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"Died for Freedom" poster (a flyer announcing a memorial for the three civil rights workers murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and buried in the earth dam of a cattle pond on June 21, 1964. On August 4, the bodies of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney were uncovere

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"Died for Freedom" poster (a flyer announcing a memorial for the three civil rights workers murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and buried in the earth dam of a cattle pond on June 21, 1964. On August 4, the bodies of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney were uncovere

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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2014.501

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"Died for Freedom" poster (a flyer announcing a memorial for the three civil rights workers murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and buried in the earth dam of a cattle pond on June 21, 1964. On August 4, the bodies of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney were uncover

Artist biography

Danny Lyon

Danny Lyon American, 1942- Danny Lyon (born in Brooklyn) came to attention in the 1960s as a social documentary photographer whose sympathies with his subjects often grew from personal involvement in their causes. While studying history at the University of Chicago (B.A., 1963), he joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and served as the group's photographer. Since 1967 he has been an associate for the magnum photo agency and made extensive photo essays in the late 1960s-70s on the civil rights movement (The Movement, 1964), the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, of which he was a member (The Bikeriders, 1968), the demolition of historic 19th-century buildings in New York City (The Destruction of Lower Manhattan, 1969), and Texas prisons (Conversations with the Dead, 1971). For that series, Lyon included with his black-and-white photographs excerpts from handwritten letters, drawings, police reports, and telegrams. In 1977 the U.S. Justice Department used his images in a landmark legal case (Ruiz vs. Estelle) to improve conditions in prisons throughout Texas. Since the 1980s, Lyon has traveled to Colombia to photograph street children and prostitutes (The Paper Negative, 1980) and to Haiti to cover the events leading up to the collapse of the Duvalier regime in 1986. His own family has also become a continued subject of his work. Parallel to his photography, Lyon has made numerous films that are shown regularly in universities across the United States: Social Sciences 127 (1969), Llanito (1971), El Mojado (1973), Los Niños Abandonados (1975), Dear Mark (1975-80), Little Boy (1977), Willie (1986-87), and Media Man (c. 1993). He has published his own works since 1988 under the imprint Bleak Beauty Books, in collaboration with his wife, Nancy Lyon, and Michael Hausman. Lyon has also taught nonfiction film at the State University of New York at Buffalo (1986) and at Columbia University (1987-90). Among his honors are fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1969, 1979) and the Rockefeller Foundation (1990). He has had one-person exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago (1966, 1969), the Newport Harbor Art Museum in California (1973), and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1982). In 1991 a retrospective, Danny Lyon Photo Film, with accompanying catalogue, traveled internationally. Lyon lives in Clintondale, New York. A.W.

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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
"Died for Freedom" poster (a flyer announcing a memorial for the three civil rights workers murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and buried in the earth dam of a cattle pond on June 21, 1964. On August 4, the bodies of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney were uncover

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Artist biography Danny Lyon American, 1942- Danny Lyon (born in Brooklyn) came to attention in the 1960s as a social documentary photographer whose sympathies with his subjects often grew from personal involvement in their causes. While studying history at the University of Chicago (B.A., 1963), he joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and served as the group's photographer.

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Beauty Treatment: Conserving the Mwana Pwo Mask

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Beauty Treatment: Conserving the Mwana Pwo Mask

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https://medium.com/cma-thinker/beauty-treatment-conserving-the-mwana-pwo-mask-e2bdc1d6cd18

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By Amaris Sturm, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Conservation

Preparing objects for display requires collaborative efforts across the museum, from designing exhibitions, to interpreting artworks, and, in the case of this Central African mask, preparing objects for safe display. The treatment and installation of the Mwana Pwo mask, on view through Sunday, March 14 in the exhibition Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art, provides an excellent example of this collaboration.

Amaris Sturm, author and Mellon fellow in conservation, reattaches beads to the burlap cap of the Mwana Pwo mask. Photo: Philip Brutz.

Composed of carved wood, paint, and plant fibers, this beautiful Mwana Pwo mask from the Chokwe communities of southwestern Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo depicts a woman's idealized face. Strands of reed beads hang from a burlap cap tied to the mask, which is topped with a braided headband along the hairline. Intricate netting hanging from the base of the mask would have covered the lower face and neck of the wearer. Even though the adornments represent a beautiful young Chokwe woman's fertility and beauty, it would have been worn by a man during ceremonial akishi or makishi masquerades (singular: likishi). It would often be accompanied by a Cihongo mask, a male counterpart representing strength and wealth.

Mask (mwana pwo), c. 1930s. Africa, Central Africa, Angola or Democratic Republic of Congo, Chokwe carver. Wood, reeds, plant fiber, burlap, natural fiber (possibly cotton), and colorant; overall: 21.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White 1978.27. Before treatment. On View in Focus Gallery 010 through Sunday, March 14, 2021.

When the mask was pulled from storage in preparation for Second Careers, there were noticeable condition issues caused the aging of its organic materials and past storage practices. The beaded strands were compressed in its storage enclosure, causing stress on the brittle fibers holding the beads together. Multiple strands had broken and become tangled within the intact ones. The beads themselves were also starting to split, with a small fragment loose in the box. Stuffed with a bundle of tissue paper, the intricate netting was pulled taut while providing little support to the now-deformed burlap cap.

Mwana Pwo mask before treatment and on its original storage tray. Photo: Joan Neubecker.

Natural fibers and plant materials, like those found throughout this mask, degrade over time. Wood and reed materials expand and shrink with changes in humidity, causing splitting. Fibers, like those holding the beads, can become brittle as they age, losing their structural integrity. These condition issues and concerns, although inherent to the object, can be softened or remedied through conservation treatment and preventive conservation approaches in display and storage.

Example of loose beads found in storage from the hair of the mask. Photo: Amaris Sturm.

Properly mounting the object was essential not only in preparation for display, but also for its conservation treatment. Mounts can be found throughout the museum, although you may not notice them. The talented mountmakers at the CMA create systems that cradle and hold objects, allowing them to be displayed safely and to better understand their meaning and use. This image shows the mask supported upright as it would have been worn. The custom mount, designed and built by CMA mountmaker Philip Brutz, ensures that the weight is borne solely by the stable, wooden face, while the beaded hair falls naturally. To help reform the burlap cap and support the heavy weight of the beads, I constructed a small pillow using archival materials that was inserted and tied to the mount. This pillow is easily removable, but can also travel with the mount, reducing the amount of handling ofthe object in installation. During this work, CMA Curator of African Art, Kristen Windmuller-Luna offered important insight on the interpretation of the object, including the angle at which the mask should be displayed, the desired shape of the burlap cap, and the placement of the beaded strands. Constant conversation between curators and conservators about the goals of conservation treatment are an essential part of the process.

In this internal view of the mask, a mount is attached to the wooden mask. A rod is inserted into the mount, which will ultimately hold the mask upright and at the correct angle. Photo: Philip Brutz.

