The papers of the artist Gene Davis measure 17.7 linear feet and date from 1920-2000, with the bulk of materials dating from 1942-1990. Papers document Davis's personal life and his career as an artist and educator, as well as his career as a journalist in the 1940s and 1950s, through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, business records, estate records, writings by and about Gene Davis, printed materials concerning Davis's art career, personal and art-related photographs, and artwork by Davis and others.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of the artist Gene Davis measure 17.7 linear feet and date from 1920-2000, with the bulk of materials dating from 1942-1990. Papers document Davis's personal life and his career as an artist and educator, and to a lesser degree his early career as a journalist in the 1940s and 1950s, through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, business records, estate records, writings by and about Gene Davis, printed materials concerning Davis's art career, personal and art-related photographs, and artwork by Davis and others.
Biographical materials include birth and death certificates, awards, biographical narratives by Gene Davis and others, CVs, résumés, personal documents from Davis's family and childhood, documents related to his work as a White House correspondent, documentation related to his death and memorial service, and papers for the family pets. A video documentary about Davis by Carl Colby is found on one videocassette.
Correspondence is mainly of a professional nature, and correspondents include gallery and museum curators, private art collectors, publishers, fellow artists, art educators, academics, and students. Letters document exhibitions, sales, book projects, teaching jobs, visits to studios, local art community events in the Washington, D.C. area, and other projects. Significant correspondents include Gene Baro, Douglas Davis, Clement Greenberg, Gerald Nordland, William Seitz, Alma Thomas, and Donald Wall. Interviews and lectures include sound recordings and transcripts. Many of the interviews were broadcast or published. Also found is a single lecture by Davis given in 1969 at the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, entitled "Contemporary Painting." Sound recordings are found for three of the interviews and for the lecture, on 4 sound reels and 1 sound cassette.
Business records include artwork documentation, price lists, sales records, contracts, financial and legal records, gallery and museum files documenting sales and exhibitions, records related to the construction of Davis's home studio in 1970, and a few teaching records. Estate records mainly reflect Florence Davis's efforts to document the works of her husband, and to manage their exhibition, promotion, and sale after his death in April 1985. Estate records include an inventory of artworks, documentation of gifts to museums, correspondence, legal, and financial records. Writings include notes, drafts of essays, artist statements, and articles by Davis, and many articles by others about Davis. Several of Davis's articles reflect specifically on the Washington, D.C. art scene. Also found are drafts of monographs on Davis including one by Donald Wall (1975) and one by Steven Naifeh (1982). Records of Naifeh's book also include photographs of all black and white and color plates from the published book. Among the writings are also notes and research files of Percy North, who worked on an update to Naifeh's 1982 bibliography after Davis's death.
Printed materials include annual reports of museums, published arts-related calendars, auction catalogs, brochures from organizations with which Davis had some affiliation, exhibition announcements and invitations, exhibition catalogs, magazine articles, newspaper clippings, newsletters, posters, press releases, and other published material. Photographs include personal photographs of Gene and Florence Davis and their families, portraits of Gene Davis, photographs of Gene Davis with artworks and working in the studio, Davis' art classes and students, installations of site-specific works, conceptual and video works, exhibition openings, and photographs of artwork, both installed in exhibitions and individually photographed. Found among the photographs are also four videocassettes documenting the Gene Davis retrospective as installed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art in 1987.
Artwork includes photographs, drawings, moving images, and documentation of conceptual art. Works by Davis include documentation of the 1969 "Giveaway" with Douglas Davis and Ed McGowin, "The Artist's Fingerprints Except for One which belongs to someone else," documentation of his "Air Displacement" happening, a short film entitled "Patricia," and a video entitled "Video Puzzle." Other moving images include four reels of film of Davis's stripe paintings, and other experiments with motion picture film and photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1930-1987 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1, 17)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1943-1990 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 3: Interviews and Lectures, 1964-1983 (0.3 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Business and Estate Records, 1942-1990 (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 3-5, 17, OV 20)
Series 5: Writings, 1944-1990 (2 linear feet; Boxes 5-6, 17, OV 19)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1942-1990 (5.5 linear feet; Boxes 7-11, 17-18, OV 20, FC 35-37)
Series 7: Photographs, 1920-2000 (3.8 linear feet; Boxes 11-15, 17, OV 19)
Series 8: Artwork, 1930-1985 (2.2 linear feet; Boxes 15-16, 18, FC 21-34)
Biographical / Historical:
Gene Davis (1920-1985) was a Washington, D.C.-based artist and educator who worked in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, collage, video, light sculpture, and conceptual art. Davis is best known for his vertical stripe paintings and his association with the Washington Color School.
Davis was born in 1920 in Washington, D.C. and began his career as a writer. In his twenties he wrote pulp stories and worked as a journalist, reporting for United Press International and serving as a White House correspondent for Transradio Press Service during the Truman administration. Later, he worked in public relations for the Automobile Association of America. A self-taught artist, Davis began painting while still working full-time as a writer, influenced by the prevailing abstract expressionist artists of the time, his frequent visits to the Corcoran Gallery and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and by his friend and mentor, Jacob Kainen. His first one-man show was held in the lobby of the Dupont Theater in Washington in 1952. He had a drawing accepted in the Corcoran Area Show in 1953, and won several local art prizes in the 1950s. He began showing work regularly in galleries around Washington, such as the Watkins Gallery at American University, the Gres Gallery, and the Henri Gallery, and had solo exhibitions at Jefferson Place Gallery in 1959 and 1961. Many of the painters who made up what became known as the Washington Color School also showed there, including Kenneth Noland, Howard Mehring, and Sam Gilliam. In 1965, the Washington Gallery of Modern Art held a seminal exhibition entitled Washington Color Painters, which included Davis, Noland, Mehring, Morris Louis, Thomas Downing, and Paul Reed.
