Black Art and Culture in the 20th Century
Book relating to a publication, 1997
Published by: Thames and Hudson World of Art
Year published: 1997
Number of pages: 272
ISBN: 0-500-20295-8
Black Art and Culture in the 20th Century, Richard J. Powell. 176 illustrations, 31 in colour. 166 biographical notes.
From the text on the back cover of the publication: “The African diaspora, a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade and Western colonisation, has generated a wide array of artistic achievements in our century, from blues to reggae, from the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner to the video installations of Keith Piper. Placing its emphasis on black cultural themes rather than on black racial identity, this ground-breaking book is an important exploration of the visual representations of black culture throughout the twentieth century. This study is the first to concentrate on the art works themselves and their use of black culture both as subject and as context. Professor Powell discusses the forces that have shaped a black diasporal presence in twentieth-century art, the emergence of the “New Negro“ in the Jazz Age, the use of black folk-imagery in post-Depression art, the ideological conflict between racial pride and cultural assimilation in mid-century works, and the aesthetic and visual variations on the concept of “blackness’ during the late modern and postmodern eras. From musings on “the souls of black folk“ in turn-of-the-century painting, sculpture and photography, to performance, film, video and other media arts in the 1990s, it draws on the works of hundreds of artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Spike Lee, Faith Ringgold and Gerald Sekoto.”
On page 3, the book is inscribed “To Eddie: My “introducer” to Black British Culture! Sincerely, Richard J. Powell London 14 March 1997”
The book is divided into the following sections/chapters:
Introduction: The Dark Center
Chapter One: Art, Culture and “the Souls of Black Folk”
Chapter Two: Enter and Exit the “New Negro”
Chapter Three: The Cult of the People
Chapter Four: Pride, Assimilation and Dreams
Chapter Five: “Black is a Color”
Chapter Six: Culture as Currency
Conclusion: Through a Glass, Diasporally
Biographical Notes
Select Bibliography and Sources
List of Illustrations
Index
The study is overwhelmingly African-American, with a smattering of London-based Black artists thrown in. Black artists of the Caribbean are thinly represented, as are Black artists from Africa itself, though one or two, such as Uzo Egonu, are mentioned. In this regard, the study perhaps aspires to be international, but is primarily a history of African-American art and the treatment of the Black image in American culture. Within Powell’s book, white artists such as Sue Coe are also briefly introduced and illustrated.
In some regards, the book was a companion to Veerle Poupeye’s book Caribbean Art, also published by Thames & Hudson. Caribbean Art was a hugely important, groundbreaking book written by the Belgium-born, Jamaica-based art historian Veerle-Poupeye. The book was the first of its kind, to offer a broad-based introduction to art of the Caribbean, for the general reader, that sought to offer a range of diasporic contexts within which the construct of ‘Caribbean Art’ could be read. To this end, the book included references to artists such as Sonia Boyce, Keith Piper, Frank Bowling, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, artists frequently disassociated from, rather than associated with, ongoing or changing constructions of ‘Caribbean Art’. The book was also of considerable interest to those readers with various degrees of familiarity with art of the Caribbean.
Black Art and Culture in the 20th Century featured a work on its cover by California-based artist, Raymond Saunders.
