Connecting People with Art since 1985
Price $12
An overview of African American Art and Artists from Colonial Times to Present.
There are sketches of Joshua Johnson, Edward M. Bannister, Henry O. Tanner, Aaron Douglas, Romare Bearden, Charles White and many others.
In addition, there is a narrative on Collecting and Investing in African American Art.
Run time 27 min. File format MP3.
Price: $25
Digital E Book
File Format: PDF
For the Original Book Itself – not digital click here
Book Description: 502 Page Coffee Table Art Book
This book is a written account of what October Gallery (OG) means to us. We attempted to unfold the saga of how OG evolved over time. In addition we queried patrons and artists alike: “What is the value of African American art to you?” Their personal responses, interesting and insightful, are included throughout our story. Both our national and international patrons and artists have witnessed (first hand) the creation and development of the African American art industry, which prior to the 1970s was almost non-existent. This group of patrons and artists are part of what we call BlackStream Renaissance”. Most African American artists market and exhibit in the African American community. Successful African American art festivals and expos, where artists sell and exhibit, recognize the importance of marketing to this special community. It is in this community where the strength and the value of African American art begins. It is this community that has provided the foundation for Blackstream Renaissance. It is this community that has given us the content, the material, the stories for Connecting People with Art. This book recognizes the pioneers of Blackstream Renaissance.
Page 152
Native Philadelphian Mercer Redcross, III co-founded the October Gallery with his wife, Evelyn, 28 years ago. The gallery s first location was in the Powelton Village section of Philadelphia. Today, October Gallery is located downtown in Olde City where it continues to promote African American art, artists and consumer education. The Redcrosses have always been collectors. Their initial interests included Lionel model trains, antique clocks and traditional art. Later, they became passionate advocates of African-American art. In 1985 this new fervor stirred a special kind of excitement for them. It led to the creation of a new art gallery in Philadelphia that they called, October Gallery. They understood that art is an ideal medium to communicate culture, history and broad human experiences. Together they strive to make art and art education accessible to all people. Connecting People with Art, has been their mantra for years. This book reveals their stories and numerous art adventures, as well as it chronicles the experiences of many others whom they met along the way.
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Mercer Redcross III graduated from Cheyney University with a BS in Economics. Then, he earned a Masters of Business Administration from Eastern University.
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Evelyn Redcrosss graduated from Temple University with a BS in Psychology. Then she earned a Masters in Journalism from Temple University.
more info: 215-629-3939
Join us for DuSable Day, honoring the memory and legacy of the “Father of Chicago,” Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, Chicago’s first settler, and marking our city’s 176th birthday!
This day long celebration features, multi-cultural dance performances, musical tributes, art workshops
Premiere of the the new Discovering DuSable Digitally website
Another highlight of this family day is touring the DuSable Mobile Museum! Our “museum on wheels” boasts an interactive exhibition that explores the life and times of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, an African Haitian, who in 1779 became the first non-native person to establish permanent settlement in Eschikagou (“the place of smelly onions”), which we now call Chicago.
Be a part of the 176th anniversary of the founding of the City of Chicago by paying tribute to its founder, Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable!
This is a FREE event. For more information, call 773-947-0600 ext. 290.
Fore presents twenty-nine emerging artists of African descent who live and work across the United States. Born between 1971 and 1987, the artists in Fore work in diverse media, often blending artistic practices in new and innovative ways. While some artists create large-scale oil paintings, others draw on top of photographs, or combine sculpture and two-dimensional work. More than half of the works in Fore have never been exhibited publicly; some are site-specific and react directly to the Harlem neighborhood and its social landscape.
