African-American Art Previews

African American Art in the 20th Century

- Exhibition Opens at the Hudson River Museum in October - Sargent Johnson, Mask , ca. 1930 - 1935, copper on wood base. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of International Business Machines Corporation. Felrath Hines, Red Stripe with Green Background , 1986, oil on linen. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of Dorothy C. Fisher, wife of the artist. © 1986, Dorothy C. Fisher Hudson River Museum will present *African American Art in the 20th Century*, an exhibition of exemplary paintings and sculptures by thirty-four African American artists who came to prom... read more
African-American Art2 months ago
Emma Amos

Bold mixed-media paintings by a trailblazing artist who challenged society regarding race, gender, and privilege will be showcased in *“**Emma Amos: Color Odyssey**,”* on view June 19 through September 12 in the Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. “Emma Amos: Color Odyssey” is a major retrospective of the artist’s distinguished six-decade career. The exhibition features more than 60 artworks Amos created from 1958 to 2015. Though Amos is best known for her large-scale paintings incorporating African fabrics, she also embraced multiple types of materials, inno... read more
African-American Art4 months ago
Bill Traylor

Bill Traylor (American, 1853-1949), Nothin’ to Somethin’ – Freedom, undated. Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, gift of B.K. Fulton and Jackie Stone Bill Traylor (American, 1853-1949), Dance, undated. Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, gift of B.K. Fulton and Jackie Stone The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) has announced the gift of nine captivating works on paper created with paint, graphite and colored pencils by the iconic African American artist Bill Traylor. This generous donation is from the collection of B.K. Fulton and Jackie Stone. “Thes... read more
African-American Art4 months ago
The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection

Charles Alston (American 1907-1977), Portrait of Girl, 1940. The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection. The Gathering Place and Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will host artworks from the Kinsey collection, beginning May 22 through June 2021 in the ONEOK Boathouse. The collection then travels to Tacoma Art Museum in Washington this summer. The widely acclaimed exhibition, *The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection*, celebrates the achievements and contributions of Black Americans from 1595 to present times. Considered one of the most comprehe... read more
African-American Art4 months ago
Nellie Mae Rowe

Nellie Mae Rowe, Untitled (Dandy), 1978–1982, crayon and pencil on paper, 24 x 18 inches, gift of Harvie and Charles Abney.*High Museum of Art*Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900-1982), "When I Was a Little Girl," 1978, crayon, marker, colored pencil, and pencil on paper, 19 x 24, inches, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, purchase with Folk Art Acquisition Fund, 2002.73. © 2021 Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe/ARS, NY. Melinda Blauvelt, Nellie Mae Rowe, Vinings, Georgia 1971, printed 2021, silver gelatin print, 20 x 24 inches, gift of the artist.*High Museum of Art* Nellie Mae Rowe, Real Girl, 1... read more
African-American Art5 months ago
Augusta Savage

Great article: https://artdaily.cc/news/134379/The-Black-woman-artist-who-crafted-a-life-she-was-told-she-couldn-t-have#.YGTBItXwZoE Also see https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/augusta-savage-renaissance-woman Organized by guest curator Jeffreen M. Hayes, Ph.D., the Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman exhibition features nearly 80 works of art, including sculptures, paintings, and works on paper, and is the first to reassess Harlem Renaissance artist Augusta Savage’s contributions to art and cultural history in light of 21st-century attention to the concept of the artist... read more
African-American Art5 months ago
Major Gift Celebrating Black American Artists of the 20th Century

Richard Mayhew, Overture, 2001; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of the Joyner/Giuffrida Collection; © Richard Mayhew; photo: Katherine Du Tiel, courtesy SFMOMAHughie Lee-Smith, Two Boys, 1968; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of the Joyner/Giuffrida Collection; © Estate of Hughie Lee-Smith/ARS (Artist Rights Society), New York; photo: Ian ReevesLoïs Mailou Jones, Peasants at Kenscoff, 1955; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of the Joyner/Giuffrida Collection; © Estate of Loïs Mailou Jones; photo: Ian Reeves Elizabeth Catlett, Singing Head, 1968; San Franci... read more
African-American Art6 months ago
Black Women Artists from the Tubman Museum Collection

