African-American Artists and European Modernist Tradition

Page 5 • The InTowner • March 2020 THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION 21st & Q Sts., NW; (202) 387-2151 By Joseph R. Phelan* African-American Arists and European Modernist Tradition Art & Culture (through May 24, 2020) CLOSED DURING CORONAVIRUS (possible extension following) A n absorbing exhibition, “Riffs and Relations: African-American Artists and European Modernist Tradition,” opened at the Phillips Collection a month before the shutdown. The show brings together an array of 20th and 21st century black artists who were influenced, in one way or another, by their encounters with modernist works. At the same time, the show reminds us that from the very beginning of the 20th century, European artists were learning from African art. Over 30 African-American artists are represented in this show, including high-profile figures such as Romare Bearden, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, Norman Lewis, Martin Puryear, Faith Ringgold, and Robert Colescott. There’s also a bevy of contemporary women artists whose works are making their Washington premiere. Alongside their paintings, sculpture, photography, and prints can be found works by the major figures of European modernism from Monet to Mondrian. The Alma Thomas, Watusi (Hard Edge) (1963). Elizabeth Catlett, Ife (2002). century, Matisse, Picasso, Braque, and the German Expressionists felt that the conventions of European art had become too tame, too civilized, and too banal. They began to study the artifacts of African culture that were relegated to various ethnographic collections in Paris. As guest curator Adrienne Childs writes in her catalog essay, European artists saw a “simpler, unvarnished, spiritual, and authentic” culture embodied in the African objects. In their home cultures, these artifacts called forth primordial responses of fear, longing, exhilaration, and piety. Modernists wanted to elicit these responses also, but their available tools -- the techniques of mimetic painting and sculpture -- seemed no longer up to the task. Two revolutionary works of 1907, Matisse’s Blue Nude and Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon signal the enormous transformation that encounters with African masks and sculpture had on these two artists. Within a few years there was a very significant change in taste in advanced circles which propelled African art out of the ethnological collections and into the galleries and ultimately the most prestigious art museums. Modern art, and the exhibition, begins with Manet’s notorious Luncheon in the Grass (1862) which puts two female nudes at a picnic with two fully dressed men. By removing any mythological or allegorical result is an admirable and entertaining effort to widen and diversify the story of modern art in America. One key figure in this story is Alain Locke, the seminal African-American philosopher of the Harlem Renaissance, who lived in Washington and taught at Howard University. In his epoch-making book The New Negro (1925) Locke insisted on the importance of African art as conceptually modernist and encouraged African-American artists to combine in their works the African legacy with European modernist forms. He also believed in, and advocated, the “cross fertilization” of cultures. He held at that time the radical belief that “great cultures” are the result of the “fusion of several cultures . . . [the] fermenting of one civilization by another.” It’s no wonder that this intellectual had such a powerful effect on his students and readers in the larger culture. At the beginning of the 20th Hale Woodruff, The Card Players (1930). through an Art Deco lens. Hale Woodruff’s The Card Players (1930) riffs on Cezanne’s pivotal work of the same title which depicts humble figures on a scale usually reserved for grander subjects like history or mythology. Picasso’s and Braque’s breakthrough Cubist works introduce a gallery of still life pictures by David Driskell, Norman Lewis, and Woodruff. Remarkable landscapes by Lois Mailou Jones and William H. Johnson are placed in dialogue with similar works by Utrillo and Soutine, respectively. Romare Bearden’s Poseidon (1977) is a wonderfully fresh and frightening portrait on the sea god enemy of Odysseus from his series Black Odyssey. And speaking of an inspired work, Alma Thomas’s Watsui (1963) is a delightful riff on Matisse’s late abstract The Snail (1953). Finally Frank Stewart’s photographs give us a chance to salute some of the black artists in the show. There is always one work in an exhibition that I can’t get enough of. At the Phillips, it’s Homage to Nina Simone (1965). I’ve never heard of the artist, Bob Thomas, but he’s a great underappreciated talent. He was the earliest African-American artist to engage with the history of European art. This celebration of the black jazz musician derives its composition from Bacchanal with Lute Player by the great 17th Baroque master Poussin, filtered through the hot fauvist colors of Henri Matisse. Too few of the paintings are on the Phillips website. In the interests of all, it would be justification for such nudity and painting the scene in a bold and sketchy manner, Manet was challenging academic tradition and announcing a new freedom for the artist. Almost a century later when Manet’s painting had itself become a “classic,” Picasso painted a series of pastiche versions proclaiming his freedom to “riff” on tradition. Ms. Childs has selected five 21st century works which re-imagine the Luncheon from various perspectives. Carrie Mae Weems’s photograph After Manet (2015), Robert Colescott’s rarely seen painting Sunday Afternoon with Joaquin Murietta (1980), along with one work from the Picasso series are standouts in the first room. William H. Johnson, Cagnes-sur-Mer (1928-’29). Moving on, Elizabeth Catlett’s sculpture Ife (2002) is paired with Matisse’s good for the museum to post more. There Large Seated Nude (1930). The idea is is an audio tour (without images) images, to showcase the ability of both artists to and an all-too-brief YouTube tour of the synthesize diverse influences from Africa galleries. Both of these features are narrated and other cultures. In an adjacent room by the guest curator Adrian Childs who also Harlem Renaissance artist James Lesene wrote the sensitive and thought-provoking Wells’s print Primitive Girl (1929) uses the essays in the important catalog. idiom of German Expressionism to portray the strength and dignity of a working * Joseph R. Phelan, a Washington based author class woman. Aaron Douglas’s Negro in and teache is The InTowner’s museums exhian African Setting (1954) depicts Africa bitions senior reviewer. He has taught at the Catholic University of America and the University of Maryland University College and was the founding editor of Artcyclopedia. com, the fine art search engine. Copyright © 2020 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Joseph R. Phelan. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §107 (“fair use”). Bob Thompson, Homage to Nina Simone (1965).