Davis began showing outside of Washington regularly in the 1960s, including the Poindexter and Fischbach galleries in New York City, and in several important group shows at museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He had three works shown in the 1964 exhibition Post-Painterly Abstraction, organized by the influential art critic Clement Greenberg at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In the late 1960s, he began teaching art classes at the Corcoran School, and spent the summer of 1969 as artist in residence at Skidmore College's "Summer in Experiment" program.
Davis experimented with form continuously throughout his career, including a period of conceptual work in the late 1960s. In 1969 he participated in the "Giveaway," organized by Douglas Davis and Ed McGowin, in which multiple copies of a Davis painting were given away to invited guests in a gesture intended to subvert the art market. Davis also began experimenting with scale, creating a series of tiny paintings he called "Micro-paintings," which were exhibited at Fischbach Gallery in 1968. Around this time he also began working with film and video, recruiting models from his art classes to enact tightly choreographed movement pieces that played with rhythm and interval. Convinced by a lawyer that his videos were a liability without having obtained releases from the models, Davis destroyed all but one of his video works. The surviving video, "Video Puzzle," shows a foreshortened view of a model on the floor of a gallery spelling out a statement by Clement Greenberg at predetermined intervals.
Davis made several large-scale site-specific works using the stripe motif in public places. The first of these was created in the Bal Harbour, Florida, Neiman Marcus department store in 1970. Later works included Franklin's Footpath, executed in the road leading to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1972, and Niagara (1979) at ArtPark in Lewistown, NY, promoted at the time as the largest painting in the world. Interior large-scale works were created twice at the Corcoran Gallery, with Magic Circle (1975) and Ferris Wheel (1982), both executed in the museum's rotunda. Black Yo-Yo was created for the Cranbrook Academy in 1980, and Sun Sonata (1983), an illuminated wall of colored liquid-filled tubes, was created as an architectural feature of the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia. Plans for an unexecuted work called "Grass Painting," for a site near the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., were exhibited in the 1974 "Art Now" festival.
In the late 1970s and 1980s Davis consistently exhibited his work in several solo gallery shows a year, and also had numerous solo exhibitions in major museums. A major exhibition, Recent Paintings, was organized by the Walker Art Center in 1978, and traveled to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1979. A drawing retrospective was held at the Brooklyn Museum of art in 1983, and the same year the Washington Project for the Arts organized an exhibition entitled Child and Man: A Collaboration, featuring drawings Davis made in response to childrens' drawings. Davis died suddenly in April 1985 at the age of 65, and a major retrospective of his work was held at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art in 1987.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Gene Davis conducted by Estill Curtis Pennington on April 23, 1981. A transcript is available on the Archives of American Art website.
Provenance:
Donated 1981 by Gene Davis and 1986 by his wife, Florence. Additional material donated 1991 and 1993 from Smithsonian American Art Museum via a bequest to them from the Gene and Florence Davis estate. Much of the 1993 addition was assembled by art historian Percy North at the request of Florence Davis. An additional folder of photographs of Davis taken in 1969 but printed in 2000 was later added to the collection.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Reporters and reporting -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Gene Davis papers, 1920-2000, bulk 1942-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program.
Now Festival (1966 : Washington, D.C.) Search this
Extent:
2.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Date:
1951-1996
Summary:
The papers of photographer and puppeteer Ida Jervis measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1951 to 1996. Found are files concerning Washington D.C. area artists, collectors, exhibitions, festivals, institutions and museums.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of photographer and puppeteer Ida Jervis measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1951 to 1996. Found are files concerning Washington D.C. area artists, collectors, exhibitions, festivals, institutions and museums.
Files may include printed material, photographs, biographical material, and correspondence. Additionally, three scrapbooks contain photographs and clippings from Jervis's career as a photographer and writer for local Washington, D.C. newspapers.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Ida Jervis (1917-2014) was a photographer, puppeteer, and writer in Washington, D.C. Jervis's photographs were featured in The Jewish Week of Washington and other publications.
Ida Goodstein Jervis was born in Poland in 1917 and immigrated to the United States in 1921, where she settled in Tennessee. She married Sidney Jervis and relocated to Northern Virginia outside of Washington, D.C. in 1944. In the 1960s, Jervis's writings and photographs appeared in local Washington D.C. newspapers. Her work often centered around the D.C. area arts scene. Additionally, she was an avid puppeteer and was active with the National Capital Puppetry Guild.
Ida Jervis died in 2014 in Falls Church, Virginia.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of a scrapbook containing printed material and photographs taken by Ida Jervis of the Now Festival held in Washington, D.C., April 26 to May 1, 1966, on Reel 4973. Originals were returned to the lender, Ida Jervis, after microfilming and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Ida Jervis donated a portion of her papers in 1994. Her daughter, Margie Jervis, donated additional papers in 2014
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional Information
Ida Jervis papers, 1951-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of this collection received federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program
Citified: Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River
Collection Creator:
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The 2012 Citified program looked at creativity, identity, and community in Far Southeast Washington, D.C., neighborhoods. Presented in collaboration with the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, it highlighted the connections among residents of urban communities as expressed through arts and creativity. The title alluded to the fact that many African American residents living east of the Anacostia River have parents or grandparents who migrated from the rural South, particularly North and South Carolina, and who continue to maintain connections with their southern (although often no longer rural) heritage.
