From the Editor Aesthetics That Are Modernist in Essence but Rooted in the Black Experience

Home , Where We At

shared the concern of a creation of a new art and From the Editor aesthetics that are modernist in essence but rooted in the black experience. They also include essays by Remembering the younger artists whose works are concerned with the representations of blackness as it is informed by Black Arts Movement emerging discourses in the fields of black art and visual culture from gender, sexuality, and feminist perspectives. They also provide insights into how Salah M. Hassan such discourses are evoked in mapping absence and presence within postmodernist and conceptualist frameworks. The Black Art Movement is radically opposed to any The Black Arts movement of the 1960s and concept of the artist that alienates him from his com- 1970s grew out of the achievements of artists of munity. Black art is the aesthetic and spiritual sister the Harlem Renaissance. These artists found a new of the Black Power concept. source of inspiration in their African ancestral heri- —Larry Neal, 1968 tage and imbued their work with their experience as blacks in America. The works of pioneers like n theory and practice, artists of the Black Arts Aaron Douglas, Hale Woodruff, and Meta Vaux movement have been a major driving force in Warrick Fuller formed the genesis of a modernist I the growth of a remarkable, rich, and diverse style and aesthetic that influenced the development array of aesthetics and styles, driven by a concern of African American art throughout the twentieth of uniting people of African descent all over the century. By the 1950s and early 1960s, masters such world. They have produced a range of voices and as John Biggers, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, a rich body of artwork that is truly trans-African, Loïs Mailou Jones, Elizabeth Catlett, and Charles but also transnational. These special issues (num- White were fully exploring the African American bers 29 and 30) do not claim to be comprehensive experience and its rich African heritage, ultimately or representative of all the groups, movements, and impacting the Black Arts movement profoundly. artists who worked in different cities across North Newly independent African countries in the late America and other parts of the African Diaspora. 1950s and early 1960s and the global decolonization Rather, they focus selectively on works by artists movement inspired a tremendous solidarity among who formed or joined in forming collectives such as artists of African descent in the United States and AfriCOBRA, “Where We At” Black Women Artists, other parts of the African Diaspora. The rise of a Spiral, and Weusi, as well as others who operated modern postcolonial African art, which encom- independently within the same aesthetic impulses passes a new visual vocabulary and symbols rooted and ideological framework. Some of the contri- in the African experience, has its cross-influences butions to these special issues highlight pioneers, among artists of the Black Arts movement. The independent masters whose impressive body of African continent became a home and a place of work exerted a tremendous influence on the Black pilgrimage to which several African American art- Arts movement, in addition to others who have ists embarked on a journey to study and reclaim shared similar concerns without belonging to a spe- their rich African heritage. Participation in major cific group or collective. Some of the essays engage pan-African forums such as First World Art Festi- the thematic, aesthetic, and ideological concerns val of Negro Arts in Dakar 1966 and FESTAC ’77 that dominated the works of these artists. These in Lagos, Nigeria, exposed African American art- have ranged from responding to the visual tropes ists to African masters such as Skunder Boghossian, of racist and stereotypical representation, to con- Malangatana, Papa Ibra Tall, Ibrahim El-Salahi, and fronting the legacy of absence in the work of artists Bruce Onobrakpeya. Another influential artist of associated with the Black Arts movement, as well as the time was the Cuban Wifredo Lam, whose work the neglected legacy of Black Abstraction. All have

Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/nka/article-pdf/2011/29/4/447990/Nka_29_01_Hassan_Fpp.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 creatively synthesizes African and Western imagery tions for African American art, Weusi established within a modernist and Caribbean perspective. All the Nyumba Ya Sanaa (House of Art) Gallery in of these pan-African artists have impacted the style 1967, and the Nyumba Ya Sanaa Academy of Fine and aesthetic of the Black Arts movement. Arts in 1969. In addition to curating and hosting For the benefit of our readers who are less exhibitions of African and African American art- familiar with the visual manifestations of the ists, Nyumba gallery served as a meeting place Black Arts movement, it would be worthwhile to for black artists to exchange ideas on issues rang- further elaborate on some of the collectives and ing from African culture and aesthetics to artistic groups of artists that have formed such a vibrant techniques. Weusi as a group valued individual cre- movement. Foremost among these groups has ativity within an African-centered perspective and been AfriCOBRA, which was founded in the late sought to promote cultural pride and self-reliance 1960s by Jeff Donaldson, Wadsworth Jarrell, Bar- while protesting injustice. Weusi has developed a bara Jones Hogu, and others. AfriCOBRA is an new iconography and visual vocabulary, which, acronym for African Commune of Bad Relevant like those of AfriCOBRA, have become expressive Artists, originally derived by combining “Afri” of black aesthetics. (Africa) with “Cobra” (Coalition of Black Revolu- While never associated publicly with the Black tionary Artists). In AfriCOBRA’s 1970 manifesto, Arts movement, Spiral, another short-lived and written by Donaldson and his cohorts, the group’s loosely associated group, nevertheless shared some objectives were to develop a new African American of the ethos of the Black Arts movement in search aesthetic and commit themselves to the principles of a black aesthetic and the concern with represen- of social responsibility, local artistic involvement, tation of blackness. Spiral emerged from a call by and promotion of pride in black self-identity. To Romare Bearden, who invited several black artists fulfill those principles, certain aesthetic qualities to his New York studio during the civil rights era in were emphasized: the sublime image, innovative the early 1960s to discuss the role of the black artist approaches to rhythm, and the use of high-energy and other issues of concern. Spiral was formed on colors. In addition, the fusion of pan-African ele- July 5, 1963, as a result of that meeting. The group’s ments in the works parallels the improvisational name is based on the Archimedean spiral that and stylistic innovations found in contemporary “moves outward embracing all directions, yet con- African and African American music. Another stantly upward.”1 Spiral brought together a dynamic such artists’ collective, founded in Harlem in 1965, group of artists divergent in terms of age, back- adopted the name Weusi (which means “blackness” ground, interests, and style of work, which ranged in Swahili) and declared its objectives “to preserve, from abstractionist to realist. Their biweekly meet- develop, and promote African and African Ameri- ings became forums for debate and an exchange of can culture through the visual arts.” Weusi evolved ideas on aesthetics, artistic standards, and the ques- out of the Twentieth Century Creators, a coalition tion of social responsibility vis-à-vis artistic free- of African American artists also based in Harlem, dom. A concern for achieving racial equality and who called for the creation of positive “Black art for affirming black identity in a white-dominated art Black people.” To reach out to the community, in world unified the group. Their goal was to search the mid-1960s the group established the Annual for points of intersection that allowed them to work Harlem Outdoor Art Festival, held successfully together while preserving their individuality as art- for fourteen years. Weusi was credited with the ists. After two years the group had an exhibition in creation of the annual Harlem-based Black Ball, which all members showcased works executed only a fund-raising event that included dance, music, in black and white. Despite the show’s success, Spi- poetry readings, and a fashion show. The ball was ral ceased to exist after two years, because the art- originally developed as an alternative to Christmas, ists believed that they had outgrown the aesthetic which had become a commerce-oriented celebra- limitations and urgent concerns of the period. tion. To create independent spaces and institu- While many black male artists were gaining