Ana Bel Lee (1926 – 2000) Wedding.*Tubman Museum* (ARTFIX*daily*.com) On March 5, 2021, the Tubman Museum will open an exhibition titled *A Mighty Chorus: Black Women* *Artists from the Tubman Museum Collection*. The exhibit will feature works by local African American women artists from the Tubman museum collection with a special focus on the works of Nellie Mae Rowe and Anna Belle Lee Washington, also known as Ana Bel Lee. After the death of her second husband in 1948, Nellie Mae Rowe (1900 – 1982) spent the rest of her life creating an extensive and important collection of... read more
African-American Art6 months ago
Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, the seat of Mecklenburg County, on September 2, 1911. About 1914, his family joined in the Great Migration north, settling in New York City, which remained Bearden's base for the rest of his life. He became a prolific artist whose works were exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. He was also a respected writer and an eloquent spokesman on artistic and social issues of the day. His many awards and honors include the National Medal of Arts he received from President Ronald Reagan in 1987, one year before he died in 1... read more
African-American Art7 months ago
Beauford Delaney

Beauford Delaney, Yaddo, 1950, pastel on paper, 18 × 24 inches. Knoxville Museum of Art, 2017 purchase with funds provided by the Rachael Patterson Young Art Acquisition Reserve. © The Estate of Beauford Delaney, image Bruce Cole. Featuring more than 40 paintings and works on paper, *Beauford Delaney’s Metamorphosis into Freedom* examines the career evolution of modern painter Beauford Delaney (Knoxville, TN 1901–1979 Paris, France) within the context of his 38-year friendship with writer James Baldwin (New York 1924-1987 Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France). The exhibition travels f... read more
African-American Art7 months ago
Dox Thrash

Also see: https://www.hydecollection.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Thrash-online-exhibition2.pdf [image: Dox Thrash, "Saturday Night," c. 1944-45, etching. Courtesy of Dolan/Maxwell, Philadelphia.] *Dox Thrash, **Saturday Night,* c. 1944-45, etching. Courtesy of Dolan/Maxwell. Philadelphia-based artist *Dox Thrash* (1893–1965) was both a pioneering printmaker and a noted participant in the “New Negro” movement of the 1930s and ’40s. A veteran of World War I as well as the minstrel stage, he trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before making his way to Philad... read more
African-American Art8 months ago
Jacob Lawrence

The paintings of Jacob Lawrence express his lifelong concern for human dignity, freedom, and his own social consciousness. His images portray the everyday reality, the struggles and successes of African American life. Using art as an instrument of protest, Lawrence aligned himself with the American school of social realism and Mexican muralist tradition. [image: Image result] *"Carpenters"* lithograph by Jacob Lawrence in the Bruce Museum exhibition"ReTooled: Highlights from the Hechinger Collection." photo: Joel Breger Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Lawrence grew up in Harl... read more
African-American Art8 months ago
Records for Charles Alston, Wadsworth Jarrell, Augusta Savage and More in African American Art

-----*at Swann* The December 10, 2020, sale of African American Art was met with enthusiasm from collectors. The sale saw nine auction records set, as well as an auction debut from contemporary artist Tyrone Geter. The auction total reached $2.8 million bringing the house’s African American Art sale totals for the year to $9.2 million. ------------------------------ Charles Alston Charles Alston, *Black and White #8*, oil on canvas, 1961. Sold for $197,000, a record for the artist. Leading the December sale was Charles Alston’s *Black and White #8*, oil on canvas, 1961. The ... read more
African-American Art9 months ago
Benny Andrews

Benny Andrews: A life in portraits Benny Andrews (1930-2006), Portrait of the Portrait Painter (Portraits of... Series), 1987, oil and graphite on two canvas panels with painted fabric collage, 80 x 100 x 3/4 inches / 203.2 x 254 x 1.9 cm, signed. Benny Andrews (1930-2006), Janitors at Rest, 1957-58. Oil on canvas with paper and painted fabric collage, 50 x 36 inches / 127 x 91.4 cm, signed. Benny Andrews once defined his artistic ambition as a desire to represent “a real person before the eyes.” The phrase is the subtitle of a momentous exhibition at the Michael Rosenfe... read more
African-American Art9 months ago
Romare Bearden Collages Lead African American Art at Swann
*Kerry James Marshall, Wadsworth Jarrell, Augusta Savage, Alma Thomas & Kara Walker feature* New York—*Swann Galleries*’ fall offering of *African American Art* comes across the block on *Thursday, December 10*. The auction will present a strong offering of works by notable artists, including Romare Bearden, Charles Alston, Wadsworth Jarrell and artists from the AfriCOBRA collective, as well as sculptors Simone Leigh and Elizabeth Catlett. *Romare Bearden* leads the sale with *Woman and Child*—an impressive collage inspired by Renaissance paintings and ima... read more
African-American Art11 months ago
Reckoning with “The Incident”: John Wilson’s Studies for a Lynching Mural.