Once the object was mounted, I began structural treatment of the beading. Reattaching the broken strands was challenging; the original cords were still intact, making it difficult to insert a new, stronger material without undue stress on the beads. Standard steel sewing needles are too short, stiff, and sharp to safely thread through the delicate beads without completely disassembling the strand and removing original material. Philip developed the perfect solution: cutting a custom length of fishing line and flattening one end with heat. This acted as a long flexible needle to carefully pull a thin polyester thread through the beads one at a time. This new supplemental thread provides added support to the beads, as well as a strong material to tie the loose strands in place on the stable burlap.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Beauty Treatment: Conserving the Mwana Pwo Mask

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By Amaris Sturm, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Conservation Preparing objects for display requires collaborative efforts across the museum, from designing exhibitions, to interpreting artworks, and, in the case of this Central African mask, preparing objects for safe display.

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Changing the Narrative: Time and Historical Revisionism in “New Histories, New Futures” Art Exhibition

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Changing the Narrative: Time and Historical Revisionism in “New Histories, New Futures” Art Exhibition

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https://medium.com/cma-thinker/changing-the-narrative-2570d55cd688

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New Histories, New Futures, CMA's newest contemporary exhibition which is now on view at Transformer Station, tackles the concepts of time and perception as told by three contemporary Black artists who engage with historical revisionism. Each artist engages with the exhibition's premise from the perpectives of the past ( Johnny Coleman), present ( Antwoine Washington), and future ( Kambui Olujimi).

Let's take a walk through this exhibition and explore how each artist's work coincides with the main themes of the show.

An artist based in Oberlin, Ohio, Johnny Coleman is a professor of studio art and Africana Studies at Oberlin College. For the last 15 years or so, Coleman has been engaged with an ongoing project that brings to light the forgotten history of one family's journey on the Underground Railroad.

The family passed through Oberlin on the way to Canada, which is how he became aware of them. His deep archival research on Lee Howard Dobbins, a four-year-old enslaved child who traveled with the family, is the source of an ongoing series of large-scale installations. New Histories features a new iteration of the series, called Constellations As Yet Unnamed, which provides an immersive experience that awakens more than just the sense of sight through sculpture; it includes an interaction with sound, smell, and projection.

Born in Kentucky to an enslaved woman who died shortly after his birth, Lee Howard Dobbins was adopted by another enslaved family on the plantation, consisting of a mother and her seven daughters. At only four years old, Lee and his family journeyed north toward freedom. When they arrived in Oberlin, however, the young boy became ill and passed away a few days later. The women continued to Canada, and it has been Coleman's mission to trace their stories and recover their identities.

For Constellations, Coleman built a central post-and-beam structure. It faces due north, and is covered in muslin, meant to evoke the hemp, which was a material produced on the plantation where the Dobbins family was enslaved. This structure is lit from within, and is surrounded by small birdhouses. Speakers inside of the birdhouses create a multi-channel sound installation. Eight of the channels are voices of contemporary Black women living in Oberlin who conjure the eight women who shepherded Lee Howard Dobbins to Oberlin. Another channel is the sound of a black bird, who represents Lee, the boy. And yet another is ambient noise that he's gathered from a nature reserve off the Ohio River, which the Dobbins family crossed on their journey northward.

Coleman says these voices and stories have been "lost to history" and his project is all about "speaking them back" into history. The installation is an ethereal, meditative space. I encourage visitors to spend time taking in the sounds and projection, but also notice the scents of lavender and chamomile flowers that add to the work. Coleman says, its not about dwelling on past Black trauma, but on creating "New Histories and Black futures."

Antwoine Washington, an artist based in Cleveland, paints portraits of his own young family to counteract the stereotype of the absent Black father.

I was drawn to Washington's paintings because they really do speak volumes on their own. He says he starts with the idea of the Black narrative or experience and explores the idea of how to put it out into the public.

3 of 4 artworks by Antwoine Washington in New Histories, New Futures

In our conversations he says, "[When I became a father], I began to notice that the Black family has systematically been under siege by mainstream society and the media, and I use my art to say NO - the media isn't correct and push back against racist narratives."

Black Family: The Myth of the Missing Black Father, 2019. Antwoine Washington (American, b. 1980). Acrylic on canvas; 24 x 30 in. Collection of the artist. © Antwoine Washington

The style of artists that he draws from, like Harlem Renaissance artist William H. Johnson, inspired Washington to recall a period in history when art and social justice movements were closely linked. He was inspired by that overlap and the weaving together of art and life. There's also a visual likeness to Byzantine icons of the Virgin and Child, except that the Black father usurps the Madonna. He also paints in a more realist style in pursuit of humanizing his subjects.

The third artist is Kambui Olujimi, a multi-media artist based in New York City. Olujimi's North Star series features paintings of weightless, floating Black bodies "freed from the gravity of oppression," imaging a future in which a politics of resistance can result in true bodily freedom.

The artist is interested in referencing the topic of Black joy or Black rhapsody as a counternarrative to the constant circulation of imagery around Black suffering and death. All the figures in the paintings have variegated skin tones, and ambiguous genders, highlighting their occupation of a liminal space and our perception of them as futuristic, otherworldly beings. New Histories includes eight large paintings from his series, on display for the first time.

The title of Olujimi's series, North Star references the Underground Railroad and offers another perspective of work across time. Like Coleman's work, Olujimi's is also an immersive, experiential installation that gives tangible form to a futuristic, intergalactic dreamscape that is rooted in past and present iterations of social justice movements and reveals the power that artists' imaginations hold for the future of the world.

As the renowned historian Robin D.G. Kelley observed,

"It is precisely these alternative visions and dreams that inspire new generations to continue to struggle for change."

Looking for more? Watch a recording of one of our recent virtual programs, In Conversation: Johnny Coleman, Antwoine Washington, and Kambui Olujimi for a virtual walk through and commentary from each of the artists featured in this exhibition.

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New Histories, New Futures , CMA's newest contemporary exhibition which is now on view at Transformer Station, tackles the concepts of time and perception as told by three contemporary Black artists who engage with historical revisionism. Each artist engages with the exhibition's premise from the perpectives of the past ( Johnny Coleman), present ( Antwoine Washington), and future ( Kambui Olujimi).

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https://admin.flipgrid.com/manage/discovery/details/59227?ns&dlref=5201085&name=Cleveland

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Installation of Carl Pope Jr.’s “The Bad Air Smelled of Roses”

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Installation of Carl Pope Jr.’s “The Bad Air Smelled of Roses”

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Installation of Carl Pope Jr.’s “The Bad Air Smelled of Roses”

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Highlighting African American Art at the CMA: Photographing Black Life: Roy DeCarava in Focus

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Highlighting African American Art at the CMA: Photographing Black Life: Roy DeCarava in Focus

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From the Permanent Collection: Highlighting African American Art at the CMA: Photographing Black Life: Roy DeCarava in Focus
By: DAMLI graduate fellow Efe Igor

David, New York, 1952. Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009). Gelatin silver print; 31.6 x 25.5 cm. John L. Severance Fund, 1996.20. © The Estate of Roy DeCarava and Sherry Turner DeCarava

Arms akimbo, a young boy stares directly at the camera, returning the viewers' gaze. The boy's direct stare gestures toward a quiet strength - a kind of subtle bravery. His skin glistens from the beads of sweat on his forehead. It appears to be a hot summer day. Although the background is blurred, it is obvious the photograph is taken outside. We can see the large sidewalk, distant stoops, and parked cars. Despite having been taken outdoors, the image conjures solitude and stillness. I cannot hear a sound. There is no drama in this scene: there is only the boy and the photographer. The young boy is not playing, dancing, or in mid speech. No, instead he is still, just staring at the camera. The gaze is an explicit acknowledgment of the photographer, which makes the intention to create an image an obvious product of their interaction. For this reason, the image lacks the pretense of romanticized social documentary or an anthropological study.

