Mercer and Evelyn Redcross share a dream and a vision.
You can see it on the walls of their two October Galleries, on the walls of their East Mount Airy home: vibrant artworks by African Americans.
“The October Gallery – or any gallery – is something you can point to, it has four walls. If you want to claim your culture, go there,” says Mercer, whose energy crackles, even over the phone.
Up the spiral staircase, in an office above their sunlit Powelton Village gallery, the couple speak together of their lives and work, closely intertwined for 24 years.
The gallery business came about almost by accident. Mercer is, by nature, the collector. Of trains. Of clocks. “And stained glass,” interjects Evelyn. ”You forget!”
They met and married while students at Fisk University in Nashville, then came to Mercer’s home town of Philadelphia in the late ’60s to complete their educations. He wound up with a job at the Federal Reserve Bank and she became a city social worker before they both took jobs at the same real estate office. Neither knew much about art.
But Mercer became intrigued with the splashy sports paintings of LeRoy Neiman and went to an auction of the artist’s works one day in a Philadelphia hotel. “I wanted to see them,” he says, then adds, “I wanted to own one.”
“Maybe we were just art collectors waiting to happen,” Mercer says.
So, the Redcrosses began acquiring art, first by known white artists like Neiman, Salvador Dali and Alexander Calder. But soon they began seeking work by African Americans and discovered there were few places to find it. Their quest became a treasure hunt that led them to artists working in obscurity, paintings unsold, sometimes 50 or 60 of them stacked in a basement.
These explorations “opened up a whole new world,” says Evelyn, a striking woman who on this day is wearing a bright red dress and large, ornamental earrings. “We decided that if we had trouble finding these works, others did too.”
She goes on. “African American artists needed a place to showplace their work. They couldn’t get shows (at existing galleries); that helped us establish a need.”
The Redcrosses opened the first October Gallery in a storefront on Lancaster Avenue in 1985. (The second is at the Gallery, 10th and Market Streets.)
“This is almost a natural extension of our relationship,” says Evelyn, who grew up in tiny Orangeburg, S.C. “We always did things together.”
“We are of one mind,” says her husband.
In the beginning, people flocked to the gallery. At least to look. “They were eager in terms of supporting us,” Mercer says, “but of committing and buying – that took longer.”
EDUCATING CONSUMERS
Mercer promoted relentlessly, trying to educate would-be buyers from the moment they entered the gallery. Many African Americans could afford the works, which range from $15 to $30,000 or more. Mercer’s job was to show them how the art was necessary to their lives, how it fit in.
“We know what a BMW will do for us, what a silk dress will do, what belonging to Little League will do,” he says.
Here was an American art form being expressed by African Americans. “Art that shares history and culture,” Evelyn explains.
When people saw the Redcrosses collecting this art themselves, they became curious. “If I’m willing to give up a $5,000 car for a piece of art, people want to know why,” says Mercer.
One reason was investment: Undervalued for years, some of the works purchased for maybe $500 at the beginning of the decade increased tenfold during the prosperous 1980s.
The Redcrosses mounted shows all over the country, in Washington, Chicago, Boston, California, even Utah. They found clients this way. They found more
artists this way. And artists found them, too.
Prominent people such as former Phillie Garry Maddox and rap musician Fresh Prince (who favors the athletic pieces of Ernie Barnes) began collecting art bought from the Redcrosses. Alvin Poussaint, Harvard professor and Cosby Show consultant, bought. Louis Sullivan, U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, bought. Actress Cicely Tyson dropped in. Young Penn students brought their parents to the Powelton gallery.
REACHING OUT
In continuing to reach out to those who may not be exposed to art collections, the Redcrosses recently adopted the Andrew Hamilton public school at 57th and Spruce Streets. “We try to make what we have here available to the students,” Evelyn explains.
The advantages of their joint business and all-consuming cause are obvious. ”Two heads are better than one,” says Mercer. The downside: “When you get home, it’s hard to turn it off.”
Their three children, ages 22, 19 and 15, have always been involved with the galleries and have traveled with their parents from show to show. “My (15-year-old) daughter can handle a $10 sale or a $100,000 sale,” her father says.
As they’ve grown older, the children have contributed their opinions and recommendations. However, says Evelyn, “Sometimes they’re sick of hearing about the business.”
Often, Evelyn says, when she and her husband would hang a new work and talk about it, the children would act as if they were ignoring them. But when a guest would drop by, it would be the children who would tell the visitor all about the piece.
Their work, says Mercer, is “consuming, it takes everything. But we can’t forget the dream and the vision.” And, increasingly, “We have a lot of people who share the vision.”