The Afro-American Organization presents 12 black artists from Boston : [exhibition] Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, July 20-August 31, 1969

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Lovett Thompson

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Richard Yarde

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in 2011 with funding from

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http://www.archive.org/details/afroamericanorgaOOafro

The Afro-American Organization Presents

1 2 BLACK ARTISTS FROM BOSTON

ROSE ART MUSEUM

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS

JULY 20 - AUGUST 31, 1969

This exhibition, inspired by and developed from the exhibition Local
Afro-American Artists, presented at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, shows
the work of twelve significant Black artists who are currently working in the
Boston area. These are but a few of the exciting young people who are
enriching the American scene with a hitherto untapped source of creative
energy. Here the viewer will find a great variety of artistic expression. How-
ever, there is one expression common to all of these painters and sculptors:
the effect of the Black experience on the subject matter which they have
chosen.

I am proud of the large numbers of artists who are being stimulated to
creative action by the example of these dedicated artists. I am sure that
those who view this exhibition will have a new dimension added to their
understanding of the visual arts, and consequently to their understanding of
human beings.

Elma Lewis

Director,

Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts

I can't claim any great pleasure in being involved in, and
serving as catalyst for, this art show at this point in Black
history. It unfortunately seems like too little, too late. Per-
haps this appears as a harsh statement, but when one con-
siders the caliber of some of the contributing artists, such
a show is recognized as long overdue. I do not take issue
with the Rose Art Museum, but with the American white art
world in foto. The Rose Art Museum at least has understood
that such a show is about fifty years overdue (if you don't
think we had great Black artists then, look at the work of
Henry Ossawa Tanner and compare him with Sargent!) and
acted upon this knowledge.

It is sad that this country is going into another era of
oppression, especially of new voices for change relevant to
poor Blacks and Whites. But it's a fact. Artists generally
have never received their proper due in this country. Per-
haps that is why so many resort to sensationalism and
irrelevance to make a name for themselves. Black artists,
no matter what they have accomplished, still do not receive
their due in recognition of their major contribution to the
Black arts. The greats like Charles White, Jacob Lawrence
and Romare Bearden, and local greats like John Wilson and
Calvin Burnett still have not attained the stature of a Ben
Shahn, Leonard Baskin or, locally, a Jack Wolfe. Why?
Racism, and racism alone. Someone is perpetuating the
myth that Black art is not a salable commodity: thus we
Blacks are forced to work in other areas, often for far less
than we're worth, in order to get the materials for the
survival of our families and our art. Because we must often
work forty or fifty hours in other capacities, we can put only
a part-time effort into our art, and then when we are too
overtired to give it proper attention. What a loss this has
been for our people! And the system which miseducates
our children into thinking that art is a craft, a hobby, a

plaything, deprives us of value to our community and makes
our loss double — no time to work and few to respect what
we do create. How long can this go on?

Whites do not know that there are brilliant Black artists.
Blacks never receive the education in the Black arts to know
that we exist at all, let alone are brilliant. The time we
must spend in educating them is an additional drain from
our work. But at least it's worth it to see a Black child's
eyes light up when he or she discovers a new reason for
pride in Blackness.

I deeply believe that for our four hundred years of sup-
pression of mind and body we are owed any monies necessary
to pursue our chosen profession, without having to worry
about our bills or measuring up to white aesthetic values. We
should be able to do our own thing for our people or for all
people if that is our need. Black artists, as you can see, gen-
erally produce functional art: art with a message. I guess it's
a part of our African heritage. I believe that Black art should
reflect the needs of the community and be an integral part
of the day-to-day existence of our people, relating to life
in the way our African heritage in art does. When we as
Black artists can continue that which our ancestors began
for us in Africa, when "good-hearted white liberals" under-
stand that our need as a people is not for love, compassion,
friendship or other intangibles, but for all of the food, edu-
cation, money, land, power and machinery that we are
owed, then we will have the kind of progress that will en-
able me to exhibit at the Rose Art Museum and others with
a good deal of pride.

Yours in Black Power,

Dana Chandler, Jr., Black Artist

In a recent symposium of Black artists sponsored by The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the subject of the existence of
a "Black art" was raised. The issue was not resolved, for
though all seven participants were deeply concerned with
support for Black artists and for art relevant to the Black
community, they, like artists of other groups, are indi-
vidualists in their choice of forms, subject matter and style.
That an art of Black origins, Black subjects and Black resurg-
ence should arise in this period, however, is to be expected,
welcomed and encouraged.