Related people - view 5
» John Henry Adams Jr
Born, 1875 - 1885 (probably 1880)
» Emma Amos
Born, 1938
» Martina Attille
Born, 1959 in St Lucia
» Anthony Barboza
Born, 1944
» Ernie Barnes
Born, 1939
» Richmond Barthé
Born, 1901 in St. Louis, Mississippi, USA. Died, 1989
» Jean-Michel Basquiat
Born, 1960 in Brooklyn. Died, 1988
» Romare Bearden
Born, 1911 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Died, 1988
» Dawoud Bey
Born, 1958
» John Biggers
Born, 1924 in Gastonia, North Carolina
» Camille Billops
Born, 1933
» Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian
Born, 1937
» (Sir) Frank Bowling OBE, RA
Born, 1935 - 1937 (probably 1936) in British Guiana (now Guyana) Caribbean/S. America
» Sonia Boyce MBE OBE RA
Born, 1962 in London, England
» Karl Broodhagen
Born, 1909 in Georgetown, British Guiana/Guyana
» Everald Brown
Born, 1917 in St. Ann, Jamaica. Died, 2002
» Beverley Buchanan
Born, 1940
» Edward Burra
Born, 1905. Died, 1976
» Ras Ishi Butcher
Born, 1960 in St John, Barbados
» Marcel Camus
Born, 1912. Died, 1982
» Elizabeth Catlett
Born, 1915 in Washington, D.C.. Died, 2012
» Dana C. Chandler Jr
Born, 1941 in Massachusetts, USA
» Barbara Chase-Riboud
Born, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
» Albert Chong
Born, 1958 in Jamaica
» Ed/Edward Clark
Born, 1926 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
» Sue Coe
Born, 1951
» Robert Colescott
Born, 1925
» Paul Colin
Born, 1892 in Nancy, France. Died, 1985
» Houston Conwill
Born, 1947 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA
» Eldzier Cortor
Born, 1916
» Miguel Covarrubias
Born, 1904. Died, 1957
» Adger Cowans
Born, 1936
» Ernest Critchlow
Born, 1914
» Emilio Cruz
Born, 1938
» Julie Dash
Born, 1952
» Stuart Davis
Born, 1892. Died, 1964
» Charles C. Dawson
Born, 1889. Died, 1982
» Achamyeleh Debela
Born, 1947
» Beauford Delaney
Born, 1901. Died, 1978
» Murray N. DePillars
Born, 1938
» Felix de Rooy
Born, 1952
» Jeff Donaldson
Born, 1932 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas
» Aaron Douglas
Born, 1899 in Topeka, Kansas, USA. Died, 1979
» Sokari Douglas Camp CBE
Born, 1958 in Buguma, Nigeria
» Arthur Drummond
Born, 1871. Died, 1951
» John Dunkley
Born, 1886 - 1896 (probably 1891) in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, Jamaica. Died, 1947
» Edouard Duval-Carrié
Born, 1954 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
» William Edmondson
Born, 1865 - 1875 (probably 1870) in Davidson County, Tennessee, USA. Died, 1951
» Melvin Edwards
Born, 1937 in Houston, Texas, USA
» Uzo Egonu
Born, 1931 in Onitsha, Nigeria. Died, 1996
» Minnie Evans
Born, 1892 in Long Creek, Pender County, North Carolina, USA. Died, 1987
» Walker Evans
Born, 1903. Died, 1975
» Sherman Fleming
Born, 1953
» Meta Warrick Fuller
Born, 1877. Died, 1968
» Haile Gerima
Born, 1946
» Jean-Paul Goude
Born, 1938
» Stanley Greaves
Born, 1934 in Guyana
» D. W. Griffith
Born, 1875. Died, 1948
» Francis Griffith
Born, 1916
» Bill Gunn
Born, 1934. Died, 1989
» Robert Gwathmey
Born, 1903. Died, 1988
» David Hammons
Born, 1943 in USA
» James Hampton
Born, 1909 in South Carolina, USA. Died, 1964
» Keith Haring
Born, 1958. Died, 1990
» Edwin A. Harleston
Born, 1882. Died, 1931
» Ollie Harrington
Born, 1912. Died, 1995
» Lyle Ashton Harris
Born, 1965
» Isaac Scott Hathaway
Born, 1869 - 1879 (probably 1874)
» Palmer C. Hayden
Born, 1893. Died, 1973
» Barkley L. Hendricks
Born, 1945 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Died, 2017
» Margo Humphrey
Born, 1942 in Oakland, California
» Richard Hunt
Born, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois
» Hector Hyppolite
Born, 1894 in Port-au-Prince. Died, 1948
» Alfredo Jaar
Born, 1956 in Santiago de Chile, Chile
» Martha Jackson-Jarvis
Born, 1952
» Harlan Jackson
Born, 1918. Died, 1993
» Alfred Janniot
Born, 1889. Died, 1969
» Jae Jarrell
Born, 1935
» Sargent Claude Johnson
Born, 1887. Died, 1967
» William H. Johnson
Born, 1901. Died, 1970
» Ben Jones
Born, 1942 in New Jersey
» Loïs Mailou Jones
Born, 1905 in Boston. Died, 1998
» Phillip Malorey Jones
Born, 1947
» Tam Joseph
Born, 1947 in Dominica
» Isaac Julien CBE RA
Born, 1960 in London, England
» Byron Kim
Born, 1961
» Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Born, 1880. Died, 1938
» Wifredo Lam
Born, 1902 in Cuba. Died, 1982
» Jacob Lawrence
Born, 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Died, 2000
» Spike Lee
Born, 1957
» Norman Lewis
Born, 1909. Died, 1979
» Patrick Lichfield
Born, 1939
» Glenn Ligon
Born, 1960 in New York
» Werewere Liking
Born, 1950
» George Lois
Born, 1931
» Al/Alvin Loving
Born, 1935. Died, 2005
» Edna Manley
Born, 1900 in Yorkshire, England. Died, 1987
» Robert Mapplethorpe
Born, 1946 in Queens, USA. Died, 1989
» Kerry James Marshall
Born, 1955 in Birmingham, Alabama
» Lev Mills
Born, 1940
» Leigh Richmond Miner
Born, 1864. Died, 1935
» Vincente Minnelli
Born, 1903. Died, 1986
» Philip Moore
Born, 1921 in Manchester, British Guiana/Guyana
» Sister Gertrude Morgan
Born, 1900. Died, 1980
» Keith Morrison
Born, 1942 in Linstead, Jamaica
» Archibald J. Motley Jr.