Citified also referred to the ongoing transition from cultural and performance traditions shaped primarily by rural agrarian environments to those shaped primarily by wage work in urban industrial environments. Here, in place of rural quilting bees, quilters such as the Daughters of Dorcas & Sons get together in churches and community recreation centers to pass on shared traditions. It is here, too, that the sounds of rural church choirs and musicians, as well as blues and country music traditions, transform into urban popular music and become the foundation of go-go music.
The Citified program was part of a long-term Anacostia Community Museum initiative, Call and Response, which explores arts and creativity through exhibitions and installations, museum collections, and community-focused programs. The Anacostia Community Museum is dedicated to a mission centered upon contemporary urban communities, and to research, documentation, and programming that are community-focused. At the core of the museum's work is the belief that active citizen participation in the recovery and preservation of community historical assets, cultural and arts activities, and community advocacy are important and powerful instruments for creating and maintaining a sense of community and civic ownership.
The Festival program celebrated the creativity and cultural expression found in schools, churches, community organizations, businesses, and other venues in East-of-the-River neighborhoods. Visitors could meet master artists and creative, inspiring residents from this part of Washington, D.C.; enjoy performances by line dancers, African dancers and drummers, church choirs, hip-hop artists, comedians, and go-go bands; listen to storytellers; watch demonstrations of tattoo art; learn how to make quilt blocks from members of a multi-generational quilting guild; and participate in craft activities.
Portia James was Curator, with a Curatorial Team consisting of Olivia Cadaval, Robert Hall, and Diana N'Diaye; Sheila Reinckens was Program Coordinator.
The program was produced in collaboration with the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum.
Presenters:
Khadijah Al-Amin-El, Marcia Baird Burris, Camila Bryce Laporte, Jenelle Cooper-Tolson, Eduardo Diaz, James Early, Joshua Gorman, Robert Hall, Pat Lindsey, Linda Maxwell, Diana N'Diaye, Shelia Parker, Mark Puryear, Maria Smith, Tony Thomas, and Ranald Woodaman
Participants:
Individual Artists
Abdul Aleem Bilal "AB The Pro", rapper, producer, singer, Washington, D.C.
Bryant K. "BK" Adams, 1972-, visual artist, Washington, D.C.
Charles "Coco" Bayron, tattoo artist, Washington, D.C.
Christylez Bacon, progressive hip-hop artist and musician, Washington, D.C.
Vance Levy "Head-Roc", hip-hop artist, Washington, D.C.
Jay Coleman, visual artist, Washington, D.C.
Melani N. Douglass, poet and arts educator, Washington, D.C.
Baba C. (Lorenzo Calender), storyteller, Washington, D.C.
Allen "AJ n Company" Johnson, Jr., 1980-, urban designer, Washington, D.C.
Da' Originalz, beat ya feet hip-hop dance -- Da' Originalz, beat ya feet hip-hop danceJohn E. Pearson, III, Washington, D.C.Keiron Brown (Kay-K)Kevin Davis (NOODLEZ)Sha'Quiel JenkinsRobert Lewis Jr. (GoGo Rob)Shawn Murchinson (GET DOWN)Herbert Murray (Herb)Erich RobinsonJerell Silvers (JAY ARUH)Davon ThompsonBernard Trowell (McLovin)
Dancing with a Purpose Ministries, Inc., liturgical dancers -- Dancing with a Purpose Ministries, Inc., liturgical dancersLois Void, Pastor, Washington, D.C.Faye Johnson, ministerJoVan Lucas-Wills, ministerAlexandraDeQuanDyQuanJaylaKaylaMalachiNyaSeanShannon
Daughters of Dorcas & Sons Quilters -- Daughters of Dorcas & Sons QuiltersAnnie Strivers, Washington, D.C.Barbara AlfordNancy BerryToni E. DiarraJanice L. DoughertyMaxine DoughertyAlice DoveAlyce FosterCamille GorhamLinda Hamilton-GilbertJocelyn HerbertPatsy HuffPansy LovelaceMaxine MorganRuth StokesGeraldine Whitley
East of the River Boys and Girls Steelband, steel pan ensemble -- East of the River Boys and Girls Steelband, steel pan ensembleGladys Bray, Executive Director, Washington, D.C.Roger Greenidge, musical directorKevin AndersonNina AndersonAtiya ArtisMeccah BurchArnézjah CrawfordAisha DozierAyana DozierAshley GaskinsHorus PlazaJeffrey PlazaDonté RobinsonGeonte StevensonShayla Washington
Fayzez U Know, soul and funk group -- Fayzez U Know, soul and funk groupKenneth Hughes, leader, Manassas, VirginiaKah-el Gross, vocals/writerHalima Peru, vocals/writerDwayne Lee, guitarLoyde Lucus, guitarAndrew Woolfolk, guitarCraig Clipper (Clip), percussionQuentin McNair, percussionScott Carter, spoken word & rapMario Ennis "Rio," drumsDoc Hughes, bassAndrew Parker, sound engineerAnthony Talley "Tom Tom," keyboard
Iverson Mall Line Dancers -- Iverson Mall Line DancersMildred Johnson, 1935-, President, Clinton, MarylandDaisy ArringtonLaura I. BrownYvonne ConteeThelma EvansLillian GreenRita HarrisonEsther HodgesDorothy HughleyJean JacksonErnesteen JohnsonGertrude W. JohnsonDwight R. JonesDorothy Lee SwinsonHelen LeePeggy MaskeBrenda MatthewsJanice MeadowsPhyllis W. SettlesBenjamin StevensonConstance StevensonBertley B. ThomasMarydot ThomasElaine E. TuckerAmelia Yarbrough
Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Creativity and Crisis: Unfolding the AIDS Memorial Quilt
Collection Creator:
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Presenters:
James Deutsch, Guy Hemrick, Brian Holman, Anthony Knight, Nadine Licostie, Marsha MacDowell, Katherine Ott, Julie Rhoad, Mike Smith, Jeff Stott, Nomvula Mashoai-Cook, David Gere, Annie Groeber, Jada Harris, Teresa Hollingsworth, Linda Rethman
Introduction:
The year 2012 marked the 25th anniversary of The AIDS Memorial Quilt and 30 years of life with AIDS. With the introduction of The Quilt in 1987, The NAMES Project Foundation redefined the tradition of quilt making in response to contemporary circumstances. Through hands-on panel-making activities, individuals and communities have come together to remember loved ones, grieve, find support and strength, and engage in dialogues for change.
