The Barnett Aden Gallery: a Home For
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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Arts and Architecture THE BARNETT ADEN GALLERY: A HOME FOR DIVERSITY IN A SEGREGATED CITY A Dissertation in Art History by Janet Gail Abbott Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2008 ii The dissertation of Janet Gail Abbott was reviewed and approved* by the following: Joyce Henri Robinson Associate Professor of Art History Dissertation Advisor Co-Chair of Committee Sarah K. Rich Associate Professor of Art History Co-Chair of Committee Charlotte Houghton Associate Professor of Art History Joan Landes Ferree Professor of History and Women’s Studies Craig Zabel Associate Professor of Art History Head of the Department of Art History *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. iii ABSTRACT In 1943 Professor James V. Herring along with Alonzo J. Aden, his former student and colleague at Howard University, opened the Barnett Aden Gallery within the modest home they shared in Washington, D.C. As founders of one of the first black- owned galleries in the nation, their mission was to provide an exhibition space for talented artists without regard to ethnicity or national origin. During the next twenty-five years, the Barnett Aden Gallery became a unique site for cross-cultural exchange—where artists, writers, musicians, and politicians of all races met freely for social, professional, and aesthetic discourse—one of few such places in severely segregated Washington, D.C. The Barnett Aden performed the traditional gallery function of featuring talented emerging artists, but it provided a critical service for African American artists, who had few opportunities to show their work in parity with white artists or even to see evidence of their existence within established art institutions. By placing their work alongside that of honored black predecessors, such as Henry Ossawa Tanner, Edward Bannister, and Meta Warrick Fuller, the gallery validated their artistic identity and situated them within an art historical tradition. In this dissertation I assert that the Barnett Aden Gallery carried out even broader psychological and ideological tasks for the artists, the patrons, the gallery owners, and the art community of Washington, D.C. By situating exhibitions within their home (rather than using the pristine white rooms favored by many galleries), Herring and Aden literally brought home the idea that artistic creativity was inherently part of the African American experience, and, at the same time, enhanced their own status as members of the black intellectual elite of the city. The domestic environment and the integrated atmosphere altered the viewing experience of the spectators and broadened their outlook toward art and its creators. Through their exhibition policies and their collaboration with established art institutions, the gallery owners created a unique cultural space and set the stage for development of a surprisingly integrated art community in an otherwise racially divided city. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures……………………………………………………………… …… v Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………. vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………… 1 Portrait of a Gallery……………………………………………………… 1 Review of the Literature…………………………………………………. 12 Literature on the Art Scene in Washington, D.C………………………… 16 Literature on Black History and Culture…………………………………. 19 Literature on Galleries and Collection…………………………………… 21 Literature on Gender and Sexuality……………………………………… 22 Chapter 2. FROM SOUTH CAROLINA TO WASHINGTON, D.C…………… 27 Herring’s Early Life and Work…………………………………………... 28 Herring’s Partner in Life and Work: Alonzo J. Aden……………………. 29 Construction of Place and Identity within the Washington Elite………… 47 Chapter 3. NATIONAL ART AND WASHINGTON ARTISTS: DEVELOPMENT OF A LOCAL ART SCENE………………………………………… 63 Monuments, Museums, and Monumental Galleries…………………….. 66 Community Art: Schools, Fairs, Bookstores, and Fledgling Galleries….. 86 Washington Art in the 1940s and 1950s………………………………… 97 Chapter 4. THE ART AND ARTISTS AT THE BARNETT ADEN GALLERY..116 Exhibition Program, 1943-1961…………………………………………. 122 The Artists……………………………………………………………….. 144 Personal Taste of Herring and Aden……………………………………. 178 Chapter 5. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………… 181 Appendix: Chronology of Exhibitions………….. ……………………………… 192 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….. 202 v LIST OF FIGURES* Figure 1 127 Randolph Place Northeast…………………………………… 220 Figure 2 View of Randolph Place Northeast……………………………… 221 Figure 3 Alonzo Aden, Eleanor Roosevelt, and James Herring……………... 222 Figure 4 John N. Robinson, Interior—Barnett Aden Gallery, 1947……….. 