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July 24, 2005 For a wide-eyed
10-year-old Amalia Amaki=
,
opening night of the Atlanta University Annuals carried the frisson of the
Oscars. =
"The
openings were exciting," recalls Amaki, =
an =
Only as
an adult did Amaki, 56, realize that she had
participated in history. Those juried competitions, founded in 1942 and
continuing until 1970, were the first forums that allowed black artists to
show, validate and sell their work. Shut out of the mainstream in segrega=
ted =
Not
surprisingly, the Annuals attracted the best and brightest. Amaki remembers meeting artists such as Jacob Lawre=
nce
and Lois Mailou Jones. These events drew the =
black
cultural elite as well. Thinker Alain Locke spoke at the first Annual, wh=
ich
Time magazine saw fit to cover. Poet Langston Hughes was a regular. Amaki has curated "Dark
Roots" at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia as "a remin=
der
show," she says, to speak to the role =
Mounted
in conjunction with the National Black Arts Festival, "Dark Roots&qu=
ot;
isn't the only exhibit currently examining this fertile chapter of =
But
first, "Dark Roots" . . . Amaki wanted to suggest the character of the Annuals by
showing a cross-section of participants. To represent those who were feat=
ured
in the Annuals but didn't win purchase awards, she augmented the show with
works from Atlantan Paul R. Jones' collection=
and
the =
Despite
a gallery devoted to abstraction, the figure dominates the show. The lead=
ers
of the "New Negro Movement" had exhorted artists to stop mimick=
ing
European traditions and start representing their own roots and culture. O=
ne
way to combat blackface was the depiction of black faces such as "Ne=
gro
Woman," whose African features Elizabeth Catlett proudly carved in w=
ood.
Another was for artists to tell stories of their own people. Although vis=
ions
of black life encompassed the joyful jitterbuggers
of William Hayden's 1950 painting "Saturday Night Function," a
suggestion of suffering pervades the AU selections. It is evident in the
group of sculptures at the entrance -- figures curled into fetal position=
s --
and in the pained expressions and poverty of the couple clinging to each
other in Charles White's oil "Two Alone." =
Stefanie
Jackson's etching "Feast for Ancestral Spirits" represents the
continuation of "New Negro" principles in the generation that
participated in the Atlanta Life Annuals. =
"Dark
Roots" is installed with an eye to visual coherence rather than
chronology. For a slice of time, and a more provocative look at the Atlan=
ta
University Annuals, visit "In the Eyes of the Jury" at Clark
Atlanta University Galleries. Taking a postmodern approach, director Tina
Dunkley reassembles the prize-winning pieces from 1952 and '53 and poses
questions about the possible biases and predilections that led to their
selections. =
It's
easy to second-guess a jury. The history of competitions is littered with
winners now relegated to obscurity and losers (Manet=
,
anyone?) elevated to the pantheon. Perhaps the jury of '52 was guilty of
conservatism when it chose Lois Mailou Jones'
academic watercolor depicting a French town rather than her Afrocentric painting "Fetishes," now owne=
d by
the = Perhaps. Or could it be, as Dunkley seems to infer, that racism and sexism affected the selection process? The possibility is hardly shocking. Most of us, ev= en the most well-intentioned, are products of our time. More surprising and saddening, is the fact that despite the self-empowering purpose of the AU Annuals, its organizers still looked to the white world for validation. <= o:p> =
Even so,
the story of the annual competition exhibitions is a proud chapter in the
history of African-American art. The Annuals nurtured artists and collect=
ors.
They helped make =
Award
winner Elizabeth Catlett's "Negro Woman." =
Photo =
"To
the Future" by Charles White was an audience pick at the 1953 AU
Annuals. =
Photo =
Jacob
Lawrence's "Praying Ministers" was lent by the =
Photo =
Lev T.
Mills' "Gemini I" is on display at =
Graphic =
VISUAL
ART =
"Dark
Roots: The =
Through
Sept. 17. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. =
"In
the Eyes of the Jury" =
Noon-4
p.m. today. and Sept. 6-Dec. 16. Clark Atlanta
University Galleries. Trevor Arnett Hall,
Copyright 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
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