In 2012, The Quilt contained nearly 48,000 panels, and it had been viewed by more than 18 million people. It is much more than pieced-together fabric squares: it is a moving and monumental creative collaboration; it is a catalyst to remember, understand, educate, and act.
The 2012 Festival program featured the remarkable artistry, inspiration, and impact of The AIDS Memorial Quilt and provided the public with an unparalleled opportunity to experience this highly charged symbol of the AIDS crisis and the largest community art project in the world. It was the first Festival program to focus exclusively on community craft and performance directly developed in response to crisis and grief. With The AIDS Memorial Quilt as the anchor and through craft demonstrations, dance and musical performances, interactive discussions, and other activities, this program commemorated the innovative and resourceful ways through which communities have endeavored to educate people and to cope with one of the most complex pandemics in modern history.
The Festival brought together approximately 100 visual artists, designers, quilters, dancers, musicians, community activists, and others who shared the knowledge and creativity that shape their efforts to disseminate the message of the AIDS crisis. Quilt panel-making groups demonstrated and taught a variety of traditional quilting techniques. Volunteers and staff from The NAMES Project Foundation performed the rituals surrounding new panels and Quilt displays. The program also featured other artistic responses to the AIDS crisis from the United States and South Africa, and presented moderated conversations with project contributors, community leaders, and pioneers. Festival venues served as sites for sharing and documenting visitors' personal stories and creative expressions related to living in the age of HIV and AIDS.
Visitors of all ages had the opportunity to learn quilting techniques, make panels, and share stories from their own experiences. Sections of The Quilt were displayed throughout the Festival site, incorporated into the various demonstration and performance venues, and laid out on the National Mall - reinforcing The Quilt's size, visual impact, and the scale and diversity of people impacted by HIV and AIDS.
Arlene Reiniger was Curator and Anna Kaplan was Program Coordinator. The NAMES Project Foundation team included: Julie Rhoad, Jim Marks, Roddy Williams, Gert McMullin, Jada Harris, Chili Crane, Brian Holman, and Ritchie Crownfield.
Creativity and Crisis: Unfolding The AIDS Memorial Quilt program at the 2012 Festival was a partnership between the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and The NAMES Project Foundation, with the support and participation of many others.
Participants:
Hilary Anderson
David H. Bell, 1949-, writer and director, The NAMES Performers, Evanston, Illinois
Tom Berklund
Michael Berresse
Leigh Blake
Mary Bowman, 1988-, spoken word artist, Suitland, Maryland
J.T. Bullock, 1980-, spoken word artist, Silver Spring, Maryland
Reginald Cabico, 1970-, spoken word artist, Washington, D.C.
Jostina Nomvula Mashoai-Cook, 1952-, Observatory-Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
William R. Crownfield, Jr., 1959-, Atlanta, Georgia
Ryan Garson, 1991-, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Dan Green
Annie Groeber, New York, New York
Addison Heimann
Alex Hills
Teresa Hollingsworth, 1968-, Atlanta, Georgia
Terry Hooks
Stephen Keen, 1956-, DJ, Berkeley, California
Dwayne Lawson-Brown, spoken word artist, Community Outreach Coordinator for Metro Teen AIDS, Washington, D.C.
