Soul of a nation : art in the age of Black power

Godfrey, Mark (Mark Benjamin), (editor.). Whitley, Zoé, (editor.). Cahan, Susan, (contributor.). Driskell, David C., (contributor.). Gaither, Edmund B., (contributor.). Goode-Bryant, Linda, (contributor.). Jarrell, Jae, 1935- (contributor.). Jarrell, Wadsworth, 1929- (contributor.). Lewis, Samella S., (contributor.). Tate Modern (Gallery), (organizer,, host institution.). Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, (organizer,, host institution.). Brooklyn Museum, (organizer,, host institution.).

Summary: In the period of radical change that was 1963-1983, young black artists at the beginning of their careers in the USA confronted key questions and pressures. How could they make art that would stand as innovative, original, formally and materially complex, while also making work that reflected their concerns and experience as black Americans? This significant new publication, accompanying an exhibition at Tate Modern, surveys this crucial period in American art history, bringing to light previously neglected histories of twentieth-century black artists, including Sam Gilliam, Melvin Edwards, Jack Whitten, William T. Williams and Frank Bowling. This book features substantial essays from co-curators Mark Godfrey and Zoe Whitley, writing on abstraction and figuration respectively. It will also explore the art historical and social contexts with subjects including black feminism; AfriCOBRA and other artist-run groups; the role of museums in the debates of the period; and where visual art sat in relation to the Black Arts Movement.

Record details

ISBN: 9781942884170
ISBN: 1942884176
ISBN: 1849764638
ISBN: 9781849764636
ISBN: 1849764646
ISBN: 9781849764643
Physical Description: print
256 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 27 cm
Publisher: London : Tate Publishing, 2017.
Copyright: ©2017

Content descriptions

General Note:	Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name held at Tate Modern, London, July 12-October 22, 2017; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, February 3-April 23, 2018; and Brooklyn Museum, New York, September 7, 2018-February 3, 2019.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references.
Formatted Contents Note:	Forewords / Frances Morris, Rod Bigelow ; Anne Pasternak -- Introduction / Mark Godfrey and Zoé Whitley -- Part I. Spiral to FESTAC / Mark Godfrey and Zoé Whitley with contributions by Susan E. Cahan: -- Spiral and the March on Washington -- Art and unrest in Los Angeles -- Amiri Baraka, Larry Neal and the Black Arts Movement -- Roy DeCarava and the Kamoinge Workshop -- The Wall of Respect and the mural movement -- Emory Douglas and the Black Panther Party newspaper -- Painting Black Power -- 'Black Art' debates in pamphlets and magazines -- The Studio Museum in Harlem -- The Black Emergency Cultural Coalition -- Abstraction shows -- AfriCOBRA -- Three graphic artists -- Contemporary Black artists in America -- Black women artists -- Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin -- Avant-garde filmmakers -- Rituals in Los Angeles -- Just above Midtown -- The Black Photographers Annual -- FESTAC '77 -- Part II. Essays: -- Notes on Black abstraction / Mark Godfrey -- American skin : artists on Black figuration / Zoé Whitley -- Part III. Recollections: -- Samella Lewis ; Edmund Barry Gaither ; David C. Driskell ; Jae and Wadsworth Jarrell ; Linda Goode Bryant.