Born, 1891. Died, 1981
» Lorraine O’Grady
Born, 1940
» Ouattrara
Born, 1957
» Joe Overstreet
Born, 1934 in Conehatta, MS, USA
» Euzhan Palcy
Born, 1957
» Elijah Pierce
Born, 1892. Died, 1984
» Howardena Pindell
Born, 1943 in Philadelphia, PA, USA
» Adrian Piper
Born, 1948
» Keith Piper
Born, 1960 in Malta
» Rose Piper
Born, 1917 in New York, USA
» Richard J. Powell
Born, 1953 in Chicago, USA.
» Harriet Powers
Born, 1837. Died, 1911
» Martin Puryear
Born, 1941
» Archie Rand
Born, 1949
» Winold Reiss
Born, 1885 - 1887 (probably 1886) in Karlsruhe, Germany. Died, 1953
» Jean Renoir
Born, 1894. Died, 1979
» Robert Riggs
Born, 1896. Died, 1970
» Faith Ringgold
Born, 1930 in Harlem, New York
» Larry Rivers
Born, 1923
» John Robinson
Born, 1912. Died, 1994
» Norman Rockwell
Born, 1894. Died, 1979
» Alison Saar
Born, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA
» Betye Saar
Born, 1923 - 1929 (probably 1926) in Los Angeles, California
» Raymond Saunders
Born, 1934
» Augusta Savage
Born, 1892. Died, 1962
» Petion Savain
Born, 1902 - 1910 (probably 1906). Died, 1973
» John T. Scott
Born, 1940
» Joyce J. Scott
Born, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland
» Gerard Sekoto
Born, 1913. Died, 1993
» Ousmane Sembene
Born, 1923
» Gary Simmons
Born, 1964 in New York, New York, USA
» Coreen Simpson
Born, 1942
» Lorna Simpson
Born, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, USA
» Albert Alexander Smith
Born, 1896. Died, 1940
» Sylvia Snowden
Born, 1942
» Ed/Edward Spriggs
Born, 1934
» Maud Sulter
Born, 1960 in Glasgow, Scotland. Died, 2008
» Henry Ossawa Tanner
Born, 1859 in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Died, 1937
» Hervé Télémaque
Born, 1937
» Alma Thomas
Born, 1886 - 1896 (probably 1891). Died, 1978
» Bob/Robert Thompson
Born, 1936. Died, 1966
» Chi Tseng Kwong
Born, 1950. Died, 1990
» Doris Ullman
Born, 1882. Died, 1934
» James VanDerZee
Born, 1886. Died, 1983
» Melvin Van Peebles
Born, 1932
» Carl Van Vechten
Born, 1880. Died, 1964
» Andy Warhol
Born, 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA. Died, 1987
» Laura Wheeler Waring
Born, 1887. Died, 1948
» Mr. Imagination (Gregory Warmack)
Born, 1948
» Carrie Mae Weems
Born, 1953 in Portland, Oregon
» James Lesesne Wells
Born, 1902. Died, 1993
» Charles White
Born, 1918. Died, 1979
» Jack Whitten
Born, 1939 in Bessemer, Alabama, USA
» Aubrey Williams
Born, 1926 in Georgetown, Guyana. Died, 1990
» Sue Williamson
Born, 1941 in Litchfield, England
» Spencer Williams
Born, 1893. Died, 1969
» Fred Wilson (b. 1954)
Born, 1954
» Ernest C. Withers
Born, 1922
» Hale Woodruff
Born, 1900 in Cairo, Illinois, USA. Died, 1980