Cindi Love
Dale MacDonald, 1958-, Palo Alto, California
Kathleen Mead
Sherry Moore, 1956-, Desert Hot Springs, California
Richard Moultrie
Kelly Pochop
Vivian Pochop
Linda Rethman, 1958-, Berea, Durban, South Africa
Kelly Rivera Hart, San Francisco, California
Lili Romero De Simone
Molly Smith
Sonya Renee, 1976-, spoken word artist, Baltimore, Maryland
The NAMES Performers, Performance Group A – Green -- The NAMES Performers, Performance Group A – GreenGeoffrey Button, 1976-, Evanston, IllinoisRobert Deason, 1984-, Chicago, IllinoisJessica Paige Kahkoska, 1991-, Evanston, IllinoisNathaniel Lewellyn, 1988-, Milwaukee, WisconsinPatrick Martin, 1977-, Chicago, IllinoisBrad Raymond, 1977-, Newnan, GeorgiaBethany Thomas, 1982-, Chicago, Illinois
The NAMES Performers, Performance Group B - Blue -- The NAMES Performers, Performance Group B - BlueBrian J. Bohr, 1990-, Wheaton, IllinoisCarly Cantor, 1990-, Cincinnati, OhioEvelyn Jacoby, 1990-, Maplewood, New JerseyEmily Maltby, 1990-, New York, New YorkJevares Myrick, 1985-, Powder Springs, GeorgiaLatrice Ann Pace, 1978-, Atlanta, GeorgiaPatrick Sulken, 1990-, Evanston, Illinois
The NAMES Project Foundation -- The NAMES Project FoundationCleve Edward Jones, 1954-, AIDS Memorial Quilt founder, San Francisco, CaliforniaMike Smith, The NAMES Project Foundation co-founder, San Francisco, CaliforniaJulie Rhoad, 1960-, Atlanta, GeorgiaJada Harris, 1966-, Atlanta, GeorgiaJames Marks, Jr., 1957-, Atlanta, Georgia
Digital Component -- Digital ComponentRosemary Comella, 1961-, Los Angeles, CaliforniaTisha Dejmanee, 1985-, Los Angeles, CaliforniaBrittany Farr, 1988-, Los Angeles, CaliforniaBridgette Kidd, 1967-, Los Angeles, California
2362 Market Street -- 2362 Market StreetPhillip Andrew Cockrell, Jr., 1960-, panel-making assistant, Atlanta, GeorgiaKarl Burten Gustafson, 1958-, panel-making assistant, Atlanta, GeorgiaRaymond Slater Kinlock, III, 1949-, panel maker, hand maiden/quilt repairer, Solebury, PennsylvaniaJon Lopez, 1957-, panel maker, hand maiden/quilt repairer, Palm Springs, CaliforniaRick McCormack, 1956-, hand maiden/quilt repairer, Springfield, MissouriCindy Ann McMullin, 1955-, quilt production manager, panel maker, Atlanta, GeorgiaAudrey Muldoon, 1952-, hand maiden/quilt repairer, Peachtree City, GeorgiaLawrence Pellino, 1952-, panel maker, Avondale Estates, Georgia
Common Threads -- Common ThreadsNokuphiwa Caroline Gedze, 1981-, embroiderer, Peddie, South AfricaDavid Gere, 1957-, co-curator, The A.R.T. Show, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUnathi Bulelwa Mtshemla-Meslane, 1974-, Keiskamma Trust, Peddie, South AfricaBeauty Ndlovu, 1960-, beaded doll maker, Cato Ridge, South AfricaLobolile Bhekiswephi Ximba, 1953-, beaded doll maker, Muden, South Africa
Healing Arts -- Healing ArtsTeena Cahill-Dyer, 1946-, director of Wisdom and Beyond LLC, Princeton, New JerseyOsayi Endolyn, 1982-, storyteller, writer, Atlanta, GeorgiaNondumiso Hlwele, 1974-, artist, activist, Cape Town, South AfricaWilliam F. Howard, 1953-, photographer, Atlanta, GeorgiaValerie Knight, 1952-, expressive arts psychologist, New York, New YorkDouglas Lothes, 1958-, spoken word artist, Palm Springs, CaliforniaSydney March, 1954-, writing workshop facilitator, Washington, D.C.Jane Solomon, 1963-, body map facilitator, Cape Town, South Africa
Remember Their Names -- Remember Their NamesDarin Arrowood, Atlanta, GeorgiaAnne Balsamo, Los Angeles, California
In Process… -- In Process…Adwoa Agyeman, Washington, D.C.Vanessa Crosson, 1953-, Upper Marlboro, MarylandPamela Rogers, 1942-, Capitol Heights, Maryland
Rock Creek Singers -- Rock Creek SingersGiuseppe DeBartolo, 1976-, Washington, D.C.Robert Dragoset, Germantown, MarylandAndrew Harmon, 1973-, Washington, D.C.Kyle Holland, 1980-, Hanover, MarylandGeorge Huffman, 1958-, Washington, D.C.David Jonas, 1966-, Washington, D.C.John Jowers, 1980-, Hyattsville, MarylandJack Reiffer, 1944-, Washington, D.C.Lyn Van Noy, 1954-, Arlington, Virginia
Collection Restrictions:
Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity
Collection Creator:
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The creative traditions of dress and body arts among people of African descent in the United States reveal continuities of ideas, values, skills, and knowledge rooted in the African continent and in the American experience. They have been shaped by identities born of African heritage; legacies of bondage and resistance; and encounters and alliances between people of African descent, indigenous Americans, Europeans, and more recent African and Caribbean diasporas. They may reflect, for example, shared experiences of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements; group commitments to faith; and the politics of gender.
African Americans "belong" to many communities variously defined by ethnic, class, gender and gender orientation, regional, religious, political, cultural, and other affiliations that exist in complex interrelationship with each other. Accordingly, there is no single African American aesthetic of dress; there are many aesthetics that at times overlap, intertwine, and are juxtaposed in visual dialogues defining difference and belonging.