Hassan Nka • 5

Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/nka/article-pdf/2011/29/4/447990/Nka_29_01_Hassan_Fpp.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 attention by the late 1950s and early 1960s, black 1960s and 1970s joined in forming groups and female artists were underrepresented at the onset movements, many others worked independently of the Black Arts movement. In the spring of 1971 within a similar aesthetic and ideological frame- fourteen African American women organized a work. The works of David Hammons, Melvin landmark exhibition at the Acts of Art Gallery in Edwards, Elizabeth Catlett, Dana Chandler, and Greenwich Village, “Where We At” Black Women others exemplify the richness and diversity of the Artists, the first of its kind. Inspired by the popu- Black Arts movement during the turbulent 1960s larity and success of the earthy, grassroots show, and 1970s. Historically, many African American the group, which included artists such as Dindga artists have deliberately worked within the conven- McCannon, Kay Brown, Faith Ringgold, Jerri tions of abstraction in general and abstract expres- Crooks, Charlotte Kâ (Richardson), and Vivian E. sionism in particular. Artists of the Black Arts Browne, formed an artists’ collective, retaining the movement often regarded these modes of expression exhibition title as its name. The history and mission as mainstream during the 1960s and 1970s. Viewed of the organization was published in the catalogue as less African-centered at a time when positive fig- “Where We At”: Black Women Artists; A Tapestry of urative images served the need for expressing pride Many Fine Threads. Themes such as the unity of the in race and cultural heritage, the work of African black family, black male-female relationships, con- American abstractionists was often excluded from temporary social conditions, and African traditions major surveys of the Black Arts movement. Ironi- have been central to their artistic explorations. The cally, mainstream museums and art galleries also group served as a source of empowerment for Afri- excluded such artists from their surveys of abstract can American female artists as they controlled their expressionism, while white art critics and histori- representation and foregrounded issues concerning ans in America glossed over their distinct contri- black women’s sensibility and aesthetics. Like Afri- bution to this movement. It is only recently that COBRA, the group was active in bringing art to Black Abstraction has gained some official recogni- the community and using it as a tool of awareness tion, with Kellie Jones’s groundbreaking exhibition and liberation. The group organized workshops Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstrac- in schools, hospitals, and cultural centers, and art tion, 1964–1980, held at the Studio Museum in Har- classes for youth in their communities. lem in 2006. A closer look at the work of these art- While many African American artists in the ists reveals their distinct style, color, and aesthetic SUBSCRIBE dukeupress.edu/nka Nka JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART

6 • Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art • 29 • Fall 2011

Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/nka/article-pdf/2011/29/4/447990/Nka_29_01_Hassan_Fpp.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 perspectives, which often overlap and intersect with of above-mentioned texts: Crawford, Ongiri, and the artistic vision and ideological concerns of the Widener. Among the other contributors are sev- Black Arts movement. The works of artists such as eral artists, literary figures, scholars, and curators Ellsworth Ausby, Norman Lewis, Charles Searles, such as Amiri Baraka, Kay Brown, and Edward S. and Al Loving, among others included in this his- Spriggs who were central to the Black Arts move- toric exhibition, are examples of this neglected ment and to the shaping of its ethos and aesthetics tradition. as it metamorphosed into one of most significant The last two decades witnessed the publication black intellectual and artistic traditions since the of several scholarly texts that have critically revis- Harlem Renaissance. The second and third sets of ited the Black Arts movement from a multidisci- contributions comprise issue 30. The second set plinary perspective and in the process have shed provides a collection of short essays, in addition to new light on its different manifestations in liter- manifestos, archival documents, and recollections ary, visual, and performance arts. Leaders among by artists and other figures within the Black Arts these publications are Lisa Gail Collins and Margo movement and, as much as possible, representatives Natalie Crawford’s edited volume New Thoughts of the groups and collectives that shaped the move- on the Black Arts Movement (2008); Amy Ongiri’s ment. The third set of contributions brings together Spectacular Blackness: The Cultural Politics of the conversations and an intergenerational dialogue Black Power Movement and the Search for Black with some of the major artists who have been part Aesthetics (2010); and Daniel Widener’s Black Arts of the Black Arts movement. They offer a fascinat- West: Culture and Struggle in Postwar Los Ange- ing glimpse into the social, political, and aesthetic les (2010). In these issues we hope to follow in the concerns of the movement as it was experienced footsteps of these seminal authors and shed more and as it was taking shape. Taken as a whole, these light on the complexity and nuances of the Black three sets of contributions highlight the concerns Arts movement by focusing solely on the visual and the impetus behind the Black Arts movement arts through three sets of contributions. The first in the visual and literary domains. set comprises issue 29 and is dedicated to a num- ber of critical essays written by scholars, curators, Note and artists as well. We are fortunate to count among 1. From the brochure First Group Showing: Works in Black and White, which accompanied the Spiral show held May 14–June 5, the contributors to this section three of the authors 1965. SUBSCRIBE dukeupress.edu/nka Nka JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART

Hassan Nka • 7

Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/nka/article-pdf/2011/29/4/447990/Nka_29_01_Hassan_Fpp.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021