Unlike DeCarava's contemporaries, he is not absent from the image. He is not trying to draw attention to the plight of African Americans through a kind of visual literacy or exploration. Instead, he offers an aesthetic meditation on Black life in America. The image is part of poet Langston Hughes and DeCarava's collaborative book The Sweet Flypaper of Life, originally published in 1955. An extended visual poem narrated by the character Sister Mary Bradley, the book portrays a fictional Black community in Harlem.

Untitled, Harlem, New York, 1967. Gordon Parks (American, 1912-2006). Gelatin silver print; 16.2 x 24 cm. John L. Severance Fund, 1994.278. Courtesy and copyright the Gordon Parks Foundation

In the mid-twentieth century there was an enduring effort to explore the social and economic impact of racism on Black Americans. Gordon Parks is one of the best-known photographers at that time working to make Black life in America part of a larger public conversation. In contrast to DeCarava's portrait, Parks's untitled rendering of a young boy does a different kind of work. As we peer through the bars of his footboard, mimicked by the bars behind his head, the young boy lying on his bed doing his homework gestures to the devastating effects of racial discrimination on Black families in the United States. The confined space of the bed and the boy's hunched posture speak in one way to the ardor of study, but in another to the confinement of incarceration, or the confinement of entire communities to substandard housing through redlining. And while a moment of relief is provided by the open door to the left of the composition, the mysterious darkness beyond doesn't immediately speak to liberation.

DeCarava's and Parks's photographs occupy opposite poles of a Black photographic tradition in the CMA's collection. Originally published in Life magazineon March 8, 1968, Parks's photograph is a vivid portrayal of the trials endured by African Americans during the civil rights movement. The young boy is hunched over a stack of books, writing something down in a warmly lit room. Importantly, he acts as though Parks is not present. There is an implicit blurring of the boundary between fact and fiction. Although it could be a staged photograph, it gives the illusion of reality. We, the audience, almost forget the photographer is there.

Parks understood his practice as a way to explore American history, culture, and politics: "I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera." 1 Parks used photography to reflect on enduring social issues in the United States, whereas DeCarava intentionally broke with the social documentary tradition of his time in hopes of animating and ennobling the rich ordinariness of Black life in mid-twentieth-century America. As critic Hilton Als poignantly remarked, "By the time he died, his body of work had come together to form, among other things, a monumental poetics of blackness, one that explored the ways in which race can define a person's style and essence, and made it clear how poorly or negligently the color black had been used in much of American photography before DeCarava came along." 2 DeCarava's work illustrates an abiding interest in aesthetics, identity, and storytelling.

Born in 1919 in Harlem, Roy DeCarava came of age during the Harlem Renaissance. He studied painting and printmaking at Cooper Union and the Harlem Art Center as well as the George Washington Carver Art School. After working for the Works Progress Administration, he took up photography in the late 1940s. In 1952 he became the first African American to win the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. His work is revered for its subtle political commentary and strong formal qualities. Due to DeCarava's innovations in black-and-white photography and his extensive study of Black life in the United States, he received honorary degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design, the Maryland Institute of Art, Wesleyan University, the New School, the Parsons School of Design, and the Art Institute of Boston.

In addition to DeCarava's image, the CMA has collected the work of many other prominent Black photographers, including Dawoud Bey, Elisabeth Sunday, and Carrie Mae Weems.

A Young Man Resting on an Exercise Bike, Amityville, Long Island, 1990. Dawoud Bey (American, b. 1953). Gelatin silver print from Type 55 Polaroid film; 42.9 x 55.9 cm. Gift of Carl and Joan Schneider, 2018.309. © Dawoud Bey

Akan Fisherman, Ghana: Mercy, 2010. Elisabeth Sunday (American, b. 1958). Gelatin silver print, gold-toned; 51.5 x 40 cm. Gift of Linda Grey and Ken Heitz, 2010.490. © Elisabeth Sunday

The Kitchen Table Series (detail), 1990. Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953). 20 platinum prints, 14 letterpress text sheets; 38.1 x 38.1 cm. Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2008.116. © Carrie Mae Weems

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Highlighting African American Art at the CMA: Photographing Black Life: Roy DeCarava in Focus

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From the Permanent Collection: Highlighting African American Art at the CMA: Photographing Black Life: Roy DeCarava in FocusBy: DAMLI graduate fellow Efe Igor Arms akimbo, a young boy stares directly at the camera, returning the viewers' gaze. The boy's direct stare gestures toward a quiet strength - a kind of subtle bravery.

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attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other

Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906-2008) and 1 other

after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other

Louise Bourgeois (American, 1911-2010)

Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983)

attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510-1555) and 1 other

Title, Date

Artist / Culture

Accession number

Medium

Dimensions

Credit line

Rights

attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other

1978.59

Ceramic

Diameter: 14.1 cm (5 9/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); Overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.); Diameter of foot: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other

1946.217

Watercolor and gouache with touches of gold

Sheet: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund

attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510-1555) and 1 other

1988.96

Opaque watercolor, ink, gold, and silver on paper

Sheet: 47.5 x 32.2 cm (18 11/16 x 12 11/16 in.); Image: 28.4 x 18.5 cm (11 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906-2008) and 1 other after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other Louise Bourgeois (American, 1911-2010) Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983) attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other

after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other

Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906-2008) and 1 other

Louise Bourgeois (American, 1911-2010)

attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510-1555) and 1 other

Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983)

Title, Date

Artist / Culture

Accession number

Medium

Dimensions

Credit line

Rights

attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other

1978.59

Ceramic

Diameter: 14.1 cm (5 9/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); Overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.); Diameter of foot: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other

1946.217

Watercolor and gouache with touches of gold

Sheet: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund

attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510-1555) and 1 other

1988.96

Opaque watercolor, ink, gold, and silver on paper

Sheet: 47.5 x 32.2 cm (18 11/16 x 12 11/16 in.); Image: 28.4 x 18.5 cm (11 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906-2008) and 1 other Louise Bourgeois (American, 1911-2010) attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other

after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other

Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906-2008) and 1 other

Louise Bourgeois (American, 1911-2010)

attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510-1555) and 1 other

Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983)

Title, Date

Artist / Culture

Accession number

Medium

Dimensions

Credit line

Rights

attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other

1978.59

Ceramic

Diameter: 14.1 cm (5 9/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); Overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.); Diameter of foot: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other

1946.217

Watercolor and gouache with touches of gold

Sheet: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund

attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510-1555) and 1 other

1988.96

Opaque watercolor, ink, gold, and silver on paper

Sheet: 47.5 x 32.2 cm (18 11/16 x 12 11/16 in.); Image: 28.4 x 18.5 cm (11 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906-2008) and 1 other Louise Bourgeois (American, 1911-2010) attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c.

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Contemporary Art in 60 Seconds: The Figure

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Contemporary Art in 60 Seconds: The Figure

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Contemporary Art in 60 Seconds: The Figure

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Desktop Dialogue: Care and Curatorial Practice: A Conversation with La Tanya Autry

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Desktop Dialogue: Care and Curatorial Practice: A Conversation with La Tanya Autry

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Desktop Dialogue: Care and Curatorial Practice: A Conversation with La Tanya Autry

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Take a moment to understand the point of view of Robert S. Duncan in a painting he created during the years of the Civil War.

