It includes an historical overview of the permanent collection (noted for its inception during segregation, providing a national forum for African American artists), an essay on the suite of murals that Hale Woodruff executed 12 years after the Amistad series at Talladega College. The 250-page publication will feature 183 color plates of selected works by renowned and obscure artists of all ethnicities, enhanced by a comprehensive appendix that includes missing pieces the university would like to retrieve, a compendium of 887 artists’ exhibition records on a CD, and correspondence between Romare Bearden and the University administration debating the efficacy of sponsoring an “all-Negro” national juried exhibition.
With an introduction by Dr. Richard A. Long followed by the essay, In the Eye of the Muses, by Director Tina M. Dunkley, the book provides an account of the sociopolitical climate that produced the Exhibition of Paintings, Prints, and Sculptures by Negro Artists of America. Atlanta art critic Dr. Jerry Cullum presents a salient essay on the development and execution of Hale Woodruff's murals, The Art of the Negro. Illustrating the murals' continuing relevance to global discourse, Cullum points out that the 2010 Geo-Graphics exhibition in Brussels cited them as containing one of the first representations of Shango by a black artist in the United States.
Other contributors include Brenda Thompson and Freddie Styles. Special events and activities highlighting the theme, Cultivate and Celebrate African American Visual Art Culture, are being planned to observe the release of the book. Dr. Johnnetta Cole, director of the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, will give the keynote address. This historic publication is made possible through the generous support of the Collection’s National Community Advisory and Benefit Host Committees.
http://www.cau.edu/ DC: About CAU; Art Galleries
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