Fore is the fourth in a series of emerging artist exhibitions presented by the Studio Museum, following Freestyle (2001), Frequency (2005–06) and Flow (2008). This exhibition traces the development of artistic ideas since Flow, taking into account social, political and cultural conditions in the United States. Whether gathering and assembling everyday objects, referencing urban architecture and economies, or using film and video to mirror the transmission and reception of information through social media, the artists in Fore emphasize that contemporary art is deeply tied to its location, time and historical context. This exhibition investigates questions at the core of the Studio Museum’s mission, exploring art’s relationship to U.S. and global communities.
perFOREmance, two three-day performance presentations in December 2012 and February 2013, provides a platform for the new and commissioned performances in Fore.
Organized by Lauren Haynes, Naima J. Keith and Thomas J. Lax, Assistant Curators at the Studio Museum, Fore continues the Studio Museum’s mission as the nexus for artists of African descent, locally, nationally and internationally, and for work inspired by black culture.
Fore is made possible thanks to Leadership Support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Major support provided by Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support provided by the Ed Bradley Family Foundation.
Exhibition brochure
Artists in the exhibition:
(left): Kianja Strobert, Untitled (detail), 2012. Courtesy the artist and Zach Feuer, New York
(right): David Hartt, Lounge, 2011. Courtesy the artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago
The latest issue of Studio is now available at the Museum, as a viewable e-book here or as a downloadable PDF here!
This issue includes covers by artists Kianja Strobert and David Hartt; a conversation between David Hartt, Thelma Golden and Thomas J. Lax about his upcoming Spring 2013 exhibition at Studio Museum; an introduction to our 2012-13 Artists in Residence; a report from dOCUMENTA (13); and commentaries on inspiration from the artists featured in Fore.
Dr. Arnold Klein removed treasure trove of art, authorities charge
By Nancy Dillon / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Michael Jackson’s bankrupt dermatologist is a wanted man.
Federal authorities have issued a warrant for Dr. Arnold Klein’s arrest — saying he removed a treasure trove of art from two properties in his bankrupt estate and failed to turn over a 2001 Ferrari spider with the license plate “GOT BTOX.”
A judge signed the warrant Thursday and said Klein should go to jail until he says where he stashed the pricey pieces.
“It’s bullsh–. I’m tired of this by now. Really tired of this,” Klein told the Daily News Thursday. “They’re trying to steal everything I own. They can’t have anything more. I’m done. There must be integrity and compassion left in this country.”
Court paperwork claims Klein stripped a Laguna, Calif., home of scores of artworks including lithographs by David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella, a sculpture by Man Ray and even some ceramic works attributed to Pablo Picasso.
The court also alleges Klein’s Palm Springs residence was filled with works by Jean Michel Basquiat, David LaChapelle, Andy Warhol and other famous artists in August, but 37 pieces were missing during a check earlier this month.
Michael Jackson, Arnold W. Klein, M.D., and Elizabeth Taylor.
Klein claimed the voluntary Chapter 11 proceeding has been unduly influenced by the executors of Michael Jackson’s estate, whom he has publicly criticized.
“If I end up in jail, I may not come out alive,” the 67-year-old doctor said. “Let them look for me. I’m not willing to go to jail. They will not find me.”
He complained that estate executor John Branca belongs to the same law firm as a founding director of The Private Bank of California, a bank involved in his case.
“It’s all a set-up,” Klein ranted. “I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Attempts to reach a spokesman for Jackson’s estate were not immediately successful.
The estate, meanwhile, has generated more than a half a billion dollars since the singer’s 2009 death to pay his debts and support his mother and three kids.
ndillon@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/feds-issue-warrant-jacko-doc-article-1.1270213#ixzz2M0DbXv63
The Huffington Post | By Julee Wilson
It was bad enough we had to report on T Magazine’s glaring lack of diversity in its relaunch issue, which was followed with an apology from its Editor-in-Chief Deborah Needleman.
Now comes this racially-insensitive gem. Jezebel’s Laura Beck has pointed out Numéro magazine‘s use of a highly bronzed white model in one of its fashion editorials entitled “African Queen.”
We’ll give you a moment to process that information and pick up your jaws.