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Ancient history can seem otherworldly or irrelevant in our modern and technological times, in this activities students get to explore the humanity of ancient cultures.

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How do artist connect culture and contemporary events? How does music communicate messages? Use this flip grid activity to explore those questions and more.

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What value do cultural items outside of their original use and function bring to museums and museum audiences, and who gets to make the decisions of how objects from other cultures get into the museum? This activity will encourage students to think deeply about ideas of equity, inclusion, and whose voices we hear.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other

after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other

Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906-2008) and 1 other

Louise Bourgeois (American, 1911-2010)

attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510-1555) and 1 other

Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983)

Title, Date

Artist / Culture

Accession number

Medium

Dimensions

Credit line

Rights

attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other

1978.59

Ceramic

Diameter: 14.1 cm (5 9/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); Overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.); Diameter of foot: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other

1946.217

Watercolor and gouache with touches of gold

Sheet: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund

attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510-1555) and 1 other

1988.96

Opaque watercolor, ink, gold, and silver on paper

Sheet: 47.5 x 32.2 cm (18 11/16 x 12 11/16 in.); Image: 28.4 x 18.5 cm (11 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund

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attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505-460 BC) and 1 other after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) and 1 other Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906-2008) and 1 other Louise Bourgeois (American, 1911-2010) attributed to Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c.

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African Master Carvers: Nine  sculptors of traditional African artworks rise from anonymity

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African Master Carvers: Nine  sculptors of traditional African artworks rise from anonymity

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Constantine Petridis Former Curator of African Art

Forehead mask (Munyangi or Kindjinga) before 1958. Carved by the (Eastern) Pende artist Kiyova (dates unknown). Democratic Republic of the Congo, West Kasai region, Luaya-Ndambo village. Wood, pigment, fabric, fiber, ram's hair; h. 20 cm. Private collection. Photo: © Christie's

Traditional African arts in collections and museum exhibitions in Europe and the United States are generally ascribed to an unknown or unidentified artist or, more commonly, to a culture or people. Typically, few if any artists' names are associated with an object. In fact, merely a handful of the Cleveland Museum of Art's more than 300 African holdings can be associated with some certainty to named individuals. Of course this does not mean that the people who used the works did not know their makers' identity. The alleged anonymity of these artists is largely the result of the limited interest on the part of mostly non-African collectors. This has much to do with the fact that when the works were first acquired and exhibited, they were not considered to be art but instead seen as exotic curiosities or, at best, crafts. As an antidote to the numbers of unidentified artists presented in the majority of African art publications and exhibitions, African Master Carvers: Known and Famous celebrates the careers and oeuvres of nine sculptors who were locally recognized and even praised during their lifetime.

Helmet mask (Epa Orangun) presumably c. 1920. Carved by the Yoruba artist Bamgboye (1893-1978). Nigeria, Ekiti region, Odo-Owa village. Wood, pigment; h. 137.2 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund and Gift of Mary Grant Price, 1991.165

A few early scholars of African art devoted some interest to the life and work of the artists they met during field research in the 1930s, but sustained interest in the subject did not start until the 1950s and '60s. Unfortunately, by then, detailed information on many artists of the past had been irretrievably lost. However, in the absence of signed works, scholars of African art have adopted a method common in the study of ancient Greek, medieval, and early Renaissance art, which consists of identifying an artist's hand by analyzing stylistic features. Through meticulous description and comparison of anatomical details such as eyes, ears, and hands, they have been able to attribute specific works to individual artists to whom they assigned nicknames or so-called names of convenience, several examples of which are included in the exhibition. Most often, these nicknames refer to the location where the alleged master was believed to have been active. Lacking any geographical reference, still other hands are named after a characteristic formal or iconographical feature, such as the "Baboon Master" for Cleveland's magnificent staff by an anonymous artist of the Tsonga or Zulu culture of Southern Africa.

Staff (Induku) (detail) presumably c. 1900. Carved by an unidentified Tsonga or Zulu artist, nicknamed the "Baboon Master." South Africa or Mozambique. Wood, pigment, pokerwork; h. 120.7 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2010.204

African Master Carvers features four sculptures on loan from the Indianapolis Museum of Art and two privately owned masterpieces alongside nine works from the CMA collection. Works carved in wood and ivory by artists of various sub-Saharan cultures illustrate the wide-ranging individuality of the artistic legacy of the African continent. Because of the persisting Euro-American preference for three-dimensional objects in durable materials, the exhibition's selection of objects focuses on male artists. Three of the best-known master carvers presented in the exhibition were members of the Yoruba culture in Nigeria. One of the most prominent historical Yoruba artists is a man called Bamgboye (1893-1978), who lived in the Ekiti region in northeastern Yorubaland. The Cleveland Museum of Art's monumental helmet mask that was formerly in the collection of American horror film actor Vincent Price is generally considered to be among Bamgboye's most virtuosic and exuberant realizations of the Epa mask genre. His contemporary Agbonbiofe (died 1945)-who carved the female figure with a bowl on loan from a private collection-was the leading exponent of the Adesina family in the same Ekiti region. He exhibited a radically different style in works that are admired for their self-contained, quiet mood.

Today, the presumed anonymity of the makers of several of the works included in the exhibition can be firmly refuted. However, while some documentation has been gathered on the biographies and methods of a number of other sub-Saharan artists, our general knowledge remains quite superficial. Unfortunately it will most likely be impossible to retrieve the names of most of the makers of the thousands of African artworks that appear in publications and collections around the world. Yet, it is important to remember an observation by renowned art historian and curator Susan Mullin Vogel in her article "Known Artists but Anonymous Works" in the journal African Arts (Spring 1999, page 40): in its original African context, authorship is seldom seen as a significant attribute of the work of art. Indeed, because these objects often become animate and empowered, for African audiences and users the person who consecrates them is usually more important than the person who creates them. Consequently, the names of other individuals, such as owners and patrons, are frequently more readily remembered than those of artists.

Female figure with a bowl (Olumeye) before 1945. Carved by the Yoruba artist Agbonbiofe (died 1945). Nigeria, Ekiti region, Efon-Alaiye village. Wood, pigment; h 36.8 cm. Collection of Laura and James J. Ross, New York. Photo: © John Bigelow Taylor

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Constantine Petridis Former Curator of African Art Forehead mask (Munyangi or Kindjinga) before 1958. Carved by the (Eastern) Pende artist Kiyova (dates unknown). Democratic Republic of the Congo, West Kasai region, Luaya-Ndambo village. Wood, pigment, fabric, fiber, ram's hair; h. 20 cm. Private collection.

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Creative Heritage: Wadsworth and  Jae Jarrell continue to create work that reflects their African roots

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Creative Heritage: Wadsworth and  Jae Jarrell continue to create work that reflects their African roots

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Reto Thüring Curator of Contemporary Art
Nalani Dowling Director's Fellow, Summer 2017

Frock You 1994. Jae Jarrell (American, b. 1935). Wool, wood, mixed media; 186.7 x 123.2 x 15.2 cm. Collection of the artist. © Jae Jarrell

The work of Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell exists simultaneously within two spheres, serving as stunning visual objects and as vessels for communicating strong sociopolitical messages. In 1968 the newly wed Jae and Wadsworth founded the collective AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) with Jeff Donaldson, Barbara J. Jones, and Gerald Williams. Headquartered in Chicago, the group gathered in Wadsworth's studio, uniting around a specific objective: to develop an approach to art that was separate from the dominant, Eurocentric, and marginalizing standards. They sought to create work from a distinct perspective, one intrinsically tied to their background as African Americans.

