially in France, was regarded as a high point in the lives of both visual and performing artists. Most visual artists, however, continued to produce works with ethnic subject matter, using the European experience as an opportunity to develop technique. Europe also offered relief from the oppressive racial prejudice so pervasive in the United States at that time. The 1950s and 1960s represented a period of great change in both Africa and the United States. It was a time of independence for two of Africa's great art-producing nations, Ghana (in 1957) and Nigeria (in 1961). This was also a time of social and political unrest in the United States, where Americans - Black and White - were demanding societal change. African Americans visited Africa in large numbers and began to acknowledge its importance as a major cultural entity. Impressions of Africa changed dramatically when artists and government officials were invited to participate in the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966 and the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture ( F E S T A C '77) in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1977. During these festivals Africans and people of African descent from various parts of the African continent and the Diaspora, including the Americas, Asia and Europe, assembled to exchange cultural, social, and political ideas. Many just wanted to get to know each other. Friendships were formed, ideas exchanged, and similarities and differences became apparent. For many artists these meetings became springboards for examining and understanding the self in relation to a whole much greater than

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one could imagine. African American artists began to see themselves as members of a larger family than they had envisioned before. Following the 1977 festival, artists in the United States began to travel and visit each other in places they had previously only read about. Some returned to Africa and explored areas that were new to them. Others traveled to the Caribbean or to Central and South America in their efforts to expand their vision of art and of themselves. These broadening experiences and visions have led to new ways of thinking on the part of African American artists. They are better prepared to trust their own ideas and beliefs because their experiences have led them to examine self, nation, and the larger world to which they belong. This view does not in any way separate them from their own communities, for they have grown to know that the world is their community, and like their ancestors in traditional Africa they must commit themselves to its preservation. Only then can they protect themselves and leave a legacy for those who will follow. As they move into the twenty-first century, African American artists understand that their role is a responsible one and that they must equip themselves with the knowledge of those who have contributed to their well-being in order to secure a future for themselves and their heirs. This revised and expanded edition of African American Art and Artists includes contemporary artists who produce works in various styles and media. Some of the artists are widely acclaimed; others are less well known. All, however, have made valuable artistic contributions and are worthy of representation in this volume. African American artists generally are now experiencing greater recognition in the art world. Although their numbers are still few, at least as far as representation in art galleries and in the collections of major museums in the United States is concerned, the last decade has yielded some progress. A few of the principal museums across the nation, such as the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Detroit Institute of Arts in Michigan, have added African American curators to assist in assembling special collections. Both museums and art history texts, however, continue to exclude reputable artists such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Charles White, and numerous others from their accounts of American art. The growing presence of these artists in exhibitions responds to the demands of the African American public to see the work of their own artists in museums that they support with their taxes. During the past decade, African American artists have been selected to represent the United States in numerous biennials — in Italy, Brazil, South Africa, and Turkey — and African American art has been

widely appreciated when exhibited in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. Another significant trend is that African Americans are collecting in larger numbers now and appear eager to improve their knowledge of art — especially African American art. Perceiving art as more than decorative, and more than an investment, they are collecting works for their cultural and educational value. Continued research on the subject is crucial for teachers and students, of all races and nationalities. It is my sincere hope that this revised edition of African American Art and Artists can be instrumental in bringing about a greater awareness of African American culture and art and contribute to the progress necessary for a better understanding and appreciation of art.

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Aptheker, ed. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1973. . The Negro Artisan. Atlanta: Atlanta University Press, 1927. . The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. New York: Fawcett Publications, 1961. . The Suppression of the African Slave Trade. New York: Schocken Books, 1967. Earle, Alice M. Home Life in Colonial Days. New York: Macmillan, 1899. Fagg, William, and Plass, Margaret. African Sculpture. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1968. Fax, Elton. 17 Black Artists. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1971. Fine, Elsa H. The Afro-American Artist. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973. Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. New York: Vintage Books, 1969. Frazier, E. Franklin. Black Bourgeoisie: The Rise of a Black Middle-Class. New York: Macmillan, 1962. . The Negro Family in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939. French, H. W. Art and Artists of Connecticut. Boston: Lee and Shephard, 1879. Fry, Roger. Vision and Design. London: Chatto and Windus, 1920. Fuller, Diana Burgess, and Daniela Salvioni, eds. Art/Women/Califomia: Parallels and Intersections, 1950-2000. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002. Gardi, René. Indigenous African Architecture. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, !973Gayle, Addison. The Black Aesthetic. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1971. Geerlings, Gerald K. Wrought Iron in Architecture. New York: Scribner's, 1929. Greene, Lorenzo Johnson. The Negro in Colonial New England, 1620-1776. New York: Columbia University Press, 1942. Grigsby, J. Eugene, Jr. Art and Ethnics. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Company, 1977. Hale, R. B., ed. One Hundred American Painters of the Twentieth Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950. Hatch-Billops Collection, Inc. Artist and Influence. New York: Hatch-Billops, 1981.

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Herskovits, Melville Jean. The Myth of the Negro Past. Boston: Beacon Press, 1969. Holmes, Samuel J. Negro's Struggle for Survival. New York: Kennikat Press, 1937. Reprinted 1966. Horowitz, Benjamin. Images of Dignity. (The drawings of Charles White.) Glendale, California: Ward Ritchie Press, 1967. Huggins, Nathan. The Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971. Hughes, Langston. A Pictorial History of the Negro in America. New York: Crown, 1956.

ington, D.C.: Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1940. Reprint. New York: Hacker Art Books, 1968. . The New Negro. New York: Albert and Charles Boni, Inc., 1925. Reprint. Boston: Atheneum Press, 1968. Logan, Fern. The Artist Portrait Series: Images of Contemporary African American Artists. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2001. Logan, Rayford W., ed. What the Negro Wants. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944.

Janis, Sidney. They Taught Themselves: American Primitive Painters of the Twentieth Century. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1942. Jernegan, Marcus W. Laboring and Dependent Classes in Colonial America, 16071783. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938. Johnson, Charles S. The Economic Status of the Negro. Nashville: Fisk University Press, 1933. Johnson, Jay, and Ketchum, William C . American Folk Art of the Twentieth Century. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1983.