Unfortunately, white society has not offered equality to
Black artists. It has been denied them on every level from
subsistence and housing to education and professional op-
portunities. If those in positions of authority in museums,
galleries, universities and art schools are to invalidate the
charges that articulate spokesmen like Dana Chandler level
at us, we must repeatedly demonstrate our openness, good

faith and belief in human brotherhood. It is not enough to
accept Black artists, in our minds, on an equal and undiffer-
entiated basis. We must recognize, as we do in the great
sculpture of Africa, those beauties that are unique to Black
people. Whether we agree with all of Dana Chandler's
specifics or not, we must strive constantly to alter the struc-
ture of discrimination that has in the past denied training,
opportunity and a wide public to the Black artist.

We welcome to the Rose Art Museum this group of Boston
artists, on their own terms and without the imposition of
"white aesthetic values," and profoundly hope that they will
some day agree that the Rose Art Museum is a place where
the term "racist" does not apply.

William C. Seitz

Director, Rose Art Museum and
Poses Institute of Fine Arts

CALVIN BURNETT

Calvin Burnett was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1921. He holds degrees
from the Massachusetts College of Art, where he is now associate professor of graphic
design and from Boston University, where he is currently a doctoral candidate in
Instructional Technology. He is the author and designer of a number of books and
articles and the recipient of many awards. His one-man shows include those at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Marlboro College, Wheelock College, West
Virginia State College, the Weeden Gallery, Boston, and the Gropper Gallery, Cam-
bridge. His work has been exhibited by the Smithsonian Institution in the United States,
and has been shown in Mexico and Germany- He was selected for a State Department-
sponsored traveling exhibition.

DANA C. CHANDLER, JR.

Dana Chandler was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1941. He graduated from the
Massachusetts College of Art with a B.S. in Education in 1967. His work in the Black
community includes the illustration of many pamphlets for a number of organizations
and the painting of two murals "Walls of Respect". He has lectured throughout the
United States on "Black Revolution in Art". In addition to various group exhibitions
with Black organizations, Mr. Chandler has exhibited with the Boston Negro Artists
Association, Artists Against Racism and the War and the Lawrence Cultural Art Festival.
His major one-man exhibitions have been seen at Boston College, the University of
Massachusetts, the Massachusetts College of Art, Wheelock College, Rhode Island
School of Design, Rhode Island Governors College, Grahm Junior College and the
Emerson Gallery, Arlington Street Church, Boston.

BABALUAIYE S. DELE
(Stanley Pinckney)

Babaluaiye S. Dele was born in Boston in 1940. He is a graduate of the Famous
Artists School in Westport, Connecticut, where he studied commercial art under a
four-year scholarship from Norman Rockwell. He is a 1967 graduate of the School
of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he majored in painting and received
numerous prizes and scholarships. Mr. Dele was recently awarded a Fifth-Year
Traveling Scholarship from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. He plans to
travel and study in Africa.

HENRY DE LEON

Henry de Leon was born in Puerto Rico in 1945 and moved to the United States with
his family when he was four years old. They settled in East Harlem. In 1964 he came
to Brandeis University largely through the efforts of a friend associated with the
Florence Heller School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare- He graduated with
a B.A. in Spanish Literature in 1968 and is currently working toward an M.F.A. degree
at Brandeis. In addition to scholarships, Mr. de Leon received the Deborah Josepha
Cohen Memorial Award for Sculpture in 1968. Photography and film-making are his
current artistic interests; at present, he is making films with Blackside, a Black-
owned film production company, which attempts to deal with the Black point of view
in a realistic manner.

JERRY PINKNEY

Jerry Pinkney was born in Philadelphia in 1939 and studied design at the Philadelphia
Museum College of Art. In 1960 he moved to Boston to begin his career as a
designer-illustrator; and in 1961 he and two other illustrators founded the Kaleido-
scope Studio. Mr. Pinkney has illustrated many children's books, among them
Babushka and the Pig by Ann Trosimuk. He is now freelancing and his work appears
in many national magazines. In 1964 his illustrations were exhibited in The American
Institute of Graphic Arts exhibition. He has received awards in the New York Illus-
trators show and honors in the New York, New Jersey, Providence, and Boston Art
Directors' shows (1965-1969).

