Masterworks by 20th Century African American Artists

April 16 through June 13, 1998

Curated by Timothy C. Keny, director of the Keny Galleries, Masterworks by 20th Century African American Artists explores the complexity and immense diversity of African American artistic production. Artists featured in the exhibition are Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Ralph Bell, William Hawkins, Jacob Lawrence, John B. Murry, Elijah Pierce, Horace Pippin, Mary Tillman Smith, Alma Thomas, Robert Thompson and Bill Traylor .

African American cultural traditions have influenced the visual arts through artistic, spiritual, social, philosophical and political means. Parallels in technique, including exploration of shifting perspectives, simplification of forms and examination and dissection of distance, are important in the evolution of the visual arts.

A few decades ago it was widely held that all connections to Africa had been erased in African American culture through the oppression of slavery and the tyranny of racial prejudice. Since then, scholars have identified adaptations of African form and ideology in artistic practices by people settled far from their ancestral African homelands. Some African American artists have consciously reconstructed their connection to an African ancestral legacy by adopting the images and icons of an African identity for their own artistic, spiritual and political purposes. African American art provides a commentary on the human condition that speaks to all of us through an endless range of emotion, spirituality, intensity and energy.

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Tour some of the works that will be on display!

There are 13 images contained within this archive which are intended for personal/educational use only. These images are protected by a 1998 photographic copyright which belongs to the Ohio Arts Council. They, therefore, are not in the public domain.

Elijah Pierce Power of Prayer, 1960 Carved and painted wood relief with glitter 20 5/8 x 19 5/8 inches Private Collection of Keny Galleries, Columbus	Bill Traylor Blue Man (Animated Figures), c. 1939-42 Pencil on cardboard 19 x 8 inches Private Collection, courtesy of Keny Galleries, Columbus	Bill Traylor Untitled (One Legged Man) , c. 1939-42 Charcoal on paper 15 x 9 3/8 inches Collection of Dr. Siri von Reis	Benny Andrews Black Church, 1996 Oil and collage on paper 45 x 15 inches Collection of Benny Andrews
Benny Andrews Viewer, 1990 Oil on canvas 60 x 24 inches Collection of Benny Andrews	Benny Andrews I’ve Known Rivers, 1995 Oil and collage on paper 30 x 22 inches Collection of Benny Andrews	William Hawkins First School Building , n.d. Enamel on cardboard 18 x 24 inches Collection of Gary Schwindler, Athens	William Hawkins Three Horses #7 , 1986 Enamel on masonite 39 x 48 inches Collection of Dr. Siri von Reis
Jacob Lawrence The Street, 1957 Casein on paper 30 x 22 inches Collection of the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown	Horace Pippen The Whipping, 1941 Oil on wood 9 x 11 inches Collection of Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina	Alma Thomas A Glimpse of the Moon, 1960 Acrylic on canvas 29 x 28 inches Collection of the Wendell Street Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts	Romare Bearden Hometime, 1970 Collage and mixed media on board 26 x 45 inches Collection of the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown
John B. Murray Gray, White, Black and Blue and Script Abstraction, c. 1987-88 Watercolor marker on paper 24 x 18 inches The Gitter-Yelen Collection

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