Tag: Contemporary Art

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Fallen Through The Cracks

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Horace Pippin

Horace Pippin, School Studies, 1944
Horace Pippin, School Studies, 1944

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Horace Pippin

Fallen Through The Cracks – Horace Pippin

Horace Pippin

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Horace Pippin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on February 22, 1888. In World War I, Pippin served in K Company, the 3rd Battalion of the 369th infantry regiment, known as the famous Harlem Hellfighters, a predominately Black unit in a segregated US Army. He started painitngin the 1920s as a way to rehabilitate his injured arm. He began painting on stretched fabric and  burning designs into wood panels and adding emphasis to highlight specific components of the image. His first oil painting, The Ending of the War, Starting Home (1930–1933), depicts a scene informed by his experience at the Battle of Sechault, where he was shot.

Pippin’s oeuvre includes a variety of subjects and compositional strategies. His works include scenes inspired by his service in World War I, landscapes, portraits, and biblical subjects. Some of his most-prominent works address the U.S.’s history of slavery and racial segregation. His painting of John Brown Going to his Hanging (1942) is in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and is part of a trilogy on the abolitionist sometimes credited with igniting the Civil War.

Horace Pippin, Uncle Tom, 1944
Horace Pippin, School Studies, 1944

In the eight years between his national debut in the Museum of Modern Art’s traveling exhibition “Masters of Popular Painting” (1938) and his death at the age of fifty-eight, Pippin’s recognition grew exponentially across the country and internationally. In the catalog for one of his memorial exhibitions in 1947, critic Alain Locke described Pippin as “a real and rare genius, combining folk quality with artistic maturity so uniquely as almost to defy classification.”

Pippin painted about 140 works, many in museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Barnes Foundation. He was the first African American artist to be the subject of a monograph, Selden Rodman’s Horace Pippin: A Negro Painter in America of 1947. The New York Times eulogized him as the “most important Negro painter” in American history. Horace Pippin died on July 6, 1946, in Chester County, PA.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis by Henry Rocher, c. 1870, Wikipedia Commons.
Edmonia Lewis by Henry Rocher, c. 1870, Wikipedia Commons.

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Edmonia Lewis

Fallen Through The Cracks – Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Edmonia Lewis was born a free woman circa July 4, 1844, in Upstate New York. She was an American sculptor, of mixed African American and Native American heritage.  Lewis migrated to Boston in early 1864 to pursue her career as a sculptor. Her work was based in marble, focusing on incorporating themes relating to Black and Indigenous people of America in a Neoclassical-representation. One of her popular works, “Forever Free”, depicted a powerful image of a black man and woman emerging from the bonds of slavery.

She rose to prominence in the United States during the #CivilWar and was inspired by the lives of abolitionists and Civil War heroes. Lewis spent most of her adult career in #Rome, where Italy’s less pronounced racism allowed increased opportunities for black artists. “I was practically driven to Rome in order to obtain the opportunities for art culture, and to find a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color. The land of liberty had no room for a colored sculptor.” she quoted. 

Edmonia Lewis by Henry Rocher, c. 1870, Wikipedia Commons.
Edmonia Lewis, Hagar, 1875. ©Estate of Edmonia Lewis.
Edmonia Lewis, Hagar, 1875. ©Estate of Edmonia Lewis.

As a black artist, she had to be conscious of her stylistic choices, as her largely white audience often misread her work as self-portraiture. In order to avoid this, her female figures typically possess European features. A major highlight in her career was participating in the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in which she created the 3,015-pound marble sculpture titled The Death of Cleopatra. Then in 1877, former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant commissioned her to do his portrait. Edmonia Lewis died on September 17, 1907 in London, England.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Brittanica.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Brittanica.

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Henry Ossawa Tanner

Fallen Through The Cracks – Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Henry Ossawa Tanner was born on June 21, 1859, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His parents gave him a middle name that commemorated the struggle at #Osawatomie, between pro-and anti-slavery activists. Tanner studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he would be the only black student. Tanner moved to Paris, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and ended up spending the rest of his life in France.