Manhart, Marcia, and Manhart, Tom, ed. The Eloquent Object (The Evolution of American Art in Craft Media Since 1945). Seattle: The University of Washington Press, 1987. Majors, M. A. Noted Negro Women, Their Triumphs and Activities. Chicago: Donohue & Hennebarry, 1893. Mannix, Daniel P., and Cowley, Malcolm. A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1518-1865. New York: Viking Press, 1962. Marshall, Kerry James, Arthur Jafa, and Terrie Sultan. Kerry James Marshall. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2000. McElroy, Guy C. Facing History, The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940. San Francisco: Bedford Arts Publishers, 1990. Mörsbach, Mabel. The Negro in American Life. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1967.

Kellner, Bruce, ed. The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era. New York: Methuen, 1987. Kertess, Klaus. Joan Mitchell. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997. King, Grace. History of Louisiana. New Orleans: F. F. Hansell & Brothers, 1903. Larkin, Oliver. Art and Life in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, i960. Laughlin, Charles John. New Orleans and Its Living Past. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1942. Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture and Black Consciousness. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. Lewis, Samella S., and Waddy, Ruth G. Black Artists on Art. 2 vols. Los Angeles: Contemporary Crafts, 1971,1976. Lewis, Samella. The Art of Elizabeth Catlett. Los Angeles: Hancraft Studios, 1984. Lippard, Lucy R. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990. Locke, Alain. Negro Art: Past and Present. Albany, New York: Albany Historical Society, 1933. Locke, Alain, ed. The Negro in Art. Wash-

Nkiru, Nzegwu, ed. Contemporary Textures: Multidimensionality in Nigerian Art. Binghamton, New York: International Society for the Study of Africa, 1999. Ottley, Roi. New World A-Coming. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1943. Peterson, Edward. History of Rhode island. New York: J. S. Taylor, 1853. Porter, Dorothy B. A Working Bibliography on the Negro in the U pited States. Reproduced by University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Workshops in the Materials of Negro Culture, 1968. Porter, James A. Modem Negro Art. New York: Dryden Press, 1943. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1969. Reed, Ishmael. Mumbo Jumbo. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1972.

Roberts, J. D. A Black Political Theology. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1974. Rodman, Seldon. Horace Pippin: A Negro Painter in America. New York: Quadrangle Press, 1947. Roelof-Lanner, T. V., ed. Prints by American Negro Artists. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Cultural Exchange Center, 1965. Rose, Barbara. American Art Since îçoa A Critical History. New York: Praeger, 1967. Saxon, Lyle; Dryer, Edward; and Tallant, Robert. Gumbo Ya-Ya. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1945. Schwartzman, Myron. Romare Bearden: His Life and Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990. Segy, Ladislas. African Sculpture Speaks. New York: Plenum Publishing Corp., . !975Simmons, W. J. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. Cleveland: Revel, 1887. Taha, Halima. Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas. New York: Crown Publishers, 1998. Taylor, William E., and Harriet G . Warkel. A Shared Heritage: Art by Four African Americans. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., 1983. The Studio Museum of Harlem. Harlem Renaissance Art of Black America. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987. Thompson, Robert Farris. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York: Random House, 1983. Tillinghast, J. A. The Negro in Africa and America. New York: Macmillan, 1902. Vlach, John M., and Simon Bronner, eds. Folk Art and Art Worlds. Ann Arbor: U M I Research Press, 1988. Washington, M. Bunch. The Art of Romare Bearden: The Prevalence of Ritual. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1973. Reprint, Houston: Snowfire Publishing, 1999. Werlein, Mrs. Phillip. The Wrought Iron Railings of LeVieux Carré. New Orleans: Mrs. Phillip Werlein, 1925. Wheat, Ellen Harkins. Jacob Lawrence, American Painter. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986.

Wheatley, Phyllis. Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. London, 1773. Willett, Frank. African Art. New York: Praeger, 1971. Willis-Thomas, Deborah. Black Photographers, 1840-1940: An Illustrated Biobibliography. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, vol. 401. New York: Garland, 1985. Wilson, James L. Clementine Hunter: American Folk Artist. Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company, 1988. Woodruff, Hale A. The American Negro Artist. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1956. Wright, Richard. Twelve Million Black Voices: A Folk History of the Negro in the United States. New York: Viking Press, 1941.

Exhibition Catalogues "Aaron Douglas Retrospective Exhibition." Carl Van Vechten. Gallery of Fine Arts, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, March 21-April 15, 1971. "African American Extensions." Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. February 15-April 19, 1970. "African Art Today: Four Major Artists." African-American Institute, New York. May 14-August 31, 1974. "African Women, African Art." T h e African-American Institute, New York. September 13-December 31, 1976. "Afri-Cobra III." University Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. September 7-September 30, 1973. "Afro-American Artists, New York and Boston." National Center of Afro-American Artists and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. May 19-June 23, 1970.

"Afro-American Artists since 1950: An Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings." Brooklyn College, New York. April 15-May 18, 1969. "Afro-American Images 1971." (Memorial Exhibition for James A. Porter.) Aesthetic Dynamics. State Armory, Wilmington, Delaware. February 5-February 26, 1971. "Against the Odds" (African-American Artists and the Harmon Foundatoin.) T h e Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey. January 15-April 15, 1990.

"Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s and 1940s by African American Artists." From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams. "American Negro Art: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries." Downtown Gallery, New York. December 9, 1941-Janu(< ary 3 , 1 9 4 2 . "American Paintings 1943-1948." Howard University, Washington, D . C . October 22-November 15, 1948. "Americas Black Heritage." Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, California. December 3, 1969February 15, 1970. "Art As A Verb." Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore. November 21, 1988-January 8, 1989. "Art Exhibit: T h e Public Schools of the District of Columbia." Washington, D . C . May 3 - 1 1 , 1 9 3 1 . "Art in Public Places." T h e Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles. April 15-August 30, 1987. " T h e Art of African Peoples." Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, California. February 9-March 2, 1973. " T h e Art of Betye and Alison Saar." )Secrets, Dialogues, Revelations) Wight Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, January 9-February 25, 1990. " T h e Art of Henry O. Tanner." Frederick Douglass Institute with the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D . C . July 23September 7, 1969. " T h e Art of the American Negro, 1851-1940." American Negro Exhibition, Chicago, Illinois. 1940. " T h e Art of the American Negro: Exhibition of Paintings." Harlem Cultural Council, New York. June 27-July 25, 1966.

