Myrna Colley-Lee was a collector of art who traveled the world to enhance her collection. She was a pioneer of Black Theater and Costume design and established the SonEdna organization that promotes literary arts. Reflections is a personal story of her discovery of African-American life and community; including 50 works of art including painting, paper, photography and fabric. The works are on tour from 2013 to 2015 (International Arts and Artists, 2013).
One of the more interesting works in this collection was Barefoot Prophet by James Van Der Zee. This is a silver gelatin print from 1929, an older style of photography. Van Der Zee (1886=1983) was an African-American photographer best known from his portraits of New Yorkers. He was active in the Harlem Renaissance, the resurgence of Black artistry during the 1920s-1940s in New York City. He was known for experimenting with double exposures, retouching negatives and the manipulation of Black middle class familieis -- often combining several photos in one image that created a ghostly presence that suggested more than a single photography. He noted. "I wanted to make the camera take what I thought should be there" (McCollum, 2012).
His portrait, Barefoot Prophet, was striking first because of its extremely interesting subject matter and composition. From an objective viewpoint, we see a Black...
Splashes of color like red and several shades of blue are added to the collage in a "dragonfly, wing-like" formation. A cutout photograph of a boy is pasted on the "wing" of a lighter shade of blue, perhaps to note a sense of calm to his surroundings. The Hawkins' exhibit will consist of 80 objects, a retrospective of his nearly a quarter of a century career. The work is described
The "self-portraits" might perhaps be viewed in terms of the artist's own past illnesses: At 37, Taylor-Woods, having already survived both colon cancer and breast cancer, likely understands, on personal level, the state of "suspense" between sickness and health, life and death. She may, then, have been "bound" to breast cancer (the invisible ropes may symbolize the disease), cured of it, and her body "released to freedom." In my opinion,
Art Movements Cubism vs. Futurism Futurism Futurism was an Italian movement originated in early 20th century. It was artistic and social movement targeted to mass urban population. Futuristic was focused on transforming the mindset of society from political thinking to more rational, conscious and close to humanity mental perspective. Futurism movement has traces of modern life and comprehensive renewal of human sensibility brought by modern science. Futurist's art work is presented in
21st Century Art Themes The theme for the recently completed exhibition at The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City entitled Making/Breaking: New Arrivals, is innovation. Each of the pieces on display in this exhibit showcase novel concepts related to design, usage, and functionality of an assortment of objects. One of the best examples of this fact is found in Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket with Jacquard by Google. There
Age of Extremes The Rise of the Revolutionary Arts The chapter under review is set in the context of the troubled times that Eric Hobsbawm describes in his book "The Age of Extremities" -- a time which saw two world wars, the greatest economic depressions in world history and the communist revolution in Russia and elsewhere. There was an environment of revolution in Europe and elsewhere -- in India for example where
Admittedly, these two teams were faced with a daunting challenge in acquiring and interpreting those works of art that were most appropriate for their exhibition goals, and interpretive efforts must use some framework in which to present the resources in a fashion that can be understood and appreciated by the targeted audiences. Nevertheless, there is little or no discussion concerning the fusion of artistic styles in the two catalogs, with
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