John Wilson, Compositional study for The Incident, 1952. Opaque and transparent watercolor, ink, and graphite, squared for transfer. Yale University Art Gallery, Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund. © Estate of John Wilson John Wilson, Negro Woman, study for The Incident, 1952. Oil on Masonite. Clark Atlanta University Art Collection, Atlanta Annuals. © Estate of John Wilson. Courtesy Clark Atlanta University Art Collection On September 25, the Yale University Art Gallery opened to visitors for the first time in nearly seven months with new covid-19 safety measures in place. “Our wor... read more
African-American Art1 year ago
African Modernism in America

Peter Clarke (South African, 1929-2014) That Evening Sun Goes Down, 1960. Gouache on paper. Fisk University Galleries, Nashville. Gift of Harmon Foundation. Gerard Sekoto (South African, 1913-1993) Profile,1960. Fisk University Galleries, Nashville. Gift of Harmon Foundation. (c) 2020 Gerard Sekoto, DALRO / Johannesburg, VAGA at ARS NY. A traveling exhibition planned for late 2022 will illuminate *African Modernism in America, 1947–1967. *The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and Fisk University Galleries in Nashville, which will be the first venue. *African ... read more
African-American Art1 year ago
Archibald Motley

Twitter - Facebook Archibald Motley (1891–1981) was born in New Orleans and lived and painted in Chicago most of his life. But because his subject was African-American life, he’s counted by scholars among the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Many of Motley’s favorite scenes were inspired by good times on “The Stroll,” a portion of State Street, which during the twenties, the *Encyclopedia of Chicago* says, was “jammed with black humanity night and day.” It was part of the neighborhood then known as Bronzeville, a name inspired by the range of skin color one might see the... read more
African-American Art1 year ago
William H. Johnson

William H. Johnson, *Jitterbugs (I), *ca. 1940-1941, gouache and pen and ink on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.1063 *Jitterbugs (II)* William H. Johnson, ca. 1941, oil on paperboard. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation. 1967.59.611 By almost any standard, William H. Johnson (1901–1970) can be considered a major American artist. He produced hundreds of works in a virtuosic, eclectic career that spanned several decades as well as several continents. It was not until very recently, however, that his wo... read more
African-American Art1 year ago
Red Grooms

For over fifty years, American artist Red Grooms (born 1937) has used his brush to capture the great panorama of life. And for over fifty years people have delighted in his luscious, loud, laughing depictions that so uniquely celebrate the famous and the anonymous, the meaningful and the absurd, the high and the low, of twentieth-century America. *Red Grooms, Cedar Bar, 1986. Colored pencil and crayon on five sheets in artist’s wood frame. Yale University Art Gallery, Charles B. Benenson, b.a. 1933, Collection* Executed in colored pencil and watercolor on five large sheets of pa... read more
African-American Art9 months ago
African American Art - Georgia Museum of Art

*Expanding Tradition: Selections from the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection*,” The Thompsons donated 100 works of art by African Americans to the museum in 2012, on the heels of a traveling exhibition drawn from their collection, “Tradition Redefined: The Larry and Brenda Thompson Collection of African American Art.” “Expanding Tradition” is a second exhibition highlighting the couple’s commitment to collecting art over the last several decades through a new selection of works borrowed from their extensive private collection. “Expanding Tradition” also serves as the inaug... read more
African-American Art1 year ago
Charles White.

With *Charles White: A Retrospective*, The Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago present the first major museum exhibition of Charles White’s oeuvre in over 30 years, on view at The Museum of Modern Art from October 7, 2018, through January 13, 2019. Covering the full breadth of his career with over 100 multidisciplinary works, the exhibition features drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, and contextual ephemera. Prior to its MoMA presentation, the exhibition will be on view at the Art Institute of Chicago from June 8 through September 3, 2018. Following its MoM... read more
African-American Art1 year ago
Horace Pippin

Philadelphia Museum of Art A bequest includes three important works by the self-taught African American painter Horace Pippin, including *The Getaway* (1939), a stark winter scene in which a fox makes off with a bird in its mouth; *Study for Barracks* (1945), which conveys the everyday activity of African American combat soldiers in a dugout during World War II; and *The Park Bench* (1946), which is often interpreted as a psychological portrait of the artist and was painted in the last year of his life. *Horace Pippin, Domino Players, 1943. Oil on composition board, 12... read more

African American Art in the 20th Century

 

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 Exhibition Opens at the Hudson River Museum in October

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Sargent Johnson, Mask , ca. 1930 - 1935, copper on wood base. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of International Business Machines Corporation.