Style, the art of dress and personal adornment, is a powerful way to assert complex identities, announce solidarity with a cause, proclaim music and dance preferences, uphold cultural pride, and declare belief in a set of religious and moral principles. In all its glorious diversity, African American style is as local as the barbershop on the corner and as global as the influence of hip hop dress culture among young people from Japan to South Africa. The 2013 Festival celebrated the communities, artisans, and exemplars of style who contribute to this distinctive, expressive art form and their creative approaches, processes, and performances.
The Will to Adorn Festival program was part of a multi-year collaborative cultural research and community engagement project initiated by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The project brought together faculty and students at historically (and predominantly) African American colleges and universities, museum and independent scholars, community and student researchers, educators, and cultural practitioners to document and present the wearable art traditions of African Americans from diverse regional, ethnic, occupational, faith, and ideology-based communities. This research focused on urban style centers - Atlanta, metropolitan Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, New York, St. Croix and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and most recently Oakland, California. The project identified and represented a range of traditions of dress and body arts of Americans of African descent across the United States. At the 2013 Festival, this work was highlighted at the Research Tent, where, as part of the Smithsonian's Will to Adorn Youth Access project, teen researchers worked with visitors to create their own sartorial (dress) autobiographies.
Diana Baird N'Diaye was Program Curator, with a Curatorial Team including Olivia Cadaval, Elaine Nichols, and Debora Mack; Sally A. Van de Water was Program Coordinator. Advisors included: Harold Anderson, Mary Jo Arnoldi, Jade D. Banks, Rachel Delgado-Simmons, Tina Dunkley, James Early, Jessica Harris, Monte Oyd Harris, Christine Kreamer, Marsha MacDowell, Maurita Poole, Mark Puryear, Deborah Richardson, Gwendolyn K. Robinson, Pamela Rogers, Nicole Shivers, Pravina Shukla, Deborah Smith-Pollard, Gabrielle Tayac, Patricia Turner, Mary Arnold Twining Baird, and Deborah Willis.
The program was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and supported by Smithsonian Institution funds from the Youth Access Grants Program, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and other Smithsonian fund sources. It was also supported by AARP. Major in-kind support came from the Smithsonian Office of Mobile Technology, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of African Art, the Center for Aesthetic Modernism, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Bowie State University, Frank McClarin High School, University of the District of Columbia, University of Michigan, University of California-Los Angeles, Michigan State University, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, and Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center. Research for the program was funded by the Craft Research Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Smithsonian Scholarly Studies, Smithsonian Institution Consortium for Understanding the American Experience and Consortium for World Cultures, and the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts.
Researchers:
Maurita Poole and Spelman College students, Deborah Robinson and McClarin High School Video Production Program, Atlanta researchers; Althea Grey McKenzie, Baltimore researcher; Gwendolyn Robinson, Chicago researcher; Simone Forde, Deborah Smith Pollard, Detroit researchers; Diana Briggs, Malik Stevenson, New Orleans researchers; Jade D. Banks, Madaha Kinsey Lamb, and students of the Beverly Robinson Folk Arts Internship Program, Mind-Builders Creative Arts, New York City researchers; Shukuru Sanders, Oakland researcher; Harold Anderson and students at Bowie State University and Goucher College, Camila Bryce-LaPorte and students, Katherine Hockey, Mark Puryear, James Robinson, Washington, D.C., researchers; Sally A. Van de Water, Januwa Moja, Jade D. Banks, Betty Mahoney, U.S. Virgin Islands researchers; Camila Bryce LaPorte, Olivia Smith-Elnaggar, Deborah Smith Pollard, communities of faith researchers; Rachel Delgado-Simmons, Gabrielle Tayac, Native/African American communities researchers; Keisha Martin, on-line communities of style researcher
Presenters:
Kimberly Brown, Camila Bryce-LaPorte, James Early, Allison J. Hamilton, Elaine Nichols, Mark Puryear, Gwendolyn Robinson, Olivia Smith-Elnaggar, Gabrielle Tayac, Patricia Turner, Derrick Washington
Rosemary Reed Miller, historian and entrepreneur, Washington, D.C.
Lubna Muhammad, 1955-, fashion designer, Pennsauken, New Jersey
Betty Keckley Stratford, family historian, Washington, D.C.
Takoma Park Baptist Church, style exemplars, Takoma Park, Maryland
RESEARCH TENT
Jade Banks, director, Dr. Beverly J. Robinson Community Folk Culture Program, Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center, New York, New York
Monte Oyd Harris, 1966-, Maryland, plastic surgeon, Chevy Chase, Maryland
Yemaya Jones, 1949-, resist dyer, Frederiksted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
James Pogue, 1993-, Frank McClarin High School student researcher, Atlanta Georgia
Darius Smith, 1993-, Frank McClarin High School student researcher, Atlanta Georgia
Geena Paige Mignon, genealogist, African ancestry
Edmund Asante, 1993-, Mind-Builders student researcher, Bronx, New York
Katherine Blanco, 1995-, Mind-Builders student researcher, Bronx, New York
Marlon Carter, Mind-Builders student researcher
Chennell Christopher, 1984-, Mind-Builders student researcher, Bronx, New York
Phylicia Martin, Mind-Builders student researcher
Debra Robinson, 1953-, videographer, educator, Frank McClarin High School, Atlanta, Georgia
Andrene M. Taylor, 1978-, health activist, CEO of Zuriworks for Women's Health, Washington, D.C.