Tanner’s work featured mostly biblical themes and received critical praise for works such as The Resurrection of Lazarus and Daniel in the Lions’ Den (both created in 1896). Critics felt his work held a “powerful air of mystery and spirituality”. During World War I, Tanner worked for the Red Cross and painted images of African-American troops from the front lines of the war. Tanner’s Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City (c. 1885) hangs in the Green Room at the White House and is the first painting by an African-American artist to have been purchased for the permanent collection of the White House.

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Brittanica.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Brittanica.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Flight Into Egypt, 1923. © Estate of Henry Ossawa Tanner.

In his adopted home of France, in 1923 Tanner was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, the highest national order of merit. He considered this “citation by the French government to be the greatest honor of his illustrious career.” Tanner’s work was influential during his career; he has been called “the greatest African American painter to date.” He was the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner died peacefully at his home in Paris, France, on May 25, 1937. 

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Vivian E. Browne

© Estate of Vivian E. Browne
© Estate of Vivian E. Browne

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Vivian E. Browne

Fallen Through The Cracks – Vivian E. Browne

Vivian E. Browne

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Vivian E. Browne was born on April 26, 1929, in Laurel, Florida. Browne was known for being an activist and professor, and for her political works showcasing her life as a black woman. “Black art is political. If it’s not political, it’s not black art”. Browne worked at Rutgers University in Newark from 1971 to 1992 as a faculty member of the Arts and Sciences department and served as a Fulbright panelist in 1990. 

In 2017, Browne was posthumously included in the exhibition We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, organized by the Brooklyn Museum. In 2018, her work was also shown in Acts of Art and Rebuttal in 1971, an exhibition at Hunter College in NYC. It revisited the 1971 exhibition Rebuttal to the Whitney Museum Exhibition: Black Artists in Rebuttal organized by members of the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition. 

Vivian Browne, ‘Little Men #84’, 1966. © Estate of Vivian E. Browne
Vivian E. Browne, Bryanne, 1961. © Estate of Vivian E. Browne
Vivian E. Browne, Bryanne, 1961. © Estate of Vivian E. Browne

They protested the Whitney Museum’s refusal to appoint a Black curator for their survey of Contemporary Black Artists. Browne’s work was considered for the exhibition but was ultimately not included. Browne’s work is housed in public and private collections all over the United States. Most notably her work can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian, Museum Of Modern Art, and the Harry Belafonte & Rosa Parks private collections. According to her mother, Browne died July 23, 1993, at age 64.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: William “Bill” Traylor

William "Bill" Traylor, © Estate of William "Bill" Traylor.
William "Bill" Traylor, © Estate of William "Bill" Traylor.

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: William “Bill” Traylor

Fallen Through The Cracks – William “Bill” Traylor

William “Bill” Traylor

#FallenThroughTheCracks – William “Bill” Traylor was born on April 1, circa 1853. He was an African-American self-taught artist from Lowndes County, Alabama. At age 85, he found a pencil and a piece of cardboard and began to document his memories and observations. Between 1939 to 1942, he produced nearly 1,500 pieces of art while working on the sidewalks of Montgomery, AL.

Traylor drew and painted, mostly on discarded paper from the neighborhood. Traylor’s drawings express his experiences and observations from rural and urban life. His visual glossary includes images of people, symbols, animals, local landmarks, and more. Traylor’s complex and coded scenes evidence the balancing act that defined Black life during that period. He recorded these memories without drawing attention to himself for doing so. His work remains the only substantial surviving body of drawings and paintings by a man born into American slavery. No other artist captured the complex, drawn-out moment between slavery and civil rights. 

William “Bill” Traylor, © Estate of William “Bill” Traylor.
William "Bill" Traylor, Man and Large Dog (Verso: Man and Woman),” circa 1939–42. © Estate of William "Bill" Traylor.
William “Bill” Traylor, Man and Large Dog (Verso: Man and Woman),” circa 1939–42. © Estate of William “Bill” Traylor.

