The New Orleans Museum of Art has partnered with the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University under the curatorial control of Margaret Rose Vendryes, PhD, to present “Beyond the Blues: Reflections on African America from the Fine Arts Collection of the Amistad Research Center” through July 11.
This multifaceted project illuminates the contributions of African American artists over the past 125 years with 100 paintings, works on paper, sculpture and other media, and it is augmented by pertinent selections from the personal papers of the artists held at the Amistad Research Center.
“Among Amistad’s hidden treasures is one of the finest collections of African American art by African American artists of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” said Lee Hampton, executive director of the Amistad Research Center. The center is the nation’s largest independent repository of original materials devoted exclusively to the study of the history, culture and life experiences of African Americans and other ethnic groups.
This is the first major exhibition at a major venue of works from Amistad’s acclaimed collection. Told through artwork as well as their notes, sketchbooks, diaries, letters and, in isolated cases, the artists’ own voices, this contextual approach is made possible through the rich and diverse resources of the Amistad Research Center.
Curator Vendryes, a noted scholar of African- American art history who has worked extensively with the center’s collections, selected works in various media, including paintings, prints and drawings, and sculptures dating from the 1880s through the present century.
While the center’s collection is best known for its works by Harlem Renaissance artists †works by such luminaries as William H. Johnson, Romare Bearden, Lois Mailou Jones, Malvin Gray, Johnson Jacob Lawrence, Sargent Johnson, Gwendolyn Bennett, Aaron Douglas, Richmond Barthé, Hale Woodruff and Ellis Wilson are a cornerstone of this project †the contributions of African American artists extend far beyond this glorious period.
Important late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century artists such as Henry O. Tanner and Edward Bannister, as well as those whose careers occurred in later decades, such as Selma Burke, John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, John T. Scott and Jeffrey Cook, among others, are featured in this exhibition.
A catalog featuring illustrated essays by Vendryes, David C. Driskell, Dr Lowery Stokes Sims, Dr Michael D. Harris and Dr Renee Ater accompanies the exhibition. Additionally, the catalog features a visual inventory of the entire fine arts collection at Amistad, the first time it has been available.
The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are at 1 Collins Diboll Circle. For more information, www.noma.org or 504-658-4100.