Collection Restrictions:
Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
The records of the Fendrick Gallery measure 106.4 linear feet and 0.008 GB and span the years 1952 to 2001. The bulk of the collection is comprised of artist's files that document the gallery's relations with and representation of over 300 contemporary artists and sculptors, including Robert Arneson, William Bailey, Daniel Brush, Wendell Castle, Robert Cottingham, James Drake, John Dreyfuss, Walter Dusenbury, Roger Essley, Helen Frankenthaler , Sam Gilliam, Jasper Johns, Raymond Kaskey, Claude and Francois Lalanne, Albert Paley, Joseph Raffael, Carol Summer, and numerous other artists. Also found are subject, exhibition, commission, administrative, and financial files, as well as files documenting the gallery's relationship with other museums and galleries.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the Fendrick Gallery measure 106.4 linear feet and 0.008 GB and span the years 1952 to 2001. The bulk of the collection is comprised of artist's files that document the gallery's relationships with and representation of over 300 contemporary artists, including Robert Arneson, William Bailey, Daniel Brush, Wendell Castle, Robert Cottingham, James Drake, John Dreyfuss, Walter Dusenbury, Roger Essley, Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Gilliam, Jasper Johns, Raymond Kaskey, Claude and Francois Lalanne, Albert Paley, Joseph Raffael, Carol Summer, and numerous other artists. Also found are subject, exhibition, commission, administrative, and financial files, as well as files documenting the gallery's relationship with other museums and galleries.
Series 1, Artist's Files, measures almost 42 linear feet and dates from 1962-2001. Found here are files documenting the gallery's relationship with over 300 contemporary artists. Files typically contain correspondence, sales receipts, printed materials, exhibition catalogs and announcements, commission information, photographs, slides, and other materials.
Series 2, Albert Paley, 1970-2001, and undated, provides detailed documentation (14.5 linear feet) of the Fendrick gallery's representation of prominent American metal sculptor Albert Paley. The gallery represented Paley from the early 1980s through the early 1990s and devoted a great deal of its resources promoting Paley's work through exhibitions and commissioned sales. Correspondence between the Fendrick Galleries and Paley Studios is found in this series, along with publicity materials, commission proposals and sketches, exhibition materials, and audio-visual and photographic documentation of Paley's work. Researchers should also consult Series 3 for additional documentation of Paley's commissioned projects.
Series 3, Commissioned Works and Projects, 1972-2000, and undated, documents the variety of commissions and special projects the gallery arranged and managed on behalf of its represented artists. Because privately commissioned work and government-sponsored public art projects represented a significant source of revenue for the Fendrick galleries, the gallery devoted a substantial amount of time and resources towards securing these projects. These files contain applications, proposals, sketches, correspondence, photographs and other material arranged by name of project.
Series 4, Exhibition Files, 1961, 1970-1996, and undated, houses files relating to exhibitions organized by Fendrick Gallery. Found here are exhibition announcements, invitations, and catalogs; specific named exhibition files; and files concerning special projects or exhibitions, often jointly curated with other galleries or institutions. The Fendrick gallery was also actively involved in various governmental programs, such as Art in the Embassies Program, and organized traveling exhibits or loaned artwork to them.
The gallery's relationships with other galleries, museums, institutions, and art organizations is documented in Series 5, Museums and Galleries Files, 1952-2000, and undated. Many of the files concern loans, exhibition venues, and joint exhibitions or projects.
Series 6, Subject Files, 1952, 1960-2001, and undated contain numerous files arranged by subject heading. Here, researchers will find information collected and maintained by the gallery on various art medium, artists of interest, exhibition catalogs from museums and other galleries, information about small and fine art presses. Of particular interest are several folders entitled "Fine Art Printers & Publishers." Barbara Fendrick's early years in the art business centered upon exhibiting, promoting, and selling prints produced by young, emerging American artists. The information found here documents her growing personal relationships with some of the most prominent artists and printmakers of this era.
Records documenting administrative, business, operating, and financial affairs are arranged in Series 7, Administrative and Financial Files, 1960-2001, and undated. Found here are records of both the Barbara Fendrick Gallery (New York) and the Fendrick Gallery (Washington, D.C.), as well as files that document Barbara Fendrick's role as art consultant, appraiser, lecturer, exhibition juror, and guest curator. Found are numerous inventory cards, insurance records, consignment files, general correspondence, lists, loan files, notebooks, real estate files, card files on artists and clients, and history files. Of particular interest are the Day Books/Dailies maintained by the New York gallery staff consisting of entries and notes regarding prospective clients and their interests. The Telephone Log Books contain details of telephone conversations with artists, clients, dealers, and other art professionals. Series 7 also houses the financial records of both galleries, including invoices, financial statements, expenses, accounts, and tax records.
Arrangement:
The Fendrick Gallery records were processed to the series, subseries, and folder level. The collection is arranged into seven series. Items within folders, for the most part, were not fully sorted or preserved. When possible, materials were generally arranged at least by year. Within Series 1, Artists' Files, each set of folders for a particular artist are only given span dates. Due to the amount and complexity of material compiled on the artist Albert Paley, his files are arranged into a separate series of their own.
Missing Title
Series 1: Artists Files, 1962-2001, undated (Box 1-42, OV 108-110; 41.5 linear ft.)
