Black artists in America: from civil rights to the bicentennial

Abstract

"Black Artists in America: From Civil Rights to the Bicentennial explores African American art during the turbulence of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The catalogue considers the various ways in which African American artists responded to growing civil unrest, challenging the cultural, environmental, political, racial, and social issues of the era. In the 1960s, Black artists who came of age during World War II and the increasing civil rights activity of the 1950s continued to challenge inequities in the art world. They created works that celebrated their racial identity, communicated with Black audiences, and participated in the struggle for political, economic, and social equality. The establishment of artist collectives such as Spiral and museums devoted to Black art, including the Studio Museum in Harlem, alongside the emergence of art historians and critics like David Driskell and Linda Goode Bryant, marked early steps to bring Black art into broader artistic discourse. In addition to 140 full-color images of approximately seventy paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from public and private collections across the country, the catalogue features in-depth essays, including original research on artists James Porter and Merton Simpson."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Foreword and acknowledgments / Kevin Sharp, Lial A. Jones -- Black Artists in America : 1960s-1970s / Celeste-Marie Bernier -- "The American Negro Artist Looks at Africa" : The Art Historian James A. Porter and African Diaspora Art Histories / Earnestine Lovelle Jenkins -- A Masterful Eye : Merton D. Simpson, Artist and Connoisseur / Alaina Simone -- Catalogue of the Exhibition.