GARY RICKSON

Gary Rickson was born in Boston in 1942. A lecturer and a philosopher in environ-
mental art, he is president of the Boston Negro Artists Association and one of its
founders. He is a member of the National Conference of Artists, and executive
director and cultural chairman of the Malcolm X Foundation. He is also active in
The ACT (Artistic, Craft, Technology) Now Workshop of the Institute of Contemporary
Art. He is executing a wall mural for Summerthing, Boston's neighborhood summer
festival.

LEO ROBINSON

Leo Robinson was born in 1938. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and
Sculpture and the Corcoran School of Art. In 1963 he graduated from Howard
University (cum laude) with a B.A. in painting. He received his M.F.A. from Cran-
brook Academy of Art in 1966. In 1963 he was awarded first prize in the Washington
Inter-Collegiate Art Exhibition sponsored by Catholic University. In addition, he has
been the recipient of awards from the Skowhegan School, the Savery Gallery of
Talladega College, Dartmouth College and Howard University. He has been an instructor
at Morgan State College in Baltimore, and the Potter's House Workshop in Washington,
D.C. From 1966 through 1968 he held the position of lecturer in art at Howard Uni-
versity. Mr. Robinson moved to Boston in 1968 to teach at the Cambridge Center
for Adult Education and the DeCordova Museum School. He has had one-man shows
at Talladega College, Dartmouth College and Howard University, and has exhibited in
group shows in Washington, D.C, and Texas.

AL SMITH

Al Smith entered Boston University in the Fall of 1966, and was honored twice there
for his superior work in art. In the summer of 1967 his works and poems were pub-
lished in Readers and Writers Magazine. In the summer of 1968 Mr. Smith executed
a wall mural in Roxbury. He has recently exhibited at the North Jersey Community
Art Center, Newark, New Jersey. He also participated in the Show Collaboration,
organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. He is currently working as
a coordinator on the Boston neighborhood program Summerthing.

RICHARD STROUD

Richard Stroud was born in 1940 and attended the National Academy of Design in
New York and the art school of the Brooklyn Museum of Fine Arts. He received a
B.A. from the New York School of Social Research, after which he studied at the
Cummington School of Art and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He
was the recipient of a one-year traveling scholarship from the Museum School- Mr.
Stroud has taught at a number of institutions in the Boston area: the DeCordova
Museum School, Emerson College and the Boston Museum School. He is currently
teaching at the M.I.T. Student Center art studios.

LOVETT THOMPSON

Lovett Thompson was born in Georgia and attended school in Boston. "Technical
High School taught him how to use his hands. Libraries taught him how to use his
mind." For eight years he wandered across the country from ghetto to ghetto, where
he sought out and studied with various street artists. He recently returned to
Boston and is working here as a sculptor and poet as well as a painter.

JOHN WILSON

John Wilson was born in 1922 in Boston and graduated from the School of the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1944. In 1947 he received a B.S. in Education from
Tufts University. Further study included work in art schools in Mexico City and Paris.
Since 1964 he has been an assistant professor at Boston University. He has been the
recipient of an impressive number of honors, awards and fellowships. Outstanding
among these are the Best Lithograph Award in the First National Print Exhibition,
an award for the Best Cover Design from the International Federation of the
Periodical Press in Paris, and a Merit Citation in the Society of Illustrators National
Exhibition. He has received three fellowships for study abroad. Mr. Wilson is
currently listed in Who's Who in American Art. He has shown in numerous group
exhibitions and has presented one-man exhibitions in the Boston area at the Boris
Mirski Gallery, Art Wood Gallery, Gropper Gallery and Simmons College.

RICHARD YARDE

Richard Yarde was born in 1939 in Boston and attended the School of the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston. He received a B.F.A. (cum laude) in 1962 and an M.F.A.
in 1964 from Boston University. Since 1966 he has been an instructor of drawing
and painting at Boston University. In addition to honors from Boston University, he
has received invitations to the Yaddo Corporation in 1964, 1966 and 1969, and to
the McDowell Colony in 1968. He has also held the position of Artist-in-Residence at
the Harlem Summer Arts Project, Saxton River, Vermont. In 1964, he was a partici-
pant in the documentary film That's Where I'm At, and he has been a lecturer for
the Dover Human Rights Commission, Dover, Massachusetts. Some of the important
exhibitions in which Mr. Yarde has participated are The Emancipation Proclamation
Centennial 11962), Artists Against Racism and the War (1968), Collaboration at the
Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston (1969), and Boston Images at Boston City
Hall (1969).

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