Moment over. The young lady in the spread is 16-year-old, blond-haired, blue-eyed Ondria Hardin, who is seen with her skin darkened and striking a pose for the French glossy. To start, we know there are plenty of white people living in Africa — but Ondria is from North Carolina and we’re pretty sure white people in Africa don’t walk around in what could be considered a light application of blackface.
With that said, the editorial serves as another sad example of how the fashion industry continually ignores or exploits ethnic diversity rather than celebrating it. And to think how easy it would have been for Numéro to select one of the countless beautiful black models (see slideshow below) and avoid this justifiable backlash and contribution to an unrelenting problem.
In Needleman’s apology concerinng the lack of color in T, she stated: “a majority of fashion models are still unfortunately mostly white …” This many be true — Jezebel found that over 82 percent of the models used during New York Fashion Week were white — but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any black models available to pose as an “African Queen.”
Perhaps we’re supposed to be flattered by the images, basking in the fact that our skin is so beautiful and style so sensational that even white women want to emulate it. Was that Numéro’s point? Doubt it. But if so, we’re not buying it.
Beck summed it up best, writing:
It’s impossible to look at this and not ache for young women of color who want to pursue careers in modeling (and arguably, fashion by extension). When they don’t see themselves on the runway or in magazines, it could be very easy for them to think, “huh, I guess modeling isn’t for me.” Then the status quo remains, and the runways remain monotone. If jobs for “African Queen” photo spreads aren’t going to black women, what hope is there?
And we’d like to note that Beck is a white woman, which is important to point out for the simple fact that black people aren’t the only ones outraged by this issue. We’re not being overly sensitive or playing the race card. Not only does this specific instance illustrate the absence of opportunity for models of color, but it’s a clear message from the industry saying “we don’t care.”
By Mary Carole McCauley, The Baltimore Sun
Vic Carter’s spacious Howard County home
is filled with more than 300 original paintings, small sculptures and figurines by black artists — and every single one has a story that the gregarious WJZ news anchor is eager to tell.
This one, Carter said, pointing to an impressionistic painting of a young girl, the artist painted upside down — as the topsy-turvy signature attests. A small metal statue of a horse stood on his grandfather’s desk when Carter, now in his 50s, was a boy.
And a wall across from a staircase features a colorful canvas depicting Shango, the Yoruban deity of fire, lightning and thunder.
“I bought that painting in Havana in 1999, when I was covering the Orioles’ visit to Cuba,” Carter recalled.
“I’ve covered news stories on four different continents. I’ve covered natural disasters, and I’ve covered presidential campaigns. And everywhere I’ve gone, I try to bring at least one piece back.
“This artwork has become the story of my life.”
It’s not that the 4,500-square-foot, six-bedroom, five-bathroom home that Carter built in 1996 lacks charms of its own.
There’s the home’s spectacular setting; it backs up to a forested stretch of Patapsco State Park.
There’s the chipmunk who lives under the front steps, and there’s the bird of undetermined origin who “knocks on my door every day,” Carter said.
There’s the light-drenched, two-story great room, the gleaming oak floors throughout the home, and the expansive deck, painted a light gray, that leads off the master bedroom.
Carter lives in the home with his wife and daughter, and the family has chosen traditional mahogany furnishings. The flowing feeling of the open floor plan is reinforced by a unified color palette of furniture and draperies upholstered in hunter green and burgundy, which sets off walls painted the color of late afternoon sunlight.
“We wanted to keep the setting calm, neutral, and in touch with nature,” he said. “We want people to feel comfortable here, as though they could kick off their shoes when they walk through the front door.”
A favorite retreat is the kitchen, which is soon to undergo an extensive remodeling, in part to accommodate the left-handed chef.
Carter is an inventive and imaginative cook; one of his “go-to” dishes for drop-in guests is limoncello shrimp, a concoction he dreamed up from ingredients he had on hand: lemons, Old Bay, parsley, garlic and angel hair pasta.