" T h e Art of the Negro." Harmon Foundation Traveling Exhibition organized in cooperation with the College Art Association, New York. 1934. "Augusta Savage and the Art Schools of Harlem." Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, T h e New York Public Library. 1988. " T h e Barnett-Aden Collection." Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D . C . 1974"Benny Andrews." A C A Galleries, New York. April 25-May 13, 1972.

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"Benny, Bernie, Betye, Noah and John." Lang Art Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California. Contemporary Crafts, Los Angeles, California. 1971. "Betye Saar." (Selected works, 1964-1973.) Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, California. October 1-25, 1973. "Bing Davis: Painting and Ceramics." Warbash College Humanities Center. January 14-February 4, 1973. "Black American Artists / 71." Lobby Gallery, Illinois Bell Telephone, Chicago, Illinois. January 12-February 5, 1971. " T h e Black Artist in America: A Negro History Month Exhibition." Boston Negro Artists Association, Boston, Massachusetts. 1973. "Black Artists of the 1930s. Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. 1968. "Black Artists: Two Generations." Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey. May 13September 6, 1971. "Black Existence." Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois. June 10July 21, 1972. " T h e Black Experience." Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri. 1970. "Black Folk Art in America, 1 9 3 0 - 1 9 8 0 . " T h e Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . 1982. "Black Reflections: Seven Black Artists." Flint Community Schools, Flint, Michigan, 1969. "Blacks: U . S . A . 1973." T h e New York Cultural Center, New York. September 26N o v e m b e r i 5 , 1973. "Black Untitled." T h e Oakland Museum, Oakland, California. October, 1970. "Black Untitled III / Graphics." The Oakland Museum / Art Division, Oakland, California. November 28, 1972-January 7, 1973. "Black Women Artists 1971." Acts of Art Gallery, New York. June 22-July 30, 1971. "Bob Thompson." J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky. February 2-21, 1967. "Bob Thompson." New School Art Center, New York. February 11-March 6, 1969. " B o b Thompson." University Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. September 11-October 4, 1971. "California Black Artists." College of Marin Art Gallery, Kentfield, California. March 13-April 10, 1970.

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"California Black Craftsmen." Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, California. February 15-March 8, 1970. "Charles Alston." Gallery of Modern Art, New York. December 3, 1968-January 5, 1969 ' "Charles Ethan Porter." T h e Connecticut Gallery, Inc., 1987. "Charles White." T h e Gallery of Art, Howard University, Washington, D . C . September 22-October 25, 1967. "Chase-Riboud." University Art Museum, Berkeley, California. January 17-Februa r y z s , 1973. "Congolese Sculpture." T h e Museum of Primitive Art, New York. November 24, 1965-February 6, 1966. "Contemporary African Art." Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California. March 13-May 4, 1969. "Contemporary African Arts." Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. April 20-November 3, 1974. "Contemporary Black Artists (A Traveling Exhibit)." Ruder & Finn Fine Arts, New York. 1969. "Contemporary Black Artists in America." Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. April 6-May 16, 1971. "Contemporary Black Imagery: Seven Artists." Los Angeles, California. October 10-30, 1971. "Contemporary Negro Art." Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. February 3-18, 1939. "Craft Today U S A . " T h e American Craft Museum, New York, 1989. "Creations from Africa." Union Galleries, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. September 29-October 10, 1971. "Daniel LaRue Johnson." French and Company, New York. February 1970. "Dimensions of Black." La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, California. February 15March 29, 1970. "Directions in Afro-American Art." Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. September 18-October 27, 1974. "Edward Mitchell Bannister, 1828-1901: Providence Artist." Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island. March 23-April 3, 1966. "Eighteen Washington Artists." BarnettAden Gallery, Washington, D . C . 1953.

"Eight New York Painters." University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. July 1-21, 1956. "Elizabeth Catlett, Sculpture and Francisco Mora, Watercolors." University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona. January 1 1 , 1987-February 15, 1987. "Elizabeth Catlett, Sculpture and Graphics, 1946-1979." Pyramid Gallery of Art, Detroit. September 22-October 20, 1979"Elizabeth Catlett." Studio Museum in Harlem. New York. September 26, 1971January 9, 1972. "Elizabeth Catlett: Work on Paper, 1 9 4 4 1992." Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia. 1993. "Elizabeth Catlett, An Exhibition of Sculpture and Prints." Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. 1973. " T h e Evolution of Afro-American Artists: 1800-1950." City College, New York. 1967. "Exhibition." Organized by Hale Woodruff and the Harmon Foundation. Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia. February 1934"An Exhibition of Paintings by Three Artists of Philadelphia: Laura Wheeler Waring, Allan Freelon and Samuel Brown." Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . February 1-29, 1940. "Exhibitions by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity." Art Institute of Chicago, C h i cago, Illinois. 1923. "Exhibitions by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity." Art Institute of Chicago, C h i cago, Illinois. 1931. "An Exhibition of Black Women Artists." U C E N Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara. May 5-17, 1975. "Exhibition of Fine Arts by American Negro Artists." Harmon Foundation, New York. January 7-19, 1930. "Exhibition of Graphic Arts and Drawings by Negro Artists." Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . 1935. "Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by James A. Porter and James Lesesne Wells." Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . April 16-30, 1930. "Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by American Negro Artists at the National Gallery of Art." Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D . C . May 16-29, ! 9 2 9 ; May 30-June 8, 1930. "Exhibition of Productions by Negro Art-

ists." Harmon Foundation, New York. February 2 0 - M a r c h 4 , 1 9 3 3 . "An Exhibition of Sculpture and Prints by Elizabeth Catlett." Jacksonian Lounge, Jackson State College, Jackson, Mississippi. July 1-6, 1 9 7 3 . "Exhibition of Works by Negro Artists at the National Gallery of Art." Washington, D . C . October 3 1 - N o v e m b e r 6 , >933"Exhibition of Works of Negro Artists." Harmon Foundation, New York. February 16-28, 1 9 3 1 . "Exhibition of Works of Negro Artists." Harmon Foundation, New York. April 22-May 4, 1935. "Fiberworks: An Exhibition of Works by Twenty Contemporary Fiber Artists." Lang Art Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California, 1 9 7 3 . "Fifteen Afro-American Women." North Carolina A&T., Greensboro, North Carolina. March 1-31, 1 9 7 0 . "First Annual Exhibition Salon of Contemporary Negro Art." Augusta Savage Studios, Inc., New York. June 8-22, 1939-

