African American Art Harlem Renaissance Civil Rights Era and Beyond

"African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Ceremonious Rights Era and Across" presents a choice of works by 43 black artists who lived through the tremendous changes of the 20th century. In paintings, sculpture, prints and photographs, the featured artists embrace themes both universal and specific to the African American experience, including the exploration of identity, the struggle for equality, the ability of music and the beauties and hardships of life in rural and urban America.

"African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Ceremonious Rights Era and Beyond" was on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum from April 27 through Sept. iii, 2013. The exhibition was organized by Virginia Mecklenburg, senior curator of painting and sculpture at the museum. It will travel to additional venues through 2014 following its presentation in Washington, D.C.

"This exhibition allows us to understand profound change through the eyes of artists," said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Managing director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. "These works past African American artists are vital to understanding the complex American experience."

The 100 works on view are drawn entirely from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's rich drove of African American art, the largest and finest in the United States. More than half of the works featured are being exhibited by the museum for the first fourth dimension, including paintings by Benny Andrews, Loïs Mailou Jones and Jacob Lawrence, as well as photographs by Roy DeCarava, Gordon Parks and Marilyn Nance. 10 of the artworks were acquired within the past five years. More than than half of the objects in the exhibition are photographs from the museum'south permanent collection. Individual object labels connect the artworks with the artistic and social factors that shaped their cosmos.

The 20th century was a time of smashing modify in America. Many of the social, political and cultural movements that came to ascertain the era, such as the jazz historic period, the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement, were rooted in African American communities. Black artists explored their identity in this quickly changing globe through a diverseness of media and in styles every bit varied every bit postmodernism, documentary realism, expressionism and brainchild.

"Visitors will be struck not just past the power of these artworks, but likewise by the variety of the pieces on display," said Mecklenburg. "And so many new movements and styles grew out of the tumult of the 20th century, and these works reflect that diverseness."

In paintings, prints and sculpture, artists such as William H. Johnson and Andrews speak to the nobility and resilience of those who work the land. Romare Bearden recasts Christian themes in terms of the blackness experience. Jones, Sargent Johnson and Melvin Edwards accost African heritage, while Alma Thomas explores the dazzler of the natural world through colour and abstract forms.

Studio portraits past James VanDerZee document the rise of the black middle class in the 1920s, while powerful black-and-white photographs by DeCarava, Nance, Parks, Robert McNeill, Roland Freeman and Tony Gleaton relate everyday life from the 1930s through the concluding decades of the 20th century.

"Each of the artists included in this exhibition made a compelling contribution to the artistic landscape of 20th century America, and we are delighted to feature their work in the museum'south galleries," said Mecklenburg.

Publication

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalog, with an essay written past distinguished scholar Richard J. Powell, the John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History at Duke University. The book also includes entries about each creative person by Mecklenburg; Theresa Slowik, main of publications at the Smithsonian American Fine art Museum; and Battle. The catalog was co-published by the museum with Skira Rizzoli in New York.

National Tour

The exhibition will travel through 2014 to additional cities in the United States following its presentation in Washington, D.C. Confirmed venues include

Muscarelle Museum of Art at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. (Sept. 28 – January. 6, 2013)

Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Fla. (Feb. 1, 2013 – April 28, 2013)

Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. (June 1, 2013 – Sept. 2, 2013)

the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tenn. (Feb. fourteen, 2014 – May 25, 2014)

and the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Calif. (June 28, 2014 – Sept. 21, 2014).

Also come across: African American Masters: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Workss included in the exhibition:

i. Benny Andrews, Portrait of Black Madonna, 1987 , oil and collage on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Andrews Humphrey Family Foundation, © Manor of Benny Andrews/Licensed past VAGA, New York, NY

ii. John Biggers, Shotgun, Third Ward #1, 1966, tempera and oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Establishment

iii. Frederick Brown, John Henry, 1979, oil, Smithsonian American Fine art Museum, Gift of Gerald Fifty. Pearson, © 1979 Frederick J. Dark-brown

4. Allan Rohan Crite, Schoolhouse'southward Out, 1936, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from The Museum of Modern Art

5. Roy DeCarava, Lingerie, New York, 1950/printed 1981, gelatin silverish print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Henry Fifty. Milmore, © 1981 Roy DeCarava

6. Beauford Delaney, Can Fire in the Park, 1946, Smithsonian American Art Museum

7. Thornton Dial, Sr., Superlative of the Line (Steel), 1992, mixed media: enamel, unbraided sail roping, and metal, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift from the collection of Ron and June Shelp

8. Melvin Edwards, Tambo, 1993, welded steel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum buy through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the Smithsonian Establishment Collections Conquering Program © 1993 Melvin Edwards

9. Roland L. Freeman, Dancing at Jazz Alley. Chicago, Illinois, June 1974, from the series, Southern Roads/ Metropolis Pavements, 1974/ Printed 1982, gelatin silverish impress, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Souvenir of George H. Dalsheimer, © 1974 Roland Fifty. Freeman

10. Sam Gilliam, The Petition, 1990, mixed media, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James F. Dicke Family, © 1990 Sam Gilliam

11. Felrath Hines, Crimson Stripe with Green Groundwork, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum © 1986 Dorothy C Fisher

12. Earlie Hudnall, Jr., Hip Hop, 1993, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum © 1993 Earlie Hudnall, Jr.

13. Richard Hunt, "The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether i may non be going to evidence one's self a fool; the truest heroism, is to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it out to exist resisted, and when to exist obeyed." -Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance, 1852. From the series Keen Ideas,1975, chromed and welded steel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America

14. Malvin Gray Johnson, Self-Portrait, 1934, Smithsonian American Fine art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation

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

16. William H. Johnson, Sowing, 1940, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation

17. Loïs Mailou Jones, Moon Masque, 1971, oil and collage, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the creative person

18. Jacob Lawrence, Bar and Grill, 1941, gouache, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Henry Ward Ranger through the National Academy of Design

19. Norman Lewis, Evening Rendezvous, 1962, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum buy

20. Robert McNeill, New Motorcar (South Richmond, Virginia), from the project The Negro in Virginia, 1938, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, © 1938 Robert McNeill

21. Robert McNeill, Make A Wish (Bronx Slave Market, 170th Street, New York), 1938, gelatin argent, Smithsonian American Art Museum, © 1938 Robert McNeill

22. Keith Morrison, Zombie Jamboree, 1988, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund and the Director's Discretionary Fund

23. Marilyn Nance, Baptism, 1986, gelatin silver print, Smitsonian American Fine art Museum, Museum buy made possible past the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the Smithsonian Establishment Collections Conquering Plan, © 1986 Marilyn Nance

24. Gordon Parks, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950, gelatin argent print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, © 1950 Gordon Parks

25. James A. Porter, Even so Life with Peonies, 1949, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum buy through Luisita 50. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Plan

26. John Scott, Thornbush Blues Totem, 1990, painted steel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase

27. Charles Searles, Celebration, 1975, acrylic, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program

28. Renée Stout, The Colonel's Chiffonier, 1991-1994, mixed media: carpet, chair, painting, and chiffonier with found and handmade objects, Smithsonian American Fine art Museum, Museum buy made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, © 1994 Renée Stout

29. Alma Thomas, Low-cal Blueish Nursery, 1968, acrylic, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Artist

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