The remodeling will retain the existing cherry cabinets. But the appliances will be updated, the central island will be extended to include a recycling area, and a ceramic floor will be installed. In addition, the kitchen will be unified thematically with the rest of the home by exchanging the existing Formica countertops for granite, a natural material.
“Vic knows what he wants,” said Carter’s contractor, Joe Basta, who’s in charge of remodeling for the Hampstead-based Brothers Services Co.
“He’s very neat and clean and precise, and he’s been very involved in the design process. He has a good eye and he has good taste, but they aren’t necessarily extravagant tastes. He’s a very down-to-earth guy,” Basta said. “Every time we come over, he asks us as many questions about our lives as we ask him about his, and that’s refreshing.”
But the home’s most striking — and personal — design element unquestionably is the art. The collection of works created primarily by black artists reflects a man confident about his own aesthetic judgments.
Some pieces are museum quality. For instance, a lithograph by Jacob Lawrence sits above the desk in Carter’s office. In it, the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass is bent over his desk — perhaps, Carter speculates, laying out an edition of “The North Star,” the anti-slavery paper he founded.
Another lithograph, “Dream of Exile” by the master collagist Romare Bearden, hangs in a hallway between the great room and the kitchen. The work is an intricate, fanciful landscape in which animal, bird and fish faces peek out from behind the cover of trees, grass and waves.
Another piece is by a familiar figure in an unfamiliar context. A canvas painted in strong indigos and pure whites was created by the actor Billy Dee Williams. The piece, “Choir,” shows the voices of a church’s singers ascending to the heavens in the form of doves.
“Billy Dee Williams originally studied to be an artist,” Carter said. “He began acting to find a way to pay for his painting tools.”
But other works were found in open-air markets and cost the anchorman just a few dollars. The collection also includes a significant representation of local artists, including Tom Miller and Paula Whaley.
“A lot of times, I’m hanging the artist even more than the art,” Carter said. “If I get interested enough in the person making the artwork, he could sell me a case of chipped beef and I’d put it on the wall.”
Restaurant “art” doesn’t usually attract more than a cursory glance from diners— reproductions of vintage Lillet posters or landscapes in soft tones are the norm. But the carefully curated collection at Red Rooster Harlem has been given just as much thought as the menu. The restaurant’s chef and owner, Marcus Samuelsson, together with Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, worked for more than two years to create an ongoing program that showcases the work of Harlem’s contemporary artists along with that of international icons such as Romare Bearden and Gordon Parks.
“I think of art and Red Rooster as one,” explains Samuelsson, who is also a MoMA board member. “I knew that I wanted to tell the story of Harlem, and I knew that I wanted to tell it in many different compositions, through food, people, music, culture, art.” The chef strives both to preserve Harlem’s artistic past and to show how the ever-changing community continues to thrive, with contributions by the likes of Sanford Biggers, Glenn Ligon, Lorna Simpson, Monika Sziladi, and Laine McNulty. “We treat the walls with an incredible amount of respect and make sure the art helps guide the guest who comes to our place in Harlem,” Samuelsson says. “It’s storytelling in a compelling way, and I think about the walls as much as I think of any ingredient in a dish.”
Samuelsson’s journey from Ethiopia, to life in Sweden with his adoptive parents, and on to fame in New York City as executive chef at Aquavit, helped him hone a knack for combining disparate elements, which he thoroughly expresses in the atmosphere at Red Rooster. A large bookshelf near the bar holds figurines, small artworks, and books meant to educate visitors about Harlem’s rich history. A Biggers quilt, Flying Lotus, #14, (2012) hangs in the main dining area with a painting by Nigerian artist Njideka Akunyili, and a collection of Bearden’s works is displayed in a private dining room downstairs. “We’ve worked hard to cultivate a balance of accomplished figures and rising stars in the visual-arts community, whose works speak to the relevance of Harlem and diversity in the art world overall,” says Derek Fleming, Samuelsson Group’s director of business development and curator of the Rooster Art Program with Samuelsson.
