Butler exhibit celebrates black history

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

“Reflections: African American Life from the Myrna Colley-Lee Collection” will open Sunday at the Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave., and run through June 8.

The exhibition — which honors the lives, traditions and environments of African-Americans in the 20th century — features more than 50 pieces from the collection of Colley-Lee, a renowned costume designer and arts patron.

“Reflections” will thoughtfully reflect the culture and experiences of African-Americans, and provide insight into their Southern roots and migratory history. The imagery focuses primarily on narrative works and landscapes of everyday life.

Works by prominent African-American artists, including Elizabeth Catlett, Gwen Knight, Betye Saar, John Scott and Hale Woodruff, will be featured.

Rural landscapes captured by Maude Schulyer Clay, Gerald DeLoach, Randy Hayes and Tom Rankin are set in contrast with urban landscape paintings by Ernest Crichlow and Rod Ivey. Studio portraits include those by celebrated photographer James Van Der Zee, and the more-candid photography of Roland Freeman, Milly Moorhead and Eudora Welty.

Works by collage masters Romare Bearden and James Denmark, along with a haunting shadowbox construction by postmodernist Radcliffe Bailey, speak to the layered histories of African-Americans.

A rare painting by famed artist Charles White is also included in the exhibition.

“Reflections” has been exhibited at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in Michigan, Howard University in Washington, and the Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, La.

After it closes at the Butler, it will travel to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Miss.; and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Ala.

Call the Butler at 330-743-1107, ext. 114, for special programs and tours planned for this exhibition.