In a country during a time when the prevailing sentiment remained largely anti-black, AfriCOBRA told the world about the power, persistence, and beauty of African heritage. That mission is one that the Jarrells stand by to this day. Although the husband and wife of 50 years have lived throughout the United States, they now call Cleveland home (the city is Jae's birthplace), living and working in the historic Glenville neighborhood only a mile from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Inspired by the museum's recent acquisition of Heritage, a seminal painting by Wadsworth, Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell features more than a dozen dynamic works by both artists from the mid-1960s to now, a stunning array of colorful paintings, sculptures, and textiles that illustrate the couple's keen ability to incite change and to deliver a potent message through visual art.

Heritage 1973. Wadsworth Jarrell (American, b. 1929). Acrylic, metal foil, cotton canvas; 120.6 x 76.2 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 2016.268. © Wadsworth Jarrell

But what does heritage look like for African Americans? Jae views African heritage as a "grandparent overseeing young upstarts." This mentality is evident in both artists' work throughout their individual careers. During the 1960s and '70s, when racial tensions ran high, for AfriCOBRA the arts served as a methodical tool for restoration and rejuvenation within black communities. Their work used visual culture like an instrument, playing songs about strong black families, civil rights activists, and African American cultural icons. Their work proclaimed that African Americans would no longer tolerate the demoralizing depictions and racial rejection that clouded the truth of their intellectual and social contributions. In the words of Wadsworth, "African people are the forerunners, innovators, creators" and "the hip." These concepts resonate in his work, aptly titled Heritage, in the museum's collection. The dazzling painting implements key elements of AfriCOBRA's carefully formulated aesthetic: vivid "cool-ade colors," free symmetry, dynamically lettered messages, and shiny layers of metallic foil.

Music is extremely important, not only within the context of African American heritage, but for the artists themselves. Even as Wadsworth began to artistically explore outside the AfriCOBRA guidelines, music genres such as jazz remained a key factor in his work. In fact, the same qualities and influence are seen in the work of both artists. For example, Jae's passion for textile design is exemplified in Scramble Jacket, a meticulously crafted garment that lists the names of black musicians in the style of a crossword puzzle. Beautifully intricate, her work melds images, objects, fabric, and form within striking textiles and sculptures that reflect the rhythms she experiences from African art. More recently, she has approached her work from a broader standpoint, extending beyond the human form. By embedding handmade garments within larger sculptural forms, she constructs a new three-dimensional perspective.

The Jarrells' work demonstrates how African American heritage marries the experiences and history of black people in the United States with the influence and essence of their African roots. As Jae states, both of them are "dealing with cultural references, finding our beginnings, appreciating the preservation of our ancestors, and just seeing the beauty in incorporating that in our work." Today, the couple has expanded beyond the specific parameters of AfriCOBRA, though they will always consider the group as family.

Portrait of Jae 1966. Wadsworth Jarrell. Oil on canvas; 73.8 x 50.8 x 2 cm. Collection of the artist. © Wadsworth Jarrell

Cleveland Art, November/December 2017

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Reto Thüring Curator of Contemporary Art Nalani Dowling Director's Fellow, Summer 2017 Frock You 1994. Jae Jarrell (American, b. 1935). Wool, wood, mixed media; 186.7 x 123.2 x 15.2 cm. Collection of the artist. © Jae Jarrell The work of Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell exists simultaneously within two spheres, serving as stunning visual objects and as vessels for communicating strong sociopolitical messages.

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Fragments of the Invisible: Celebrating a transformative acquisition of African art

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Fragments of the Invisible: Celebrating a transformative acquisition of African art

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Constantine Petridis Curator of African Art

Figure Couple late 1800s-early 1900s. Democratic Republic of the Congo, probably Ngbandi people. Wood, copper, glass beads, iron, fabric; H. 45 and 41 cm. René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2010.459.1-2

In icon of northwestern Congo's Ubangi region, this figure couple of presumed Ngbandi origin (left) is one of 34 works of Central African art from the private collection of René and Odette Delenne in Brussels that the Cleveland Museum of Art acquired through partial gift in 2010. Truly transformative, the addition of this group of Congo sculptures to the museum's collection has not only increased its permanent African holdings by more than 10 percent, it has also placed our Central African collection on equal footing with the best museum collections of this kind in North America.

Celebrating the acquisition of the Delenne collection of Congo sculpture and honoring the memory of Odette and René Delenne-who passed away in 2012 and 1998, respectively- Fragments of the Invisible also explores a theme that resonates widely throughout the museum's collections: the fragment. Not only does the exhibition address the fragment in purely material terms, it also examines its contextual ramifications.

African objects kept in the West are often physically quite different from how they appeared in their original context of use. Damage and deterioration, including breakage and surface erosion, can be intentional or accidental and may be the result of repeated handling or extended exposure to the elements. While in use in Africa, however, objects also often undergo transformations in meaning and function which are typically manifested by changes in their appearance. Most striking in this regard is the accumulation or accretion of added materials to a work's surface resulting from its application in rituals and ceremonies. Such additions may include accessories and ornaments of all kinds as well as coverings of mostly organic materials such as chewed kola nuts or mud in a multitude of combinations.

Male Figure early 1800s-early 1900s. Songye people, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wood and various other materials; H. 64 cm. René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2010.451

Male Figure early 1800s-early 1900s. Probably Vili people, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cabinda, or Republic of the Congo. Wood and various other materials; H. 42 cm. René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2010.433

The archetypal power figure, once inaccurately labeled as "fetish" but now more commonly referred to by its vernacular name, is perhaps the best-known African expression of this concept of accumulation. Especially prevalent in the vast Congo Basin region of Central Africa, it is well represented in the exhibition through a number of examples from the Kongo and Songye peoples. Though Fragments of the Invisible includes some rather well-preserved power figures, such as a medium-sized Songye nkishi, as it is locally known, over time many such power figures have lost most or all of their external accoutrements and accessories, and as a result appear quite naked in the context of a museum or private collection in the West when compared to their original appearance.

However, more than from their accumulative or composite look, Central African power figures derive much of their capacity to mediate between the worlds of humans and spirits from the ingredients contained within certain body cavities. Inserted in a hollow within the head, abdomen, rectum, or other body part, these substances procure the sculptures their supernatural efficacy. Yet many power figures in collections and exhibitions lack any of the ingredients that once empowered them. Thus, at some point in its history, the finial of the ivory scepter of possible Yombe origin also would have been packed with a resin-covered conglomerate of substances. The "undressing" or "emptying" of power figures may result from their continuous manipulation and the hazards of their transportation from Africa to Europe or America, but is sometimes caused by deliberate acts of desacralization or disempowerment on the part of their original users.

Scepter early 1800s-early 1900s. Democratic Republic of the Congo (most likely), Cabinda, or Republic of the Congo, probably Yombe people. Ivory; H. 28 cm. René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2010.447

The adjective fragmentary also pertains to many works of African art as they are kept and displayed in museum galleries or the homes of private collectors such as the Delennes. Indeed, in their original African settings, rarely are figure sculptures looked at on their own but more typically are part of a group of related objects and experienced together as an ensemble. Rather than being exhibited and perceived as stationary objects in a display case or on a pedestal, they most often appear in motion and in conjunction with other forms of artistic expression, including music and song or recitation. This dynamic character of African art and its integrated nature are of critical importance in African festivals and masquerades.

