BLACK HISTORY MONTH \ At the Butler

The Butler Institute of American Art is marking Black History Month with two exhibitions:

Montage works by Charles Mingus III, son of jazz great Charles Mingus. The artist digitally manipulates his own photographs to create complex montages, many of which have a political theme. The Los Angeles resident is considered one of American’s most gifted and versatile artists.

Works from three centuries of black American art from the Butler collection, including pieces by Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Robert Scott Duncanson, Sam Gilliam, Barkley Leonnard Hendricks, Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin, Hughie Lee-Smith, Joseph Norman, Joseph Holston and Martin Puryear.

Lou Zona, executive director of the Butler, said the museum’s collection of black art is second to none. Bearden, Zona said, is the inventor of collage. “Picasso is often given credit for collage,” he said, “but the art form became an obsession in Bearden’s hands.”

The Butler is at 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call (330) 743-1107 or go to butlerart.com

Source: Butler Institute of American Art