Series 2: Albert Paley, 1970-2001, undated (Box 42-54; Box 107, OV 111-113, 117-118, FC 119; 14.6 linear ft., ER01; 0.001 GB)
Series 3: Commissioned Works and Projects, 1972- 2000, undated (Box 54-57; 3.5 linear ft.)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1961, 1970-1996, undated (Box 58-63; 5.5 linear feet)
Series 5: Museums and Galleries Files, 1952-200, undated (Box 64-73; 9.25 linear feet)
Series 6: Subject Files, 1952, 1960-2001, undated (Box 73-88, OV 115-116, FC 120; 15.6 linear ft.)
Series 7: Administrative and Financial Files, undated (Box 88-106; OV, ER02-ER03; 0.008 GB)
Historical Note:
The Fendrick Gallery was established in 1960 as a "by appointment only" gallery out of Barbara Fendrick's Washington, D.C., area home. Initially the gallery promoted contemporary American and European prints by emerging artists and also commissioned print editions by nationally-known artists. During the mid 1960s, the Fendrick Gallery also coordinated and produced art exhibitions on a contract basis for the United States Information Agency. The gallery was responsible for organizing the first large American art exhibition at the Department of State and the Federal Reserve.
In May, 1970 the Fendrick Gallery moved into a three-story townhouse in Georgetown and began presenting regular exhibitions open to the public. The gallery offered many prominent American artists, such as Robert Arneson, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson, and Robert Rauschenberg their first solo shows in the nation's capital. The Fendrick Gallery also represented many nationally known sculptors, such as John Dreyfuss, Walter Dusenbery, Raymond Kaskey, and Albert Paley.
Over the years, Fendrick Gallery promoted many emerging artists who were breaking down the barriers between art and craft in the areas of clay, furniture, metal, and book arts. The gallery held the first major show of contemporary ceramics on the East Coast, with the 1976 exhibition, Clay USA. The gallery also received critical acclaim for its exhibitions in the area of "book arts" and held four shows featuring the works of prominent American and international book artists.
In 1987 and 1988, the gallery expanded and opened the Barbara Fendrick Gallery in the Soho section of New York City. The New York location operated as both a gallery space and storage area and was often referred to as "The Warehouse." Both the Fendrick Gallery and the Barbara Fendrick Gallery closed in the summer of 1991, but Barbara Fendrick continues to work as an art consultant, appraiser, exhibition juror, lecturer, and guest curator.
Provenance:
The records of the Fendrick Gallery were donated to the Archives of American Art by Barbara Fendrick in 1999, with an addition to the records in 2001.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use of unmicrofilmed material requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Interview created as part of the research for the Anacostia Community Museum's "A Right to the City" exhibition.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Interview created as part of the research for the Anacostia Community Museum's "A Right to the City" exhibition.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The papers of self-taught artist Kate Lang consist of a biographical sketch; letters, cards, and instructions from a patron for paintings; notes and other writings; lists of sales and other financial records; newspaper articles about Lang; exhibition announcements; printed source material for paintings; and photographs and snapshots of Lang as a young girl as well as color photographs and snapshots of her artwork. The collection measures 1.1 linear feet and dates from 1921 to 1996.
Scope and Content Note:
The Kate Lang papers measure 1.1 linear feet and date from 1921 to 1996. The collection documents the artistic career and creative process of Arlington, Virginia-based self-taught painter Kate Lang. The collection contains a brief biographical account, scattered professional and personal correspondence, writings and notes with sketches by Kate Lang, financial records, clippings, exhibition announcements, and numerous photographs and snapshots of Kate Lang, her artwork, friends and family. The collection compliments the Archives' material on self-taught artists and provides some useful evidence of an alternative market for painting.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as six series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1992 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Letters, 1992-1996, undated (Box 1; 3 folders)
Series 3: Writings, 1992-1994, undated (Box 1; 6 folders)
Series 4: Financial Records, 1990-1996, undated (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1991-1996, undated (Box 1, OV 2; 5 folders)
Series 6: Photographs, 1921-circa 1990s (Box 1, OV 2; 0.6 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Kate Lang, born Kathryn Louise Barbour in 1910 in Mobile, Alabama, started painting at age 80. A self-taught artist, she sold her paintings at local flea markets (Washington, D.C.'s Eastern Market on Saturdays and Georgetown Market on Sundays) until her death in 1996. Lang excelled at celebrity and pet portraits painted in the style of contemporary folk art. She held exhibitions at Connection Gallery in Washington, D.C. and George Washington University's Dimrock Gallery in 1992 and at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1995.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in 2001 and 2009 by Richard Lang, the son of Kate Lang.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The Historical Records of the Barnett-Aden Gallery showcases one of the first galleries owned and operated by African Americans. The work of the Gallery was invaluable as they opened the exhibition space to established and unknown artists regardless of race or gender.
Scope and Contents:
The Historical Records of Barnett-Aden Gallery collection includes historical background materials on the gallery, its founders James V. Herring and Alonzo Aden as well as Adolphus Ealey, its steward after its closure in 1969. The materials include correspondence, business records, photographs, exhibition catalogues, and clippings.
Arrangement:
The materials in this collection have been kept at the folder level and separated into four series. The materials have been ordered and organized based on the content. Within each series and subseries, the folders are organized as close to the collection's original order as when it was acquired.
Historical Sketch:
The Barnett-Aden Gallery, suggested to be the first African American privately-owned gallery in the U.S, open its doors on October 16, 1943. The gallery was founded by artist and scholar James V. