Exhibit at Westmoreland Museum looks at 20th century African American art
Courtesy of Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Palmer Hayden无毛视频檚 The Janitor Who Paints will be on display at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
Courtesy of Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Felrath Hines无毛视频� Red Strip with Green Background is in display at Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
Courtesy of Westmoreland Museum of American Art
William H. Johnson无毛视频檚 sowing is on display at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
Courtesy of Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Lois Mailou Jones无毛视频� Moon Masque is on display at Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
Courtesy of Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Charles Searles无毛视频� Celebration is on display at Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
Redlining. Riding at the back of the bus. Separate, but unequal facilities.
The indignities endured by African Americans for much of the 20th century have been well-documented. Along with the menu of everyday humiliations African Americans in all parts of the country endured up through the civil rights movement and beyond, African American artists carried the additional burden of being marginalized. As their white peers flourished, many African American artists labored in obscurity, unable to get their work into galleries or museums or win the favor of tastemakers.
Twenty years into the 21st century, as contemporary African American artists are being recognized and feted, African American painters and sculptors from the middle part of the last century are being rediscovered by the art world cognoscenti.
The New York Times reported in 2015 collectors and museums have fiercely battled to get their hands on works by the likes of abstract-expressionist painters Norman Lewis and Beauford Delaney. The Times noted the belated interest is due in part to 无毛视频渁 broader revolution underway in museums and academia to move the canon past a narrow, Eurocentric, predominantly male version of Modernism, bringing in work from around the world and more work by women.无毛视频�
The exhibit 无毛视频淎frican American Art in the 20th Century,无毛视频� on display at Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, brings together works by some of the leading figures in African American art from the period of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s through the 1990s. In the middle of Black History Month, visitors to the museum can see works by marquee names like and Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, along with many less-heralded figures.
A traveling exhibit assembled by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 无毛视频淎frican American Art in the 20th Century无毛视频� is one of several Smithsonian exhibits Westmoreland Museum of American Art has hosted over the last 20 years. Barbara Jones, Westmoreland Museum无毛视频檚 chief curator, said the exhibit was booked at the same time her institution has been thinking about expanding its holdings.
无毛视频淚n the last couple of years, we have been looking at diversifying our collection and diversifying our exhibit program to be more inclusive and think about what American art represents,无毛视频� she said.
无毛视频淎frican American Art in the 20th Century无毛视频� was organized by Virginia Mecklenburg, a veteran Smithsonian curator who has also put together exhibits on subjects as diverse as Norman Rockwell and New England folk artist Earl Cunningham. On the phone from Washington, D.C., last week, Mecklenburg explained the Smithsonian was committed to collecting works by African American artists before the stampede to acquire it started.
In pulling together 无毛视频淎frican American Art in the 20th Century,无毛视频� Mecklenburg said she wanted viewers 无毛视频渢o have the opportunity to see how rich and profound work by black artists is.无毛视频�
无毛视频淭he artists need to be seen as remarkable painters and sculptors individually,无毛视频� Mecklenburg added.
All told, there are 45 works by 34 artists in 无毛视频淎frican American Art in the 20th Century.无毛视频� The subject matter is mixed, and includes family, jazz, civil rights and Africa. It cuts across genres, with examples of representational, modern abstract and postmodern art all being displayed.
无毛视频淭here is a sense of heritage and a committedness to Africa,无毛视频� Mecklenburg said. 无毛视频淭he sense of identity is pretty strong.无毛视频�
无毛视频淎frican American Art in the 20th Century无毛视频� is one of a legion of exhibits the Smithsonian has criss-crossing the United States right now.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e a publicly supported museum, and a big part of the way we think is the art needs to be out in the world,无毛视频� Mecklenburg said.
The exhibit will be at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art through May 10. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It is closed Monday and Tuesday. Admission is free.
For information call 724-837-1500, or visit thewestmoreland.org.