African American art : : Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond

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Call Number: Black Studies 704.039 Sm Oversize
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Black Studies 704.039 Sm Oversize	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Published in conjunction with the related exhibition, on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, April 27, 2012 through September 3, 2012.
Herein lie buried many things : screens, entryways, and cabinets in twentieth-century Black visual discourse / Richard J. Powell -- Commentaries on the artworks / Virginia Mecklenburg with Maricia Battle and Mary J. Cleary.
"A beautifully illustrated survey of African American art of the twentieth century, including many never-before-seen works by the most important artists of the period. African American Art presents a powerful selection of paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs by forty-three black artists who explored the African American experience of the twentieth century. Embracing many universal themes and also evoking specific aspects of the African American experience such as the African diaspora, jazz, and the power of religion, the artists worked in styles as varied as documentary realism, abstraction, and postmodern assemblage of found objects. Drawn entirely from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's rich collection of African American art, the works include paintings by Benny Andrews, Jacob Lawrence, Thornton Dial Sr., Romare Bearden, Alma Thomas, and Lois Mailou Jones, and photographs by Roy DeCarava, Gordon Parks, Roland Freeman, Marilyn Nance, and James Van Der Zee. More than half of the artworks in the exhibition are being shown for the first time. In Richard Powell's text, his usual keen insights into meaning and metaphor enrich the reader's understanding of the artworks in their historical setting and contemporary culture."--Publisher's website.

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Insightful submitted by fka83111 on June 22, 2013, 9:44pm An expectant mum

20th century artists still struggle to be seen. submitted by ccrose on August 31, 2019, 10:56pm There are more places developed specifically for contemporary African American artists. But to recognize their unique cultural influences is harder. Bill Traylor a man whose parents were salves yet he was born after they were emancipated, developed his drawings entirely by himself and he did them continuously for his pleasure.
Even when he had them shown in the American Art Gallery in Washington, he shrugged, ready to go back to drawing. The activity meant more to him than promotion but it’s impact does move through other artists