Ten essays that examine four key issues in American art--portraiture and realism in relation to abstract expressionism, the implications of color, the role of narrative, and the concept of multiple originals--come together in this resource on the works of African-American art included in the Paul R. Jones collection. Simultaneous.

Accompanying the much-publicized exhibition of the same name that will be traveling throughout the nation over the next two years, this selection presents works from the renowned collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation's greatest repository of African American art. From Faith Ringgold's fabric interpretation of the Harlem Renaissance to Gordon Parks's celebrated 1996 photograph of Muhammad Ali, the paintings, sculptures, and photographs reproduced here--full-page and in color--reflect the rich and varied experience of African American artists in the 20th century. Coverage ranges from pioneer works created early in the century, when African Americans were actively discouraged from becoming artists, to important pieces from the Harlem Renaissance, to modern and contemporary selections by today's well-established artists. A few highlights include Roy DeCarava's 1949 photograph Graduation, Romare Bearden's 1974 collage Empress of the Blues, and works by the noted African American sculptor Augusta Savage and assemblage artist Betye Saar. The text--informative commentaries on the individual pictures and creators--completes this wonderful introduction to an important chapter in the history of American art.

African American heritage is rich with stories of family, community, faith, love, adaptation and adjustment, grief, and suffering, all captured in a variety of media by artists intimately familiar with them. From traditional media of painting and artists such as Horace Pippin and Faith Ringgold, to photography of Gordon Parks, and new media of Sam Gilliam and Martin Puryear (installation art), the African American experience is reflected across generations and works. Eight pages of color plates and black and white images throughout the book introduce both favorite and new artists to students and adult readers alike. African American heritage is rich with stories of family, community, faith, love, adaptation and adjustment, grief, and suffering, all captured in a variety of media by artists intimately familiar with them. From traditional media of painting and artists such as Horace Pippin and Faith Ringgold, to photography of Gordon Parks, and new media of Sam Gilliam and Martin Puryear (installation art), the African American experience is reflected across generations and works. Eight pages of color plates and black and white images throughout the book introduce both favorite and new artists to students and adult readers alike. A sampling of the artists included: Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Achamyele Debela, and Melvin Edwards.

Examines the lives and works of African American artists from the eighteenth century to the present, with biographical and critical text and illustrated examples of their work.

This book examines the involvement of African American artists in the New Deal art programs of the 1930s. Emphasizing broader issues informed by the uniqueness of Black experience rather than individual artists’ works, Mary Ann Calo makes the case that the revolutionary vision of these federal art projects is best understood in the context of access to opportunity, mediated by the reality of racial segregation. Focusing primarily on the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Calo documents African American artists’ participation in community art centers in Harlem, in St. Louis, and throughout the South. She examines the internal workings of the Harlem Artists’ Guild, the Guild’s activities during the 1930s, and its alliances with other groups, such as the Artists’ Union and the National Negro Congress. Calo also explores African American artists’ representation in the exhibitions sponsored by WPA administrators and the critical reception of their work. In doing so, she elucidates the evolving meanings of the terms race, culture, and community in the interwar era. The book concludes with an essay by Jacqueline Francis on Black artists in the early 1940s, after the end of the FAP program. Presenting essential new archival information and important insights into the experiences of Black New Deal artists, this study expands the factual record and positions the cumulative evidence within the landscape of critical race studies. It will be welcomed by art historians and American studies scholars specializing in early twentieth-century race relations.