Felrath Hines, Red Stripe with Green Background , 1986, oil on linen. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of Dorothy C. Fisher, wife of the artist. © 1986, Dorothy C. Fisher

Hudson River Museum will present African American Art in the 20th Century, an exhibition of exemplary paintings and sculptures by thirty-four African American artists who came to prominence during the period bracketed by the Harlem Renaissance starting in the 1920s and the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Drawn from the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the exhibition includes masterworks by iconic artists such as Romare Bearden, Beauford Delaney, Jacob Lawrence, and Loïs Mailou Jones, ranging in style from modern abstraction to stained color to the postmodern assemblage of found objects. The exhibition will be on view October 15, 2021–January 16, 2022; this will be the only New York venue for the exhibition.

The subject matter of the works are diverse. Benny Andrews, Ellis Wilson, and William H. Johnson speak to the dignity and resilience of people who work the land. Jacob Lawrence and Thornton Dial, Sr. acknowledge the struggle for economic and civil rights. Sargent Johnson, Loïs Mailou Jones, and Melvin Edwards address the heritage of Africa, and images by Romare Bearden celebrate jazz musicians. Sam Gilliam and Felrath Hines conduct innovative experiments with color and form. 

“It is an absolute honor to have these outstanding paintings and sculptures at the Hudson River Museum,” said Director and CEO Masha Turchinsky. “We are thrilled to introduce our audiences to one of the most significant national collections of African American art. This is a pivotal opportunity for the public to experience powerful works by these American luminaries at the exhibition’s only New York venue.”

Laura Vookles, Chair of the HRM’s Curatorial Department, added, “I can’t wait to see the exhibition galleries filled with these amazing works by such a large grouping of exceptional and influential artists. It has been a privilege to collaborate with my colleagues to plan the presentation here, and I believe people will find visiting the exhibition similarly meaningful.”

These artists worked at significant social and political moments in American life. The Harlem Renaissance, World War II, the Civil Rights movement, and the forces for freedom around the world shaped their lives and worldviews. Family and personal history became subtexts for some. Others interpreted the syncopations of jazz in visual form, still others translated observation into powerful emotional statements. In styles that range from painterly expressionism to abstractions that glow with color, they explore myth and memory and acknowledge the heritage of Africa.

Norman Lewis, Evening Rendezvous , 1962, oil on linen. Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase.

Palmer Hayden, The Janitor Who Paints , ca. 1930, oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of the Harmon Foundation.

The words of scholar, writer and political activist W.E.B. Du Bois, Howard University philosophy professor Alain Locke, author Zora Neale Hurston, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and their contemporaries provided insight and inspiration. In response, the artists affirm community and individuality. For them art is a vehicle for understanding the complex, conflicting, and sustaining facets of the American experience. As featured artist Jacob Lawrence stated in 1951, “My pictures express my life and experience… the things I have experienced extend to my national, racial, and class group. I paint the American scene.”

The full list of artists in the exhibition: Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Frederick Brown, Hilda Wilkinson Brown, Claude Clark, Eldzier Cortor, Allan Rohan Crite, Emilio Cruz, Beauford Delaney, Joseph Delaney, Thornton Dial, Sr., Melvin Edwards, Herbert Gentry, Sam Gilliam, Palmer Hayden, Felrath Hines, Richard Hunt, Malvin Gray Johnson, Sargent Johnson, William H. Johnson, Loïs Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith, Norman Lewis, Whitfield Lovell, Keith Morrison, Delilah Pierce, Charles Searles, Renée Stout, Bob Thompson, Ellis Wilson, Hale Woodruff, Kenneth Victor Young, and Purvis Young. 

Delilah Pierce, DC Waterfront, Maine Avenue , 1957, oil on board. Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase made possible through Deaccession Funds

Exhibition Catalog
The related catalog, African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, celebrates modern and contemporary artworks in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection by African American artists. The book, co-published with Skira Rizzoli in New York, is written by Richard J. Powell, the John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History at Duke University; and Virginia Mecklenburg, chief curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; with contributions from Maricia Battle, curator in the prints and drawings division at the Library of Congress. It will be available in the Museum Shop ($39.95 for softcover).