There is also a metaphysical side to the contextual application of fragmentary to the arts of Africa. Indeed most African figures, masks, and other forms of artistic expression relate to the invisible world of spirits. Whether these spiritual entities are ancestors, deities, or more abstract forces, most typically they are represented by or rather embodied in the works in question, which helps explain the abstraction characteristic of so many African works of art. This is especially true of masks, including the helmet mask that was once associated with the Suku people's puberty rituals for boys (see page 3). Though in reality the audience will know the actual human identity of the wearer, everything possible is done to make outsiders believe that the masquerader is a spirit being. In addition to giving the spirits a visual and tangible material form, masks as well as power figures specifically serve as conduits between the world of the living and the realm of the spirits.

Odette and René Delenne on their wedding day. Ixelles (Elsene), Belgium, December 2, 1958. Photographer unknown. Delenne Family Archives

Fully aware of the deep spiritual references of African art but equally sensitive to its universal aesthetic qualities, Odette Delenne was thrilled when she found the Cleveland Museum of Art willing to become the new home for her Congo sculptures. In doing so, she fulfilled her wish to preserve as a lasting legacy the integrity of the core of the African art collection she and her husband had assembled and cherished over many decades. However, her choice to transfer the collection to an art museum in this country, rather than to see it integrated into one of the ethnography museums in Belgium, was guided first and foremost by the fact that the Delennes considered African art equal to the art from any other part of the world, a philosophy which the Cleveland Museum of Art has endorsed ever since its inception in 1913.

Cleveland Art, September/October 2013

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Constantine Petridis Curator of African Art Figure Couple late 1800s-early 1900s. Democratic Republic of the Congo, probably Ngbandi people. Wood, copper, glass beads, iron, fabric; H. 45 and 41 cm. René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr.

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The New Black Vanguard: Photography between art and fashion

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The New Black Vanguard: Photography between art and fashion

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The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion

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The men and women whose artworks are on view in the exhibition create in vastly different contexts, from New York and Johannesburg to Lagos and London. They have been featured in traditional lifestyle magazines, ad campaigns, and museums, as well as on their individual social media channels.

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Black in America: Two photographers-one black, one white look at life during the civil rights era

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Black in America: Two photographers-one black, one white look at life during the civil rights era

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Barbara Tannenbaum Curator of Photography

Summer, New York 1961. Louis Draper (American, 1935-2002). Gelatin silver print; 27.9 x 35.6 cm. Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill, Art Purchase Endowment Fund, 2016.272. © Louis H. Draper Preservation Trust

"The life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination," observed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963. "One hundred years after the abolition of slavery, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity." Black in America presents two views of African American daily life during the civil rights era through the photographs of Louis Draper, a black fine art photographer, and Leonard Freed, a white photojournalist. The exhibition premieres a number of recent acquisitions, including the purchase of five photographs by each artist and the generous gift of 17 images by Freed from New York collectors Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg.

Freed and Draper's works responded to a shift during the 1960s in the nature and frequency of photographic depictions of African Americans. Governmental social documentary projects of the 1930s included African Americans, but often focused on the poorest blacks and tended to portray them as helpless victims. Starting in the late 1950s, newspapers, magazines, and television news disseminated images of blacks peacefully and bravely demonstrating for civil rights, and of the violent repression of some of those protests. Such coverage emphasized the drama of this struggle but revealed little about the daily life and culture of African Americans. Draper and Freed sought to fill that vacuum.

Harlem, New York 1963. Leonard Freed (American, 1929-2006). Gelatin silver print; 24.8 x 16.5 cm. Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2016.275. Leonard Freed / Magnum Photos

Draper grew up in segregated Richmond, Virginia, and moved to New York City to study photography in 1957. He became a fine art photographer who supported himself through commercial work, film production, and teaching. The profession helped Draper "to realize that what I felt had worth; that I could make strong statements about the world in visual terms and that often these images did in fact move people emotionally. I had power . . . [which] was given to me for the purpose of sharing."(1) His personal work, shot mostly in Harlem and around New York City, includes reflective and penetrating portraits, street photography, and abstractions.

Seeking an ongoing forum for dialogue with other photographers, in 1963 Draper cofounded Kamoinge, an important collective of African American photographers that continues to this day. Among the group's concerns was to define a black aesthetic in photography. "I think it requires an investigation into the nature of what it means to be black, and a translation of that into optical terms," Draper proposed during a 1972 roundtable with other Kamoinge artists.(2) He explored black and white film's range of grays and blacks as both formal and expressive devices. Shirtless Boy, New York, circa 1965, sets dark skin against a black background. Sparse highlights economically convey the boy's personality and mood. His expression and torqued pose suggest pent-up energy and a magnetic presence. Draper masterfully turned a spontaneous shot of a stranger into a penetrating character study.

Freed, born to Jewish working-class parents in Brooklyn, started out to be a painter but ended up a documentary photographer and photojournalist. He worked internationally as a freelance photojournalist from 1961 until 1972, when he joined Magnum, the celebrated collaborative photo agency. In 1961, while covering the construction of the Berlin Wall, Freed photographed an African American soldier guarding the border. Struck by the fact that this man was risking his life to defend a country that limited his own rights, Freed returned to America and undertook a multiyear project photographing black life. He began with African American neighborhoods around New York City, then traveled extensively throughout the South. An outsider, Freed tried to spend time in a community getting to know his subjects, and kept a journal recording their stories and words. The result was an influential book published in 1968, Black in White America, that strove to document a culture and to raise public awareness of the inequalities it had to endure.

Shirtless Boy, New York c. 1965. Louis Draper. Gelatin silver print; 29.4 x 21.4 cm. Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund, 2016.273. © Louis H. Draper Preservation Trust

As a photojournalist, Freed emphasized storytelling and a sense of place in his pictures. Compare Draper's character study with Freed's Harlem, New York, of 1963, which depicts a thin boy flexing his biceps, echoing the sturdier male arm at the right. The angles made by the arms and their relationship to the picture plane produce a compositional torsion similar to that in Draper's photograph. But while Draper concentrated on the individual's personality, Freed suggested a narrative of male bonding, competition, and the definition of masculinity and adulthood. Both artists were incredibly talented formalists who put that skill at the service of expression. They also shared a goal: to create dignified depictions of African Americans that portrayed them not as archetypal victims or heroes but as individuals.

Notes
1. Louis Draper papers, box 1, folder 5; quoted in Gary Saretzky, "Louis H. Draper: An Introduction," in Louis H. Draper: Selected Photo-graphs, ed. Margaret M. O'Reilly (Rochester, NY: Booksmart Studio, 2015), 1.
2. Tony Eaton, Ray Gibson, Beuford Smith, and Louis Draper, "A Rap on Photography," Black Creation 3 (Summer 1972): 6; quoted in Saretzky, 11.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is pleased to present this exhibition as part of the year-long, community-wide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Carl Stokes's election as mayor of Cleveland. Mayor Stokes and his brother, Congressman Louis Stokes, played key roles in the advancement of the city and the nation during the civil rights movement and beyond. For more information, visit stokes50cle.com.

