“Soul Of A Nation” at the S.F. De Young Museum

“Soul Of A Nation” at the S.F. De Young Museum

The “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983″ exhibit has been traveling the U.S. since last year. NYC, Houston and most recently last Fall in LA, it  is now ending its San Francisco stay at the De Young Museum. The presentation “shines a bright light on the vital contribution of Black artists made over two decades, beginning in 1963 at the height of the civil rights movement…” 

“Featuring the work of more than 60 influential artists* and including vibrant paintings, powerful sculptures, street photography, murals, and more, this landmark exhibition is a rare opportunity to see era-defining artworks that changed the face of art in America.”

* Romare Bearden, Barkley Hendricks, Noah Purifoy, Martin Puryear, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Alma Thomas, Charles White, William T. Williams

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983 (Til March 15, 2020)

De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA

(Photo: A Boy in front of the Loew’s 125th Street Movie Theater, Dawoud Bey, 1976)

 

 

 

 

A Gathering of American Art – Brooklyn Museum

I really like portraits. (I enjoy creating their back stories – what, where, why and of course, who?)

The above, by Black Renaissance artist Loïs Mailou Jones (1905 – 1998), is included in the American Art collection at the Brooklyn Museum. Work from assorted genres, created in the Americas, is represented.  

“…this major reinstallation of our American Art galleries attempts to take a more inclusive approach. It embraces work by women and people of color and extends the definition of America to encompass not only the United States but Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean basin, beginning with the art of the first peoples who lived in the region thousands of years before contact with European colonizers.”

American Art Galleries

Brooklyn Museum

200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York

(Image:  “Dans un Café a Paris“, 1939, Loïs Mailou Jones)

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Protest On Paper ~ Dallas Museum of Art

Protest On Paper ~ Dallas Museum of Art

“With their avant-garde style and rejection of artistic traditions, a new generation of rebel-artists known as the Expressionists came to prominence during the early 20th century…”

“Labeled as “degenerates,” many of the Expressionists were drafted or otherwise affected by war. To express their personal reactions to the atrocities they experienced, they turned to boldly simplified line work, distorted forms, or clashing colors. Above all, they heralded printmaking—a quick, inexpensive medium rife with creative potential—as the premier form of artistic rebellion. “

“From lithographic posters to book illustration, this exhibition encapsulates the violence and defiance of European modernism through works on paper from the Dallas Museum of Art’s collection…”

Dallas Museum of Art / DMA

1717 North Harwood
Dallas, Texas

(Image: Käthe Kollwitz, Memorial Sheet of Karl Liebknecht,  woodcut 1919/1920)

 

 

Still Life

Still Life

The Carnegie Museum of Art presents “A Delight for the Senses: The Still Life”. “Once considered the lowliest of the painting genres, the still life has long been overshadowed in the history of art…”

“On the surface, these picturesque arrangements are easy to appreciate for their aesthetic beauty and skillful rendering. A closer look at these sumptuous arrays of objects ranging from the mundane to the luxurious reveals moral undertones and allusions to the transience of life”

A Delight for the Senses: The Still Life

Until Mar 15, 2020

Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA

(Image:  “Still Life with Lemons, Oranges, and Pomegranates”, 1660, Jacob Fopsen van Es)

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“I Paint My House” – African Women’s Decorative Arts

“I Paint My House” – African Women’s Decorative Arts

“I Paint My House” by Margaret Courtney-Clarke is a collection of photographs of African women showing how they decorate their homes. In addition to pottery and textiles, there is a South and West African tradition of painting the outside of the house with bold shapes and bright colors representing the people that live inside. The women are able to express themselves as family history is documented through art and design.

paint.houseMs Courtney-Clarke has also produced coffee table sized books, “African Canvas: The Art of West African Women”, filled with her photographs of the bright geometric designs of Berber and Ghanaian women.

(“I Paint My House” is actually a book of postcards. But, the murals and decorations are so vibrant and alive, I haven’t mailed any.)

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