Always eager to engage the public, Samuelsson frequently moves about the restaurant, pointing out works and telling diners about the artists, many of whom frequent the establishment. “Like Harlem, the art at the Rooster is always changing,” Golden says, “encouraging new experiences and sparking new conversations.”
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Along the continuum of representational art, Simmie Knox takes the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm.
A nip here. A dissolved wrinkle there. In the end, a portrait is supposed to “make you look your best,” says the man who wields a tiny brush to encapsulate the spirits of Muhammad Ali, Bill and Hilary Clinton and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
And, at age 77, Knox is the unofficial portraitist for trailblazing African Americans.
He has painted baseball legend Hank Aaron; media magnate Oprah Winfrey; former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; comedian Bill Cosby; Bishop Quintin Primo, the first black bishop elected in the dioceses of Delaware and Chicago; David Dinkins, the first and only black mayor of New York City; and Peter Spencer, founder of A.U.M.P. Church in Wilmington, the first independent black church in the nation.
Knox, himself, was the first African-American artist to create an official White House portrait, painting former President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2000.
“Sometimes it’s not always the size of your hammer or the size of the rock, but it’s how often you hit that rock,” he is fond of saying.
A childhood friend of Aaron, Knox practiced baseball with bottle caps and broomsticks until he got socked in the face with a real ball at the age of 13.
Doctors suggested that he retrain his eye by sketching. At the time, it wasn’t socially acceptable for young blacks in Alabama to study art, so the nuns at Knox’s school arranged for private drawing lessons with a postal carrier.
Practice made perfect. A selection of Knox’s portraits, along with his abstract landscapes and still-life drawings, are on display through March 21 in the lobby of the Citizens Bank Center in downtown Wilmington. The collection features portraits of all five current state Supreme Court justices, the first time the oil paintings have been assembled in one space.
Last month, the Delaware Humanities Forum premiered a short film about Knox’s life, “Strokes of Justice,” emphasizing his strong ties to the First State.
Knox lived in Delaware for 13 years, and received game-changing art training at the University of Delaware before moving on to Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. He also taught art in high schools for four years in Wilmington.
“It’s a very tender and honest presentation,” says Marilyn Whittington, executive director for the humanities forum, which spent $20,000 on the film project.
Born in 1935 to a family of poor sharecroppers in Aliceville, Ala., Knox moved to Milford more than two decades later on the heels of his parents, who were seeking work up north.
After a three-year stint in the Army, he enrolled in Delaware State College as a biology major, producing stellar drawings of microorganisms, before heading to UD.
As one of only a half-dozen black students at the school, Knox recalled feeling isolated in the dining hall, ignored by white students.
“Every now and then, some brave soul followed the courage of conviction,” he says.
While attending school and working at a textile factory in Milford, Del., he painted an 11-year-old Randy Holland at the request of Holland’s father, who worked with Knox at the factory. Nearly a half-century later, Holland returned the favor by asking Knox to paint his portrait when he was appointed to the Delaware Supreme Court.
In 1961, Knox completed his first notable portrait — a full-size self-portrait depicting a young man as an emerging force, his browstrong, his expression enigmatic.
“I wasn’t trying to communicate anything except looking in the mirror,” he explains.
Knox chose to pursue the current fad, abstract art, exhibiting alongside heavy hitters like Hans Hofmann and Roy Lichtenstein. He learned tricks that later influenced his portraits, such as manipulating warm colors to make objects pop and using cool colors to help them recede, creating a 3-D canvas.
In 1971, he was honored in the “Thirty-Second Biennial of Contemporary American Painting” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
But he missed the challenge of painting the human face, each one different than the next. “If I talk to you for five minutes, I have you pretty much sized up,” he says.
Most difficult are the hands, he continues, simulating the blood flow around the joints. In his portrait of Darnell Dockett, defensive tackle for the Arizona Cardinals and father of Knox’s grandson, the hands are crossed on the player’s hulking chest with a prominent tattoo “Laugh now, cry later.”
Judges appear less imposing. Often, they are surrounded by objects that have shaped their lives, from family portraits to stuffed ducks.
In painting then-Justice Marshall, Knox manipulated a smile, narrowing the eyes and thinning out the lips.
“He gave me a serious look but I wanted to make him look pleasant,” remembers Knox.
Marshall kept the painting behind his desk and joked to Knox that he wanted to be known as the “hanging judge,” the artist recalls.
Knox had his “personal Super Bowl” moment in 2000, when he was selected to paint the Clintons. The New York Times and a host of other publications came calling and the president praised Knox as “a part of America’s promise.”
Gone were the days when subjects would sit for two hours a day for weeks on end without changing clothes. For President Clinton, Knox made do with 45 minutes, snapping photos in a frenzy.
It took Knox several months to complete the presidential portrait, submitting five poses for Clinton to review. The two bonded over a shared passion for jazz.
In the end, Clinton chose a standing pose, one hand resting self-assuredly in his pocket, surrounded by an American flag and military medallions.
Initially, the first lady disliked the way her hand grazed a table, so Knox tweaked it.
“I didn’t get anything out of the Bush administration,” he notes. Indeed, the only Republicans Knox has painted were Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and freed slave and famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass but, as Knox notes, “He had no choice.”
After earning his degrees, Knox moved to Washington to earn a living as an artist serving the capital coterie. Now, working from his home’s converted garage in Silver Spring, Md., the father of three charges $18,000 to $60,000 per portrait, depending on size and complexity. He routinely works from photographs and his portraits are imbued with the vibrant clarity of a photo.
It is a highly subjective craft, where reputation is paramount and a commission can collapse if a subject prefers a brown dress to red. Incidentally, Oprah was a vision in red in her 6-foot-tall portrait.
Knox also has completed at least a dozen portraits for the Cosby family — early supporters of his work — including painting Cosby’s wife, Camille, four times because it “wasn’t quite right.”
Recently, he finished portraits of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Aetna CEO Ron Williams. Knox also created a bronze sculpture of the first African-American mayor of Baltimore, the late Clarence “Du” Burns. Destined for Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the sculpture depicts Burns holding the hand of a small child, modeled by Knox’s grandson.
In Knox’s down time, which is becoming more common in a troubled economy, he focuses on landscapes and still-life paintings. He manages to capture the personality of a ripe pomegranate or the curled lip of a tulip.
Last month, the dapper Knox attended the opening of his exhibit in Wilmington. Soon, he was surrounded, flipping through his iPhone camera roll to dazzle guests with other examples of his portraiture.
Among the attendees was one of Knox’s subjects, Chief District Judge Gregory Sleet, the first African American to be appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware and the first to be appointed to the federal bench in the state.
Sleet applauded Knox for putting him at ease during the portrait-making process. Sleet is portrayed as relaxed and approachable, surrounded by the scales of justice, and a photograph of him as a young boy meeting Martin Luther King Jr. at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Sleet’s father, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Moneta Sleet Jr., introduced his son to the civil rights leader.
“My father was probably the greatest influence on my life,” says Sleet, in explaining why he chose to include the photo.
Knox “breathes a life into a flower or judge,” says Citizens Bank gallery director Jerry Bilton, while confronting some of the eternal questions of art: “What is illusion? What is truth?”
by Clint Cooper
As a woman in the male-dominated engineering field, Carnetta Davis understood well the plight of black artists trying to be recognized with their peers in other races.
“I can draw parallels between my own experiences [and] those experiences of African-American artists, both past and present,” says the onetime Chattanoogan, now a resident of Birmingham, Ala., “and these parallels fuel my passion.”
That passion is the serious collection of art, something she and her husband, Norm Davis, have been involved in for the last seven years. A portion of their collection, “African American Art: Selections from the Carnetta and Norm Davis Collection,” is on display at Hunter Museum of American Art.