223 Figure 5 Henry Ossawa Tanner, Flight into Egypt, c.1916………………… 224 Figure 6 James A. Porter, Portrait of James V. Herring, 1923…………….. 225 Figure 7 Art School, Howard University, The Bison, 1923………………… 226 Figure 8 Alonzo J. Aden, c.1930…………………………………………… 227 Figure 9 The Gallery of Art at Howard University, c.1932………………… 228 Figure 10 Howard University Art Gallery, 1943…………………………….. 229 Figure 11 Aden’s holiday card, 1944……………………………………….. 230 Figure 12 Museum of Natural History………………………………………. 231 Figure 13 National Gallery of Art…………………………………………… 232 Figure 14 Corcoran Gallery of Art………………………………………….. 233 Figure 15 Phillips Collection……………………………………………….. 234 Figure 16 Franz Bader……………………………………………………… 235 Figure 17 Aden with unidentified gallery visitors………………………….. 236 Figure 18 Invitation to inaugural exhibition………………………………… 237 Figure 19 Catalogue for the second anniversary exhibition…………………. 238 Figure 20 Lila Oliver Asher, her mother, and Aden at her solo exhibition….. 239 Figure 21 John Farrar, Self-Portrait, c.1944…………………………………. 240 Figure 22 Ellis Wilson, Funeral Procession…………………………………. 241 Figure 23 Nina Leen, Irascibles, 1951……………………………………….. 242 Figure 24 Therese Schwartz, Untitled, n.d………………………………….. 243 Figure 25 Norman Lewis, Study in Blue, 1954………………………………. 244 Figure 26 Merton Simpson, Untitled, n.d……………………………………. 245 Figure 27 William Calfee, Abstraction, Landscape with Figures, n.d………. 246 Figure 28 Robert Gates, Hatteras I, n.d…………………………………….. 247 Figure 29 Herman Maril, Industry, 1933……………………………………. 248 Figure 30 Ann Burwell, James Porter, James L. Wells, and Driskell……….. 249 Figure 31 Lois Mailou Jones, Mob Victim (Meditation), 1944……………… 250 Figure 32 Lois Mailou Jones, exhibition catalogue cover………………….. 251 Figure 33 James L. Wells, Merry-go-round, c.1950……………………….. 252 Figure 34 Elizabeth Catlett, Mother and Child, 1959………………………. 253 Figure 35 Elizabeth Catlett, Malcolm X Speaks for Us, 1969………………. 254 Figure 36 Elizabeth Catlett, Special Houses, 1946-47……………………… 255 Figure 37 Alma Thomas at work in her home………………………………. 256 Figure 38 Alma Thomas, Blue Abstraction, 1961………………………….. 257 Figure 39 Alma Thomas, Breeze Rustling through Fall Flowers, 1968……. 258 Figure 40 Jacob Kainen, Only in Darkness, 1955………………………….. 259 Figure 41 Pietro Lazzari and one of his polychrome cement paintings…….. 260 Figure 42 Irene Rice Pereira, Transversion, 1946…………………………… 261 vi Figure 43 Morris Louis, Untitled, 1959……………………………………… 262 Figure 44 Kenneth Noland, Whirl, 1960…………………………………….. 263 Figure 45 Gene Davis, Red Devil, 1959…………………………………….. 264 Figure 46 Sylvia Carewe in her New York studio………………………….. 265 * Figures on file in the office of the Department of Art History, The Pennsylvania State University. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my appreciation to my dissertation committee: Charlotte Houghton, Joan Landes, Sarah K. Rich, and especially to my advisor Joyce Henri Robinson, whose encouragement and gentle prodding kept me from giving up. I am sincerely grateful to Robert L. Johnson and the Florida Education Fund for providing the two consecutive Art History Fellowships, which allowed me to conduct research at institutions in the Washington area. It was a privilege to view firsthand the contemporary group of works from the Barnett Aden Collection, Washington, D.C. I also appreciate the assistance of Linda Crocker Simmons, former curator of the collection, and Rosemary Derosa, registrar. I am indebted to David C. Driskell, the artist and art historian, who granted me two extended interviews. It was an honor to spend time with him inside his Hyattsville home, surrounded by his esteemed collection of African American art. Others who generously shared their memories with me were Lila Oliver Asher, Tritobia Hayes Benjamin, John Hope Franklin, Sam Gilliam, Samuel Green, Carroll Greene, Edward L. Loper, Sr., Jack Perlmutter, Peter L. Robinson, Jr., and Bill Taylor. My thanks goes to the staff at Howard University’s Moorland Spingarn Research Center and especially to Scott Baker, assistant director at the Howard University Gallery of Art. I also appreciate the kindness and expertise of the staff at the Archives of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Washington, D.C. I am thankful for the support and patience of my family, who had begun to doubt that this day would ever come. I am indebted to the Mooskin family for their friendship and generosity during the two years that I lived in their basement apartment in Washington. Finally I am grateful for my nephews—Travis, Tyson, Tanner and Tucker—who kept me inspired during this long process. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: PORTRAIT OF A GALLERY “My exciting meeting with Alonzo Aden and Dr. James V. Herring