"Five Decades: John Biggers and the Hampton Art Tradition." Hampton University Museum, Virginia. 1 9 9 0 . "Five Famous Black Artists Presented by the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists: Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin, Charles White, Hale Woodruff." National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston, Massachusetts. February 9 - M a r c h 1 0 ,

1970-

"Four Monuments to Malcolm X." (Barbara Chase-Riboud.) Bertha Schaeffer Gallery, New York. February 7 - 2 6 , 1 9 7 0 . "Fred Eversley: Recent Sculpture." Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. May-June, 1 9 7 0 . "George Smith." Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York. December 15, 1973-January 14, 1974. "Grafton Tyler Brown: Black Artist in the West." Oakland Museum, Oakland, California. February 11-April 2 2 , 1 9 7 2 . "Harlem Artists '69." Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. July 2 2 - S e p t e m b e r

7 lç6ç „"Harlem ' ' Art Teachers'

Exhibit." Harlem

Community Art Center, New York. October 1 7 , 1 9 3 8 . "Harlem Art Workshop Exhibition." New York Public Library, 1 3 5 t h Street Branch, New York. 1 9 3 3 . "Henry Ossawa Tanner." Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1 9 9 1 . "Henry O. Tanner: An Afro-American Romantic Realist." Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia. March 3 0 - A p r i l 3 0 ,

1969.

"Highlights from the Atlanta University Collection of Afro-American Art." The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia. October, 1 9 7 3 . "H. Pippin." The Phillips Collection, Washington, D . C . February 25-March

27, 1977.

"If the Shoe Fits, Hear It!" (Dana Chandler.) Northeastern University Art Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts. March 8April 2 , 1 9 7 6 . "Images of Dignity." (A Retrospective of the Works of Charles White) The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York. June 2 0 , 1982-August 3 1 , 1982. "In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." Museum of Modern Art, New York. October 3 1 - N o v e m b e r 3 , 1 9 6 8 . "Jacob Lawrence." American Federation of Artists, New York. i 9 6 0 . "Jacob Lawrence, American Painter." Seattle Art Museum, 1 9 8 6 . "Jacob Lawrence, Drawings and Prints." Scripps College, (organized for USIS) Claremont, C A , 1 9 8 9 . "Jacob Lawrence: The Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglas Series of 1 9 3 8 - 4 0 . " Jacob Lawrence, Paintings and Drawings." Scripps College, (organized for USIS) Clarement, C A , 1 9 8 9 . "Jacob Lawrence." Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. May 1 6 - J u l y 7. »974"Joe Overstreet" (Storyville Series) Kenkeleba Gallery, New York. December 1 0 , 1 9 8 8 - J a n u a r y 15, 1 9 8 9 . "The John Henry Series and Paintings Reflecting the Theme of Afro-American Folklore." Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. February 2 2 - M a r c h 3 0 , "Joseph Delaney, 1 9 7 0 . " The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee. September 2 7 - O c t o b e r 15, 1 9 7 0 .

"The Language of African Art." Fine Arts and Portrait Gallery Building, Washington, D . C . May 2 4 - S e p t e m b e r 7 , 1 9 7 0 . "A Life in Art: Alma Thomas." National Museum of American Art, Washington. November 26, 1981-February 28, 1982. "Lois Mailou Jones: Retrospective Exhibition." Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . March 3 1 - A p r i l 2 1 ,

1972.

"Los Angeles 1 9 7 2 : A Panorama of Black Artists." Los Angeles County Museum ot Art, Los Angeles, California. February 8-March 19, 1972. "Maren Hassinger 1 9 7 2 - 1 9 9 1 . " Hillwood Art Museum, New York. 1 9 9 1 . "Marie Johnson, Betye Saar." San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California. April 15-May 2 9 , 1 9 7 7 . "Martin Puryear." The Art Institute of Chicago, 1 9 9 1 . "Masterpieces of African Sculpture." Joe and Emily Lowe Art Center, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. February 1 6 - A p r i l 1, 1 9 6 4 . "Melvin E. Edwards, Jr." Whitney Museum, New York. March 2-29, 1 9 7 0 . "Memory and Metaphor: The Art of Romare Bearden, 1 9 4 0 - 1 9 8 7 . " The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York.

1991.

"The Negro Artist Comes of Age: A National Survey of Contemporary American Artists." Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York. January 3 February 1 1 , 1 9 4 5 . "Negro Artists of the Nineteenth Century." Harlem Cultural Center, New York. 1966. "The Negro in American Art." University of California, Los Angeles, California. September 11-October 16, 1966. "Negro in Art Week." Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. November 16-23, 1927"New Names in American Art." The G Place Gallery, Washington, D . C . June 1 3 - J u l y 4 , 1944. "New Orleans Collects: African Art." Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana. February 2-March 31, 1968. "New Perspectives in Black Art." The Oakland Museum, Oakland, California. October 5-26, 1968.