Children in the Mirror, Johns Island, South Carolina 1964. Leonard Freed. Gelatin silver print; 23.8 x 29.8 cm. Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg, 2016.282. Leonard Freed / Magnum Photos

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Barbara Tannenbaum Curator of Photography Summer, New York 1961. Louis Draper (American, 1935-2002). Gelatin silver print; 27.9 x 35.6 cm. Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill, Art Purchase Endowment Fund, 2016.272. © Louis H. Draper Preservation Trust "The life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination," observed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Contemporary Africa Art: Two new works add a twist to canonical forms

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Contemporary Africa Art: Two new works add a twist to canonical forms

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Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi Curator of African Art

Totem 01/01-18 (Baga-Batcham: Alunga-Kota) 2018. Hervé Youmbi (Cameroonian, b. 1973). Wood, beads, glue, silicon mastic; 188 x 53 x 38 cm. Purchase from the Karl B. Goldfield Trust, 2018.5

Contemporary art speaks with an active voice. Its "present tense-ness" appeals to museum audiences, capturing and reflecting our immediate world. At the same time, contemporary art can revitalize or cast critical light on historical art. Works by contemporary African artists are no exception: they reflect how African people living both on and outside the continent engage with the world and think about the relationship between the present and the past. In other words, African art is not only about its historical canon.

Two recent acquisitions, conspicuously displayed in the center of the African gallery, orchestrate a dialogue between the old and the new. Totem 01/01-18 (Baga-Batcham-Alunga-Kota) is the first completed piece in the new Totems series by Douala-based Cameroonian artist Hervé Youmbi. Standing more than six feet high, the sculpture consists of masks and forms carved in canonical styles. Two abutting Kota-Mahongwe reliquary figures from Gabon sit atop an impressive tsesah crest, often called a Batcham mask in reference to the area of the Cameroon Grassfields where the earliest example was collected. The back of the crest bears a section of the four-sided initiation mask of the Bembe people's Alunga society of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A Janus-faced Baga headdress of the countries of Guinea and Guinea-Bissau sits solidly at the base of the superstructure. Carved from a single block of wood, the sculpture is covered with a delicate mix of white, yellow, black, and red beads that elicits harmony and contrasts. Alternating bands of yellow and black beads gesture to the copper and brass strips that would have respectively covered the face of the original Kota-Mahongwe figures and the upper grooves in the crest.

As a composition, Totem 01/01-18 narrates the cycle of life-birth, growth, and the journey into the ancestral realm. Originally the Kota guardian figures, such as the Obamba example also on display in the African gallery, were attached to baskets that bore ancestral relics, symbolizing passage to the next world. Among the Bembe, a male secret society used the Alunga mask in the context of initiation and rites of passage to mark the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The mask is painted in contrasting colors of white and black, its owl-like visage alluding to the omniscient world of spirits and ancestors. With its incredible volume, scale, and imposing features, the regal Bamileke tsesah crest embodies high status, authority, and royal power. It was danced to mark important events in Western Cameroon such as the coronation of a new king or the funeral of a person of rank. Borne on the shoulder in traditional settings and danced to herald the farming season, the Baga mask represents a nurturing woman, fertility, and growth.

Twilight of the Idols (Fetish) 3 2005. Kendell Geers (South African, b. 1968). Chevron tape on lost object, nails; 140 x 43 x 39 cm. Sundry Art-Contemporary Fund, 2018.4. © Kendell Geers

Twilight of the Idols (Fetish) 3 by South African-born conceptual artist Kendell Geers is the largest of the ten works in his acclaimed Twilight of the Idols series (2002-8). Geers has had a long-standing fascination with historical African art, and he developed an interest in Christian icons in the early 1990s while living in Johannesburg. This was the beginning of an enduring attempt to reconcile his European-Calvinist heritage with his African roots. But it was in Brussels, where Geers has lived since 2000, that he developed a more robust vocabulary and sophisticated approach in his examination of canonical African art.

For Twilight of the Idols (Fetish) 3, Geers appropriated a Kongo nkisi nkondi power figure that he found at a Brussels flea market. Typically, nkisi figures were used as protective totems to ward off malevolent spirits, to prevent or cure illness, and to hunt down persons with intention to cause harm. The nails mark the number of times that the object was ritually activated when still in use. Geers refers to such decommissioned or inactive figures as "lost" objects because, disconnected from their original context, they have lost their efficacy. He wrapped this figure with red-and-white chevron tape-the South African equivalent of the yellow-and-black caution tape used in the United States to demarcate a crime scene. Such tape simultaneously signals danger and acts as a shield from it. Geers's use of the term "fetish" in the title deliberately evokes colonial prejudices-notably primitivism-associated with African art. In his reference to Kongolese art, avidly acquired today by museums and collectors throughout the world, Geers inverts the conventional understanding of the "fetish" by highlighting the desirability of African art to Western collectors who fetishize it.

As the imposing Totem 01/01-18 and Twilight of the Idols (Fetish) 3 demonstrate, contemporary African artists continue to draw from historical African art forms as idioms of expression, refashioning them to reflect present reality. Both works help to broaden the scope and understanding of African art and provide a compelling story about the continued relevance of long-standing artistic traditions. Their radiating presence reenergizes the surrounding historical objects, breathing new life into the African gallery.

Cleveland Art, September/October 2018

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Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi Curator of African Art Totem 01/01-18 (Baga-Batcham: Alunga-Kota) 2018. Hervé Youmbi (Cameroonian, b. 1973). Wood, beads, glue, silicon mastic; 188 x 53 x 38 cm. Purchase from the Karl B. Goldfield Trust, 2018.5 Contemporary art speaks with an active voice. Its "present tense-ness" appeals to museum audiences, capturing and reflecting our immediate world.

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Second Careers: Repurposed objects reflect the cultural strategies connecting the historical and contemporary African art

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Second Careers: Repurposed objects reflect the cultural strategies connecting the historical and contemporary African art

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Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi Former Curator of African Art

Male Figure late 1800s-early 1900s. Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Songye people. Wood, glass beads, brass (including upholstery studs), copper alloy, iron alloy, raffia, reedbuck antelope horn, rawhide, animal hair, human teeth, organic material, minerals, and plant fibers; 64 x 24.5 x 24 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2010.451

When I arrived at the Cleveland Museum of Art in August 2017, I was under no illusion that it was important to expand the scope of the African collection to include contemporary works by African artists. Three objects were acquired to inaugurate this new direction: Totem 01/01-18 (Baga-Batcham-Alunga-Kota) (2018), a lofty combination of three distinct canonical forms in African art by Hervé Youmbi; Twilight of the Idols (Fetish) 3 (2005), an enwrapped Kongo nkisi nkondi power figure by Kendell Geers; and Sauveteur 3 (2014), a translucent sculpture that draws its visual qualities from Central Africa's power figures by Pascale Marthine Tayou. The works demonstrate how contemporary artists seek inspiration from canonical styles and forms. These two contexts of African art-historical (an area of strength of the CMA) and contemporary-are addressed in Second Careers.