Today, Traylor has been regarded as one of the most prominent self-taught artists. Scholars who first labeled his work as “primitive” and “outsider” now regard him as a significant and prominent artist of the 20th century. Bill Traylor died on October 23, 1949, in Montgomery, AL.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks Projects

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Augusta Savage

Augusta Savage in her studio, © Estate of Augusta Savage
Augusta Savage in her studio, © Estate of Augusta Savage

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Augusta Savage

Fallen Through The Cracks – Augusta Savage

Augusta Savage

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Augusta Savage was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on February 29, 1892. Her father was a poor Methodist minister who strongly opposed her early interest in art. During the mid-1920s when the #HarlemRenaissance was at its peak, Savage lived and worked in a small studio apartment where she earned a reputation as a portrait sculptor, completing busts of prominent personalities such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. She was one of the first artists who consistently dealt with black #physiognomy. 

Her best-known work of the 1920s was Gamin, an informal bust portrait of her nephew, for which she was awarded a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship to study in Paris in 1929. In 1931, Savage won a second Rosenwald fellowship, which allowed her to remain in Paris for an additional year. In 1934 she became the first African-American member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. In 1937, she was appointed the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center and was one of four women and only two Black Americans to be commissioned by the New York World’s Fair of 1939 to create a sculpture symbolizing the musical contributions of African Americans. 

Augusta Savage, Gamin, 1929, © Estate of Augusta Savage, PAFA
Augusta Savage in her studio, © Estate of Augusta Savage

Savage created The Harp, inspired by the lyrics of James Weldon Johnson’s poem Lift Every Voice and Sing. The Harp was Savage’s largest work and her last major commission. Much of her work is in clay or plaster, as she could not often afford bronze. She launched the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts, located in a basement on West 143rd Street in Harlem, with the help of a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. She opened her studio to anyone who wanted to paint, draw, or sculpt. Her many young students included the future nationally known artists of Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, and Gwendolyn Knight. Savage died on March 26, 1962, following a long bout with cancer. Savage is remembered today as a great artist, activist, and arts educator.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Richmond Barthè

Richmond Barthé with Stevedore, 1937. Photo: Rex Madsen and Jimmie Daniels Collection, Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, LA
Richmond Barthé with Stevedore, 1937. Photo: Rex Madsen and Jimmie Daniels Collection, Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, LA

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Richmond Barthè

Fallen Through The Cracks – Richmond Barthè

Richmond Barthè

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Richmond Barthé was born in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on January 28, 1901. He was an African-American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance and for his portrayal of black subjects. The focus of his artistic work was portraying the diversity and spirituality of man. Barthé had his debut as a professional sculptor at The Negro in Art Week exhibition in 1927 while still a student of painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. He also exhibited in the annual exhibition of the Chicago Art League in April of 1928. The critical acclaim allowed Barthé to enjoy numerous important commissions such as the busts of Henry Ossawa Tanner and Toussaint L’Ouverture in 1928. 

His first solo exhibition was held at the Women’s City Club in Chicago in 1930, exhibiting a selection of 38 works featuring sculpture, painting, and works on paper. While many young artists found it very difficult to earn a living from their art during The Great Depression, the 1930s were Richmond Barthé’s most prolific years. The shift from the Art Institute of Chicago to New York City exposed Barthé to new experiences as he arrived in the city during the peak of the Harlem Renaissance.

Richmond Barthé, Head of a Dancer, 1937. © Estate of Richmond Barthé
Richmond Barthé, Head of a Dancer, 1937. © Estate of Richmond Barthé
Richmond Barthé with Stevedore, 1937. Photo: Rex Madsen and Jimmie Daniels Collection, Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, LA

During his sixty-year career, Barthé received numerous prestigious awards for his art, including Rosenwald and Guggenheim fellowships. Barthé, together with the painter Jacob Lawrence, was also the first African American artist to be represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s permanent collection. And In 1945, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Barthe passed away on March 5, 1989. He was considered by writers and critics as one of the leading “moderns” of his time.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Minnie Evans

Minnie Evans, Untitled (Starry Sky and Religious Figures), 1960. © Estate of Minnie Evans
Minnie Evans, Untitled (Starry Sky and Religious Figures), 1960. © Estate of Minnie Evans

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Minnie Evans

Fallen Through The Cracks – Minnie Evans

Minnie Evans

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Minnie Evans born on December 12, 1892, was an African American folk, outsider, and visionary artist who worked from the 1940s to the 1980s. She used all types of materials including oils and graphite but began creating with wax and #crayons.  She was known for using any material she could find including window shades, book bindings, and scrap paper. 