335

"New Vistas in American Art." Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . March-April J961. "19 Sixties: A Cultural Awakening Reevaluated, 1 9 6 5 - 1 9 7 5 . " T h e California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles. 1989"Norman Lewis: A Retrospective." City University of New York, New York. October-November, 1976. "Norman Lewis." (From the Harlem Renaissance to Abstraction.) Kenkeleba Gallery, New York. May 10, 1989-June 25, 1989. "Novae: William H. Johnson and Bob Thompson." T h e California AfroAmerican Museum, Los Angeles. 1990. "Other Sources: An American Essay." San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California. September 17-November 7, 1976. " T h e Painters America, Rural and Urban Life, 1810-1910." Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. September 20-November 10, 1974. "Paintings and Sculptures by Four Tennessee Primitives." Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York. January 12-February 9, 1964. "Paintings by Ellis Wilson, Ceramics and Sculpture by William E. Artis." Carl Van Vechten Gallery of Fine Arts, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. April 18-June 2, 1971. "Paintings, Sculpture by American Negro Artists." Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts. January 5-20, 1943"Palmer Hayden." Carl Van Vechten Gallery of Fine Arts, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. 1970. " T h e Portrayal of the Negro in American Painting." T h e Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine. 1964. " T h e Prevalence of Ritual." Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1971. "Prints and Paintings." Union South Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. February 7 - 2 5 , 1972. "Raymond Saunders: Recent Work." University Art Museum, Berkeley, California. January 6-February 22, 1976. "Rebuttal Catalogue: Catalogue of the Rebuttal Exhibition to the Whitney Mu-

336

seum." Acts of Art Gallery, New York. 1971. "Red and Black to D: Paintings by Sam Gilliam." T h e Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. 1982. , "Reflections: T h e Afro-American Artist." Benton Convention Center, WinstonSalem, North Carolina. October 8 - 1 5 , "Resurrection II (An Exhibition of Works by the Weusi Artists)." Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. November i-December 15, 1973. "A Retrospective: 50 Years of Light." New York. 1991. "Robert S. Duncanson: A Centennial Exhibition." Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio. March 16-April 30, 1972. "Romare Bearden, 1 9 1 1 - 1 9 8 8 : A Memorial Exhibition." T h e ACA Galleries, New York. 1989. Romare Bearden, 1911-1988." (A Memorial Exhibition.) ACA Galleries, New York City, May 11-June 10, 1989. "Roots in Harlem." Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis. January 8-February 19, 1989. "Sargent Johnson." T h e Oakland Museum, Oakland, California. February 23-March 21, 1971. " T h e Sculpture of Richard Hunt." T h e Museum of Modern Art, New York. March 23-June 7, 1971. "Selections of Nineteenth Century AfroAmerican Art." T h e Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. June 19-August 1, 1976. "Sharing Traditions" (Five Black Artists in Nineteenth-Century America) National Museum of American Art, Washington. January 15, 1985-April 7, 1985. "Ten Afro-American Artists of the Nineteenth Century." Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C . February 3-March 30, 1967. " T h e Blues, Aesthetics: Black Culture and Modernism." Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D . C . , 1989. "A Third World Painting-Sculpture Exhibition." San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California. June 8-July 28, 1974. "Thirty-ninth Arts Festival Exhibition. Sculpture by Richard Hunt, Paintings by Sam Middleton." Ballentine Hall, Fisk

University, Nashville, Tennessee. April 21-May 17, 1968. "Three Afro-Americans. Paintings by Merton Simpson, Sculpture by Earl Hooks, Photography by Bobby Sengstacke." Fisk University Art Galleries, Nashville, Tennessee. April 20-May 15, 1969. "Three Graphic Artists: Charles White, David Hammons, Timothy Washington." Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California. January 26-March 7, 1971. "Three Negro Artists: Horace Pippin, Richmond Barthe and Jacob Lawrence." Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, D . C . 1946. "Three Self-Taught Pennsylvania Artists: Hicks, Kane, Pippin." Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. October 21-December 4, 1966. "Three Masters." (Eldzier Cortor, Hughie Lee-Smith, Archibald John Matley, Jr.), Kenkeleba Gallery, New York. May 22, 1988-July 17, 1988. "Tradition and Change in Yoruba Art." E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, California. 1974. "Tradition and Conflict: Images of a Turbulent Decade, 1 9 6 3 - 1 9 7 3 . " T h e Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. 1985. "Twentieth-Century Black Artists." San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California. September 3-October 8, 1976. "Two Centuries of Black American Art." Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California. September 30November 21, 1976. "William H. Johnson: 1901-1970." National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D . C . November 5, 1971-January 9, 1972.

Periodicals "Adams, Agatha Boyd. "Contemporary Negro Arts." University of North Carolina Extension Bulletin, June 1948. "African Art - Harlem." American Magazine of Art, October 1932. "Afro-American Artists 1800-1950." Ebony 23 (1967), pp. 116-22. Albright, Thomas. " T h e Blackmans Art Gallery." Art Gallery (April 1970), pp. „ 42"44' "American Negro Art." New Masses, December 1941, p. 27.

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"American Negro Art at Downtown Gallery." Design, February 1942, pp. 27-28. "And the Migrants Kept Coming." Fortune, November 1941, pp. 102-09. "And the Migrants Kept Coming." Vogue, September 1943, pp. 94-95. Andrews, Benny. " T h e Black Emergency Cultural Coalition." Arts Magazine 44 (Summer 1970), pp. 18-20. . " O n Understanding Black Art." New York Times, 21 June 1970, section 2, pp. 21-22. "An Art Exhibit Against Lynching." Crisis, April 1935, p. 107. "Artist in the Age of Revolution: A Symposium." Arts in Society, vol. 5, no. 3 (Summer-Fall 1968), pp. 219-37. " T h e Arts and the Black Revolution Issue." Arts in Society, vol. 5, no. 3 (SummerFall 1968). Ashton, Dore. "African and Afro-American Art: T h e Transatlantic Tradition at the M u s e u m of Primitive Art." Studio, November 1968, p. 202. Baker, James H . , Jr. "Art Comes to the People of Harlem." Crisis, March 1939, pp. 78-80. "Baltimore Art by Negroes." Art News, 11 February 1939, p. 17. Barnes, Albert C. "Negro Art and America." Survey, 1 March 1925, pp. 668-69. . "Primitive Negro Sculpture and Its Influence on Modern Civilization." Opportunity, May 1928, p. 139. Bearden, Romare. " T h e Negro Artist and Modern Art." Opportunity, December 1934, PP- 371-72. " T h e Negro Artists Dilemma." Critique: A Review of Contemporary Art, vol. 1, no. 2 (November 1946), pp. 16-22. Bement, Alon. "Some Notes on a Harlem Art Exhibit." Opportunity, November 1933Bennett, Gwendolyn B. " T h e Future of Negro in Art." Howard University Record, December 1924, pp. 65-66. Bennett, Mary. " T h e Harmon Awards." Opportunity, February 1929, pp. 47-48. "Black America 1970." Art Time, Special Issue, 6 April 1970, pp. 80-87. " T h e Black Artist in America: Symposium." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new series, vol. 27 (1968-69), pp. 245-61. "Black Lamps: White Mirrors." Time, 3 October 1969, pp. 60-64.