The exhibition's premise is twofold. It explores the role of historical African art in the Western museum context: how the objects made their way into the museum and the expectations placed on them to educate, to act as vectors of cultural memory and history, and, ultimately, to accumulate value to the institution. Historical African artworks in the museum are stripped-down versions of their former corporeal selves. The CMA's Songye Male Figure, for example, appears without bishimba, a powerful bundle prepared by the nganga (spiritual healer) and placed on the object or in its cavity to transform the object into a power figure. Similarly, the CMA's elaborately carved Yaka "Ndeemba" mask and the Chokwe "Mwana Pwo" mask, with thick raffia and knotted fiber collars, lack the rest of the costumes worn by performers during a Yaka n-khanda initiation ceremony and by itinerant Chokwe dance performers, respectively.

Displaced from their cultures of origin, these objects and others in Second Careers-the CMA's Baule Male Figure, Babanki Prestige Chair, Yombe Mother and Child Figures, and Kuba Belt, along with Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum's Malinke Hunter's Tunic and the Brooklyn Museum's Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume -are bereft of their former capacity to be potent or functional. They are no longer able to command attention, whether as devotional objects beseeched upon to guide, protect, cure, or provide a path into the cosmic world or as masquerades in motion in the public arena. The nine historical artworks featured in this exhibition-all visually compelling and excellent examples of their types-followed different pathways into museum collections. The objects are not complete in the way they were imagined by their artists or expected to function in their communities in Africa. Instead, they have become entangled in a new set of relationships, transformed from active to sedentary agents, now to be encountered in contemplative proximity in the museum-their second career.

Untitled (Jua Kali Series) 2014. Tahir Carl Karmali (Kenyan, b. 1987). Archival pigment print; 45.7 x 30.5 cm. © Tahir Carl Karmali

The exhibition's second focus is the relationship between historical arts of Africa and modern and contemporary artistic practices. Often, the connections are muted or treated as irrelevant, especially when the emphasis becomes either on international references of contemporary art or on how a set of new practices reflect postcolonial conditions, hewing to arguments about how artistic modernism and modernity insist on a radical departure from tradition. Yet, with regard to the works of postcolonial African artists, the recuperation of indigenous artistic traditions was fundamental in the imagining of the modern. The exhibition explores tactics and strategies deployed by contemporary African artists that demonstrate their indebtedness to
these traditions.

Second Careers features the work of six leading African artists of different generations-El Anatsui (Ghana), Tahir Carl Karmali (Kenya), Gonçalo Mabunda (Mozambique), Nnenna Okore (Nigeria), Zohra Opoku (Ghana), and Elias Sime (Ethiopia). These contemporary practitioners draw on long-standing artistic principles and visual conventions. They employ a range of humble or found materials as artistic media, transforming them into compelling large-scale installations, sculptures, textiles, and photographs that address contemporary experiences in Africa and the world. Their materials-including electronic motherboards, jute sacks, discarded bottle caps, decommissioned weapons, and archival photographs-are emblematic of modern life in many African countries: they have symbolic and metaphorical resonance, and carry memories of previous use, which the artists extract and highlight, recalling similar strategies deployed by artists in traditional African societies in times past.

Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume (paka egúngún) c. 1920-48. Yoruba. Cotton, wool, wood, silk, synthetic textiles (including viscose rayon and acetate), indigo, and aluminum; approx. 139.7 x 15.2 x 160 cm. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Sam Hilu, 1998.125

In the hands of the six artists featured in this exhibition, repurposed objects reflect conceptual strategies that connect historical and contemporary African art. They utilize such creative approaches as material accumulation and assemblage-techniques that are noticeable in the historical artworks included in Second Careers. Arguably, two established principles of African art, past and present, are that it mirrors the reality of its environment and it emphasizes the bricolage of the indigenous and the foreign to make points about timeless natural cycles (transience, decay, death, birth, rebirth), as well as fleeting political, economic, and social change. The historical artworks in the exhibition were created with a range of locally sourced and foreign materials including wood, raffia, textile, metal pins, cowrie shells, beads, and burlap, as well as vegetal, animal, and mineral substances. They are a complex representation of sociocultural norms, philosophies, artistic forms, creative processes, and material objects that the featured contemporary artists draw on in multifarious ways.

Cleveland Art, Fall 2020

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Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi Former Curator of African Art Male Figure late 1800s-early 1900s. Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Songye people. Wood, glass beads, brass (including upholstery studs), copper alloy, iron alloy, raffia, reedbuck antelope horn, rawhide, animal hair, human teeth, organic material, minerals, and plant fibers; 64 x 24.5 x 24 cm.

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Our Stories: Reflections of the African American Cultural Heritage

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Our Stories: Reflections of the African American Cultural Heritage

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Jane Glaubinger Curator of Prints

Untitled 1999. Martin Puryear (American, b. 1941). Etching with chine collé; 45.3 x 60.5 cm. John L. Severance Fund 2003.17

African American artists possess a unique perspective on their birthplace. Influenced by their heritage, black artists such as Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Charles White often examined the frustrations, aspirations, and ideals of a people seeking opportunity and equality. Catlett, three of whose grandparents worked as slaves, explained that her purpose was "to present black people in their beauty and dignity for ourselves and others to understand and enjoy and to exhibit my work where black people can visit and find art to which they can relate." Like many African American artists she portrayed the downtrodden as a source of validation and strength and a means toward fighting oppression.

Artists favored a straightforward, realistic approach to depict themes introduced in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, the first self-conscious cultural movement among people of color. African American history, racial pride, the effects of political and social injustice, and the struggle for freedom are some of the topics explored in powerful, compelling images. Candid portrayals of daily life include scenes that emphasize the importance of religion and music in African American culture.

Sharecropper 1952 (printed 1970). Elizabeth Catlett (American, 1915-2012). Linoleum cut; 45 x 43 cm. John L. Severance Fund 1996.289

Because racial discrimination barred African Americans from many opportunities, they often first gained access to printmaking instruction and facilities in art centers sponsored by the Works Progress Administration/Federal Arts Project, which from 1935 to 1943 provided jobs for thousands of unemployed artists. The WPA/FAP also funded the hiring of teachers at community art centers like Karamu House in Cleveland, where Elmer Brown, Charles Sallée, William Smith, and Hughie Lee-Smith taught or studied. Their work documents the hardships of the Great Depression while revealing the vitality of black communities.

Contemporary African American artists no longer rely on social realism to tell their stories, but their work continues to reflect the legacy of suffering and inequality. While Glenn Ligon and Willie Cole mine black history and literature, producing powerful and provocative images, local artist Dexter Davis divulges the effects of a childhood inundated with violence, and Lorna Simpson and Ellen Gallagher scrutinize identity issues. Kara Walker, whose complex and often ambiguous view is controversial, uses black silhouettes to explore the idea that the weak accept the strong with benign passivity.

Although cultural heritage defines the concerns of most of the artists represented in the exhibition Our Stories, other black artists have been preoccupied with mainstream aesthetic issues, experimenting with abstraction and other innovative styles. Norman Lewis and Beauford Delaney, for instance, were making nonrepresentational works by the mid-1940s when Abstract Expressionism was also developing. Today Martin Puryear, primarily a sculptor, etches organic shapes similar to his constructions, while Clarence Morgan's prints reflect a totally intuitive approach.

Cleveland Art, March/April 2014

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Jane Glaubinger Curator of Prints Untitled 1999. Martin Puryear (American, b. 1941). Etching with chine collé; 45.3 x 60.5 cm. John L. Severance Fund 2003.17 African American artists possess a unique perspective on their birthplace.