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Exhibit showcases variety of artists
In his watercolor collage “Hometime,” renowned African-American artist Romare Bearden recreates memories from his North Carolina childhood using splashy reds and exaggerated cutout shapes. The result is folksy and nostalgic, a window to a remembered ideal that no longer exists.
“Bearden is one of the most prominent collage artists in America,” said Louis Zona, director of the Butler Institute of American Art. “Picasso invented collage art, and Bearden was inspired by Picasso, who was, ironically, inspired by African art, so in that way the creative process comes full circle.”
Bearden’s “Hometime” is one of several works on display as part of the museum’s current exhibition, “African American Works: Butler Collection.”
“Every February we try to either exhibit an outside artist’s work or pull together several works from our own collection to celebrate Black History Month,” Zona explained.
“African-American Works: Butler Collection” runs through Feb. 29 and showcases a wide variety of artists from Bearden to Robert Scott Duncanson to Bill Morrow Jackson to John James Audubon.
“Many people are surprised to learn that Audubon had African-American ancestry,” said Zona.
Audubon was the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and Creole chambermaid. He fled to America in 1802 to avoid conscription into Napoleon’s army and ended up in Kentucky, where he ran a general store and spent time drawing birds.
His painting “Fox and Goose,” circa 1835, is part of The Butler’s permanent collection.
Another 19th century painting featured for Black History Month is “Fall Fisherman” by Robert Scott Duncanson, a landscape painter who Zona called “the first African-American artist of reputation in the United States.”
“Duncanson was born free and lived in Cincinnati and is credited as the first African-American artist to become internationally known and to live solely on the income generated by his work,” said Zona.
“Fall Fisherman” was painted around 1850 and offers a lush view of the Little Miami River, a geographic area Duncanson often focused on in his early works.
Not all of the art highlighted for Black History Month has been completed by black artists.
Bill Morrow Jackson, for example, was a white man who was very involved in the civil-rights movement.
“He did a series of lithographs that depict various episodes in the civil-rights struggle,” Zona said. “The lithographs are filled with powerful symbolism and make reference to those killed in the fight for change as well as those who stood in the way of change.”
In contrast to Morrow Jackson’s lithographs is the sunnier work of Jacob Lawrence, a black artist who grew up in Harlem and enjoyed early recognition.
“Lawrence always showed a positive outcome in his paintings,” said Zona. “One of his themes is that hard work will spell success.”
His work also often celebrates women as a vital, nurturing force — a theme linked to Lawrence’s own mother, who singlehandedly raised him.
Lawrence’s “The Street” depicts women gathered around a baby carriage and pays homage to maternal rituals.
Although many of the works on display for Black History Month have been created by male artists, a wood block print by African-American sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett is featured in the Butler’s Messaros Print Gallery.
The gallery also includes more Audubon, Norman D. Tillman’s “Portrait of Grace Hill Walker,” and a work by Washington, D.C., abstract painter Sam Gillman, who is known for painting on large, flexible canvases.
In addition, “African American Works: Butler Collection” features the work of Al Bright, a retired Youngstown State University art professor whom Zona called “very influential to many, many YSU students.”
“Professor Bright inspired so many students here in Youngstown,” said Zona.
“He often paints to jazz music, and a few years back he painted for the public alongside a group of jazz musicians, and about 3,000 people came to watch him.”
Bright graduated in YSU in 1964 with a degree in art education and earned a master’s from Kent State and has exhibited works throughout America. “African-American Works: Butler Collection” was curated with Bright’s assistance.