It is one of at least three local exhibits primarily featuring black artists during February, which is Black History Month.
The Bessie Smith Cultural Center is offering “We Shall Not be Moved — The 50th Anniversary of Tennessee’s Civil Rights Sit-ins” through April 7. Urban League of Greater Chattanooga vice president and chief operating officer James McKissic is displaying part of his personal collection at the former First Tennessee Bank building on Glass Street. In the building now called the Bank Art Center, the exhibit runs Saturdays and Sundays through March 17.
Ellen Simak, chief curator at the Hunter, says she met the Davises during a Friends of African American Art tour in 2012. The couple’s collection was made available, she says, and museum officials were able to choose what they wanted.
“We chose a group of works that would fit within [the hallway gallery off the] lobby space,” Simak says, “and that tell a cohesive story.”
The 12 works, she says, are “largely figurative” and are, in general, “strong pieces that work well together.” Among the 20th-century artists represented are Jacob Lawrence, Radcliffe Bailey, Kara Walker and Norman Lewis.
The works, according to museum officials, may be traditional subjects but are seen through the lens of black heritage.
So, while David Driskell’s “Reclining Nude” celebrates the work of the French modernist Henri Matisse, it also emphasizes the African roots of Matisse’s inspiration, museum officials say. And while Elizabeth Catlett based the farm worker in her “Survivor” on a mid-1930s photograph by Dorothea Lange, it also reflects her dedication to figures that express the dignity and power of black Americans.
McKissic, an artist himself, will share 16 to 18 pieces from his collection of works by black artists or that have black people as their subject.
“The reason why I collect is for these opportunities,” he says. “I’m excited because I want young people to see the artwork, to have a more intimate experience [with it] in their neighborhood.”
The collection of paintings, drawings and photographs, offered in partnership with the Glass House Collective, opened Saturday.
McKissic’s collection offers 20th-century works by some of the same artists on display at the Hunter, including Lawrence, Catlett, Lewis, Romare Bearden and John Biggers. More of his pieces, including works by Gordon Parks, also will be on display at the Glass Street site.
“Some of the pieces have been loaned to museums,” he says. “They’re high-quality pieces. There’s no reason why [similar art] should just be on the bluff [at the Hunter].”
Carmen Davis, who helped McKissic curate his exhibit and who is the curator of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, says the center has exhibited civil rights photos and artifacts before but none centered solely on Tennessee.
The new exhibit, she says, includes, among other things, a panel of local photos from protests in the 1960s, a replica of rules that Howard High School students wrote for themselves before they attempted to integrate downtown lunch counters, and a fire department nozzle from the era in which fire hoses were turned on civil rights protesters to dispel them.
“Chattanooga [officials were] the first in Tennessee to use water hoses and dogs to control the situation,” says Davis.
Other items include political buttons, propaganda from both sides on what the desegregation of local facilities would mean and a backstage pass from the August 1963 nationwide march on Washington, D.C.
“There are some really interesting things where you can see the mindset of people on both sides of the coin,” Davis says.
A few items in the exhibit pre-date 1960, 50 years before the touring exhibit was launched, but most are from the 1960s, she says.
The touring display, developed by the Tennessee State Museum, is divided into four areas: Segregation and Resistance, Non-Violence, Sitting-In in Tennessee, and Direct Action and the Civil Rights Movement.
The Nicholas Brothers in 1941. They are among the African-Americans whose work and lives were chronicled by cultural historian Delilah Jackson.
Delilah Jackson spent her life doing something wonderful: holding open the door to the past.
Jackson, a Harlem native and confirmed New Yorker who died last month at the age of 85, was a “cultural historian,” which in her case primarily meant researching, chronicling and preserving the black entertainment legacy from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century.
The richness and influence of that culture can’t be overstated. The problem is that way too often, it isn’t stated at all.
If you know Bill (Bojangles) Robinson, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway and Lena Horne, you know the visible part of the iceberg.