Blodgett, Geoffrey. "John Mercer Langston and the Case of Edmonia Lewis, Oberlin, 1862." Journal of Negro History 53 (July 1968), pp. 201-18. Bontemps, Arna. "Special Collections of Negroana." Library Quarterly, July 1944, pp. 187-206. Bowling, Frank. "Black Art." Arts Magazine 44 (December 1969-January 1970), pp. 20-24. . "Discussion on Black Art." Arts Magazine 43 (April 1969), pp. 16-20. . "It's Not Enough to Say 'Black is B e a u t i f u l . " ' Art News 70 (April 1971), pp. 53-55, 82. . " T h e Rupture: Ancestor Worship, Revival, Confusion, or Disguise." Arts Magazine 44 (Summer 1970), pp. 31-34. Bradford S. Sidney. " T h e Negro IronWorker in Ante Bellum Virginia." Journal of Southern History 25 (May 1959), pp. 194-206. Reprinted in Meier and Elliot M. Rudwick, eds. The Making of Black America, vol. 1. New York: Athen e u m , 1969. Bushnell, Donald D., and Carew, Topper. "Black Arts for Black Youth." Saturday Review, 18 July 1970, pp. 43-46, 60.

"Campbell, Lawrence. " T h e Flowering of T h o m a s Sills." Art News 71 (March 1972), pp. 48, 66-67. Carline, R. "Dating and the Provenance of Negro Art." Burlington Magazine, October 1940, pp. 115-23. Catlett, Elizabeth. "A Tribute to the Negro People." American Contemporary Art, Winter 1940, p. 17. Childs, Charles. "Bearden: Identification and Identity." Art News 63 (October 1964), pp. 24-25, 54. Coffin, Patricia. "Black Artist in a White World." Look, January 1969, pp. 66-69. Coleman, Floyd. "African Influences on Black American Art." Black Art: An International Quarterly, Fall 1976, pp. 4-15. Conroy, Frank. "Salvation Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new series, vol. 27 (I968-69), PP- 270-72. Davis, Douglas. " W h a t Is Black Art?" Newsweek, 1 June 1970, pp. 89-90. Douglas, Carlyle C. "Romare Bearden." Ebony, November 1975, pp. 116-22. D r u m m o n d , Dorothy, "Pyramid Club." Art Digest 24 (1 March 1950), p. 9.

Du Bois, W. E. B. "Criteria of Negro Art." Crisis, May 1926, pp. 290-97. Ellison, Ralph. "Romare Bearden: Paintings and Projections." Crisis 77 (March 1970), pp. 80-86. "Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by Negro Artists." Montclair Art Museum Bulletin, February 1946, pp. 3-4. Fax, Elton C. "Four Rebels in Art." Freedomways, Spring 1961. "Federal Murals to Honor the Negro." Art Digest, 1 January 1943. "Fifty-Seven Negro Artists Presented in Fifth Harmon Foundation Exhibit." Art Digest, 1 March 1933, p. 18. Fine, Elsa Honig. "Mainstream, Blackstream and the Black Art Movement." Art Journal, Spring 1971, pp. 374-75. "Fisk Art Center: Stieglitz Collection Makes It Finest in South." Ebony, May 1950, pp. 73-75. Gaither, E d m u n d B. " T h e M u s e u m of the National Center of Afro-American Artists." Art Gallery 13 (April 1970), pp. 44-46. . "A New Criticism Is Needed." New York Times, 21 June 1970, p. 21. Garver, T. H. "Dimensions of Black Exhibitions at La Jolla Museum." Artforum, May 1970, pp. 83-84. Genovese, Eugene. "Harlem on His Back." Artforum, February 1969, pp. 34-37. Ghent, Henri. " T h e C o m m u n i t y Art Gallery." Ari Gallery 13 (April 1970), PP- 51-55. "Forum: Black Creativity in Quest of an Audience." Art in America ; 8 (May-June 1970), p. 35. Glueck, Grace. "A Brueghel from Harlem." New York Times, 22 February 1970, section 2, p. 29. Greene, Carroll. "Perspective: T h e Black Artist." Ari Gallery 13 (April 1970), pp. 1-31. Grigsby, Eugene, Jr. "Art Education: An Overview." Black Art: An International Quarterly, Winter 1976, pp. 44-62. Gunter, Carolyn Pell. "Tom Day, Craftsman." Antiquarian 10 (September 1928), pp. 60-62. "Harmon Exhibit of Negro Art, Newark M u s e u m . " Newark Museum Bulletin, October 1931, p. 178.

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" H a r m o n Foundation Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Art Center." Art News, 21 February 1931, p. 12. Herring, James V. " T h e American Negro as C r a f t s m a n and Artist." Crisis, April 1942, pp. 116-18. . " T h e Negro Sculpture." Crisis, August 1942, pp. 261-62. Hughes, Langston. " T h e Negro Artist and t h e Racial M o u n t a i n . " The Nation, 23 J u n e 1926, pp. 692-94. H u n t e r , W i l b u r H . Jr. "Joshua Johnston: i 8 t h - C e n t u r y Negro Artist." American Collector 17 (February 1948), pp. 6-8. Jacobs, Jay. " T h e C i n q u e Gallery." Art Gallery 13 (April 1970), pp. 50-51. . " N o w I'm Boss." Art Gallery 13 (April 1970), pp. 40-41. Johnson, James W e l d o n . "Race Prejudice and the Negro Artist." Harper's, N o v e m ber 1928, pp. 769-76. Jones, Lois M . (Pierre-Noel) "American Negro Art in Progress." Negro History Bulletin, October 1967, pp. 6-7. . "An Artist Grows U p in America." Aframerican Woman's Journal, S u m m e r / Fall 1942, p. 23. Kay, J u n e H. "Artists as Social Reformers." Art in America 57 (January 1969), pp. 44-47Killens, John O. " T h e Artist in t h e Black University." The Black Scholar 1 (November 1969), p. 6. Kramer, Hilton. "Black Art and Expedient Politics." New York Times, 27 J u n e 1970, section 2, p. 19. . "Black Experience and M o d e r n Art." New York Times, 19 February 1970, section 2, p. 31. . "Differences in Quality." New York Times, 24 N o v e m b e r 1968, section 2, p. 27. . "Trying to Define 'Black Art': M u s t We G o Back to Social Realism?" New York Times, 31 May 1970, section 2, p. 17. LeGrace, Benson G . " S a m Gilliam: Certain Attitudes." Artforum 9 (September 1970), pp. 56-58. Locke, Alain. "American Negro as Artist." American Magazine of Art 23 (September 1931), pp. 210-20. . "Chicago's N e w Southside Art

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Center." Magazine of Art, August 1941, p. 320. . " N e g r o Art in America." Design, D e c e m b e r 1942, pp. 12-13. Marvel, Bill. "In Art Too, t h e Word is ' S o u l . " ' National Observer, 11 May 1970, p. 22. McCausland, Elizabeth. "Jacob Lawrence." Magazine of Art 38 (November 1945), PP- 250-54M c l v a i n e , D o n a l d . "Art and Soul." Art Gallery 13 (April 1970), pp. 48-50. Mellow, James. "Black C o m m u n i t y , the W h i t e Art World." New York Times, 9 J u n e 1969. Neal, Larry. "Any Day Now: Black Art and Black Liberation." Ebony, August 1970, pp. 54-58, 62. Nora, Francoise. " F r o m A n o t h e r C o u n try." Art News, M a r c h 1972, pp. 28, 62-63. " O n Black Artists." Art Journal, 1969. P- 332-

Spring

Perreault, J. " H e n r y Ossawa T a n n e r , " Art News, D e c e m b e r 1967, p. 47. Pincus-Witten, Robert. "Black Artists of t h e '30's." Artforum, February 1969, pp. 65-67. Pleasants, J. Hall. "Joshua Johnston, t h e First Negro Portrait Painter." Maryland Historical Magazine 37 (June 1942), pp. 121-49. Pomeroy, Ralph, "Black Persephone." Art News, October 1967, pp. 45, 73. Porter, James. "Afro-American Art at Flood-Tide." Arts in Society, vol. 5, no. 3 (Summer-Fall 1968), pp. 257-70. . "Four Problems in t h e History of Negro Art." Journal of Negro History 27 (January 1942), pp. 9-36. . "Negro Art on Review at t h e N a tional M u s e u m . " American Magazine of Art 27 (January 1934), p. 34. . "Versatile Interests of the Early Negro Artist." Art in America 24 (September 1931), pp. 210-20. Robbins, Warren. " T h e M u s e u m of African Art and Frederick Douglass Institute." Arf Gallery 13 (April 1970), pp. 55-56.

Rose, Barbara. "Black Art in America." Art in America 58 (September-October 1970). PP- 54-67Rustin, Bayard. " T h e Role of t h e Artist in the F r e e d o m Struggle." Crisis 77 (August-September 1970), pp. 260-65. Schjeldahl, Peter. "For Bob T h o m p s o n , a T r i u m p h Too Late." New York Times, 23 February 1969. " S e c o n d Afro-American Issue." Art Gallery, April 1970. Siegal, Jeanne. "Robert T h o m p s o n and t h e O l d Masters." Harvard Art Review, no. 2 (Winter 1967), pp. 10-14. . " W h y Spiral?" Art News, September 1966, pp. 48-51. Spriggs, Edward S. " T h e Studio M u s e u m in Harlem." Art Gallery 13 (April 1970), pp. 46-48. Stavisky, Leonard. "Negro C r a f t s m a n s h i p in Early America." American Historical Review 54 (1948-49), pp. 315-25. " S y m p o s i u m - Black Art: W h a t Is It?" Arf Gallery 13 (April 1970), pp. 32-33. T h o m p s o n , Mildred. "Mildred T h o m p s o n , Sculptor." Black Art: An International Quarterly, Spring 1977, pp. 20-31. T h o m p s o n , Robert Ferrisl " F r o m Africa." Yale Alumni Bulletin, M a r c h 1971, pp. 16-21. T h u r m a n , Wallace. " N e g r o Artists and t h e Negro." New Republic, August 31, 1927. " W h a t Is Black Art?" Time, 1 July 1970, p. 90. Wilson, Edward. "A Statement." Arts in Society, vol. 5, no. 4 (Fall-Winter 1968), pp. 411-16. Winslow, Vernon. " N e g r o Art and t h e D e pression." Opportunity, February 1941, pp. 40-42, 62-63. Woodruff, Hale. " M y M e e t i n g with H e n r y O. Tanner." Crisis 77 (January 1970), pp. 7-12. . " N e g r o Artists Hold F o u r t h A n n u a l in Atlanta." Art Digest, 15 April 1945, p. 10. Young, J. E . "Two G e n e r a t i o n s of Black Artists, California State College, Los Angeles." Art International, October 1970, p- 74-

Index

Adams, Ron, 249 AfriCOBRA, 266-67 Alston, Charles, 116-19 Amaki, Amalia, 319-21 Anderson, Allie, 212 Anderson, William, 219 Andrews, Benny, 160-61 Artis, William E., 105 Bailey, Herman ("Kofi"), 146-47 Bailey, Radcliffe, 321-22 Bannister, Edward Mitchell, 29-33 Barnes, Albert C., 108 Barthe, Richmond, 65, 77, 86-88 Bearden, Romare, 119,121-25 Beasley, Phoebe, 158-59 Bereal, Edward, 200 Berry, Devoice, 252 Bibbs, Gary, 188 Biggers, John, 138-41 Billops, Camille, 233 Booker, Chakaia, 308-10 Bowser, David Bustill, 20 Bradford, David, 166 Brown, Grafton Tyler, 34-36 Burke, Selma, 99 Butler, David, 112-13 Carraway, Arthur, 155 Casey, Bernie, 180-81 Catlett, Elizabeth, 134-37 Chandler, Dana, 170-71

Chase-Riboud, Barbara, 215 Clark, Irene, 176 Clark, Sonya, 310-13 Coleman, Floyd, 153 Coles, Donald, 248 Coles, Eugene, 194 Conwill, Houston, 277-79 Cruz, Emilio, 174-75 Davis, Willis (Bing), 197, 229 Delaney, Beauford, 65, 98 Delsarte, Louis, 185 DePillars, Murry, 247 Donaldson, Jeff, 266 Douglas, Aaron, 60-64 Douglass, Robert M., 17-18 Driskell, David, 152 Du Bois, W. E. B., 58 Duncanson, Robert Scott, 24—28 Eakins, Thomas, 44, 51, 57, 59 Edmondson, William, 106 Edwards, Mel, 210-11 Eldzier, Cortor, 127-28 Epting, Marion, 257-58 Eversley, Fred, 224 Falana, Kenneth, 250 Fannin, Allen, 240 Favorite, Malaika, 171-72 Fletcher, Mikelle, 156 Foreman, Doyle, 214 Fundi, Ibibio, 205

Gammon, Reginald, 162-63 Garrison, William Lloyd, 17 Garvey, Marcus, 58 Geran, Joseph, 248-49 Gilliam, Sam, 190-91 Gomez, Manuel, 239 Gordon, Russell, 258-59 Griffin, Ron, 203 Hammons, David, 270-71 Harden, Marvin, 245 Hayden, Palmer, 69-71 Hazard, Ben, 225 Henderson, William, 186 Hicks, Leon, 256 Hoard, Adrienne, 189-90 Hollingsworth, A], 176-78 Honeywood, Varnette, 157 Howard, Mildred, 280-81 Hudson, Julien, 15-16 Hughes, Manuel, 168 Humphrey, Margo, 263 Hunt, Richard, 208-9 Hunter, Clementine, 110-11 Jackson, Oliver, 193 Jackson-Jarvis, Martha, 282-83 Jefferson, Bob, 257 Johnson, Daniel LaRue, 187 Johnson, Malvin Gray, 74-75 Johnson, Marie, 205 Johnson, Sargent Claude, 77-82, 227

339

Johnson, William Henry, 88-91, 93-95 Johnston, Joshua, 14-15 Jones, Calvin, 196 Jones, Lois Mailou, 6 5 , 1 0 0 - 2 Joseph, Cliff, 165-66 Keene, Paul, 154 Lane, Artis, 216-17 Lane, Doyle, 228 Lark, Raymond, 246 Lawrence, Annette, 313-16 Lawrence, Jacob, 1 1 9 , 1 2 9 - 3 1 Lawrence, James, 245 Lee, Joanna, 239 Lee-Smith, Hughie, 126, 255 Lewis, Edmonia, 40-43 Lewis, Norman, 84,119-22 Little, Willie, 316-18 Locke, Alain, 8, 58, 60-61, 69, 72, 92, 97, 105 Logan, Juan, 206-7 Love, Ed, 212 Marshall, Kerry James, 291-95 Masson, Phillip Lindsay, 168-170 Maxwell, Bill, 232 Mayhew, Richard, 180 Miller, Thomas, 222-23 Mills, Lev, 268 Mills, P'lla, 213 Monroe, Arthur, 244-45 Montgomery, Evangeline, 238 Moorhead, Scipio, 11-12 Motley, Jr., Archibald, 72-73 Olugebefola, Ademola, 144-45

340

O'Neal, Mary Lovelace, 299-302 Ourlicht, Laurie, 274 Outterbridge, John, 204 Overstreet, Joe, 188 Pace, Lorenzo, 288-89 Pajaud, William, 178-79 Payton, Martin, 305-7 Perkins, Angela L., 323-25 Phillips, Bertrand, 167 Phillips, Douglas, 236 Pippin, Horace, 106-9 Pogue, Stephanie, 260-61 Porter, Charles Ethan, 39-40 Porter, James A., 10, 33, 5 1 - 5 2 , 1 0 4 - 5 Price, Leslie, 175 Primus, Nelson A., 37-39 Purifoy, Noah, 198-99 Puryear, Martin, 220-21 Reason, Patrick Henry, 19 Riddle, John, 207 Ringgold, Faith, 163-64 Roberts, Lucille Malkia, 150 Ryder, Mahler, 192 Saar, Alison, 284-87 Saar, Betye, 200-2 Sampler, Marion, 244 Saunders, Raymond, 147-49 Savage, Augusta, 8 3 - 8 5 , 1 1 9 , 1 2 9 Scott, John, 217-18 Scott, William Edouard, 54-55 Simmons, Danny, 302-4 Simpson, William, 20-21 Slater, Van, 253

Smith, Art, 237 Smith, Howard, 264-65 Smith, Vincent, 195 Smith, William, 255 Spiral Group, 119,122 Spolin, Clay, 83 Statom, Therman, 243 Stevens, John, 205 Tanner, Henry Ossawa, 44-51, 54 Tanner, James, 242 Tatum, James, 234-35 Thomas, Alma, 103 Thompson, Bob, 172-74 Tucker, Curtis, 230-31 Tucker, Yvonne, 230-31 Twiggs, Leo, 204-41 Urbina, Larry, 225 Waddy, Ruth, 252-53, 257 Warburg, Eugene, 29 Ward, Carol, 269 Waring, Laura Wheeler, 55-56 Warrick, Meta Vaux, 51-53 Wellman, Joyce, 254 Wells, James Lesesne, 96-97 West, Pheoris, 197 Wheatley, Phillis, 11-12 White, Charles, 1 1 9 , 1 3 2 - 3 3 , 1 3 8 Williams, Frank, 183-84 Williams, Michael Kelly, 272-73 Wilson, Ellis, 65, 75-76 Wilson, John, 138 Woodruff, Hale, 6 5 - 6 8 , 1 1 8 Yarde, Richard, 295-99