Evans began to draw and paint at the age of 43, creating her first pieces of artwork on a scrap paper bag. Her designs are complex, with elements recalling African, Asian, and Caribbean motifs. Her inspirations were the visions and dreams that she had throughout her life. Her practices focused on a combination of scenes from the Bible and nature – alongside her work at Airlie Gardens. 

Minnie Evans, Untitled (Starry Sky and Religious Figures), 1960. © Estate of Minnie Evans
Minnie Evans, Untitled, 1967, (1946, 1958, 1960, 1962). © Estate of Minnie Evans
Minnie Evans, Untitled, 1967, (1946, 1958, 1960, 1962). © Estate of Minnie Evans

Now recognized as one of the most important visionary folk artists of the 20th century, her work is highly collected by many museums and collectors all across the world. Evans died in Wilmington, North Carolina on December 16, 1987, at age 95, leaving more than 400 artworks to the St. Johns Museum of Art (now the Cameron Art Museum) in Wilmington, North Carolina. 

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks Projects

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Palmer Hayden

Palmer Hayden, The Subway, 1930. © Estate of Palmer Hayden
Palmer Hayden, The Subway, 1930. © Estate of Palmer Hayden

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Palmer Hayden

Fallen Through The Cracks – Palmer Hayden

Palmer Hayden

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Palmer Hayden was born Peyton Cole Hedgeman on January 15, 1890, in Widewater, Virginia, U.S. He was an African-American #painter who came to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance and was best known for his seascapes and his lively depictions of everyday life in Harlem. He served at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in the African American detachment of the 10th Cavalry from 1914 to 1920.

In 1926 he won the gold medal in visual arts(which came with $400) from the Harmon Foundation, which also recognized achievement among African Americans in the fields of education, industry, literature, music, race relations, and science. Hayden spent from 1927 to 1932 in Paris, where he socialized with other artists Henry Ossawa Tanner and Hale Woodruff and fell under the influence of philosopher and writer of The New Negro (1925), Alain Locke.

Palmer Hayden, The Janitor Who Paints, 1937. © Estate of Palmer Hayden
Palmer Hayden, The Janitor Who Paints, 1937. © Estate of Palmer Hayden
Palmer Hayden, The Subway, 1930. © Estate of Palmer Hayden

Hayden became known for his paintings of African American life in Harlem, such as the lively outdoor street scene Midsummer Night in Harlem (1936). His best-known work, The Janitor Who Paints (c. 1937), shows a black artist painting a mother and child in a cramped apartment that contains the tools necessary for both the artist’s work and that of the janitor. The original version of the painting, now painted over, included a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall, and the artist and his sitters were painted with exaggerated facial features. 

When exhibited in 1939 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, it was met with harsh criticism for being overtly racist. Hayden painted over it, stating that it had been a protest piece in the name of his talented artist-friend Cloyd Boykin, who was never recognized as more than a janitor. Hayden and his contemporaries (e.g., Archibald Motley, Jr., and Augusta Savage) are generally understood as having engaged in the debate of Alain Locke’s writing through their art as an inroad to understanding what it both meant and looked like to be the “New Negro.” Hayden died on February 18, 1973, in New York, New York. (Text rewritten/paraphrased from Brittanica). via @artabovereality.projects.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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The Art School Graduates Podcast

The Art School Graduates Podcast

On the Art School Graduates Podcast, we talk about current events in the art world and try to put them in context for our listeners, going behind the article and uncovering the true information. We ask questions, debate, and give more insight into topics the average art lover may not be aware of. Join me and my co-host, Justin Robinson, as we dig deep into navigating the art world! Season One is available now on all of your podcasting platforms!