If you know Bert Williams, Flournoy Miller, Josephine Baker, Eubie Blake, Moms Mabley, Honi Coles, Florence Mills, the Nicholas Brothers and the Apollo chorus line, you’re a little deeper in the water.
But you also should know John Bubbles, Chinky Grimes, the Harris Twins, Tondelayo, Bunny Briggs, Morgan and Marvin Smith, Vivian Brown, Groundhog, Hyacinth Curtis, Norma Miller, Henry LeTang, Harold Cromer, Baby Sanchez, Eddie Parton, Frankie Manning, Gordon Anderson, Teddy Hale, Leonard Reed, Fredi Washington, the Berry Brothers, Savannah Churchill, Willie Bryant, Cholly Atkins, the Copacetics and a few hundred others.
You should know Clarence Robinson. He choreographed the 1943 film “Stormy Weather,” and 70 years later, the finale with Harold and Fayard Nicholas dancing to Calloway’s “Jumpin’ Jive” still takes your breath away.
You should know them not because there will be a quiz, but because they were exceptional at what they did, which was singing, dancing, taking pictures, telling jokes and generally delivering the kind of satisfying entertainment that makes our ride through this mean old world a little smoother.
That’s more than important. It’s necessary.
Their memory and their work need to be preserved so people today and tomorrow can know about it. That’s where Delilah Jackson came in.
She spent decades collecting scattered and often random source material, from black newspapers and obscure books to promo cards to a 1934 Cotton Club program and menu. (If you’re ready to order, filet mignon with French fries was $3. Lobster Newburg was $2.50. A shot of Johnny Walker Red was 85 cents.)
She shone a spotlight on this culture. Thankfully, she wasn’t the only one who did it, or is doing it, but few have been more ferocious in the pursuit.
She tracked down everyone she could find, mining their memories, looking at what they had saved, taping interviews to preserve what would otherwise have disappeared.
Around New York you only had to say “Delilah” to artists of the era and they knew who you meant. She became friends with many of the performers she interviewed. If they moved to nursing homes, she would visit and read. She developed a particular fondness for chorus line dancers, who she felt were overshadowed by the male dancers and never got their proper respect.
Lou Myers was best known for his role as restaurant owner Mr. Gaines on the television series “A Different World.”
Actor Lou Myers, best known for his role as ornery restaurant owner Mr. Gaines on the television series “A Different World,” has died.
Tonia McDonald of Myers’ nonprofit, Global Business Incubation Inc., said Myers died Tuesday night at Charleston Area Medical Center in West Virginia. She said he was 77. McDonald said Wednesday that Myers had been in and out of the hospital since before Christmas and collapsed recently. An autopsy was planned.
A native of Chesapeake, W.Va., Myers had returned to the state and lived in the Charleston area.
His TV credits included “NYPD Blue,” “E.R.,” “The Cosby Show,” “Touched by an Angel,” and more. He also appeared in a number of films, including “Tin Cup,” “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” “Wedding Planner” and more.
“A Different World” ran from 1987-93 and originally starred Lisa Bonet from “Cosby” fame. Myers said he owed his introduction to Hollywood to Bill Cosby.
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Myers also appeared on Broadway including “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” African American Style and “Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple.”
In 2005, the Appalachian Education Initiative listed Myers as one of 50 “Outstanding Creative Artists” from the state of West Virginia and featured him in their coffee table book Art & Soul.
He began singing jazz and blues with the touring company of “Negro Music in Vogue,” according to a biography provided by McDonald.
His Cabaret show has been acclaimed in Berlin, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York, as well as Los Angeles at the Roosevelt Hotel.
Myers was chairman of Global Business Incubation that helps urban small businesses and chairman of the Lou Myers Scenario Motion Picture Institute/Theatre.
He won a NAACP “Best Actor” award for playing the Stool Pigeon in “King Hedley II,” a play by August Wilson.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/lou-myers-dead-77-article-1.1269683#ixzz2LhfxlgoL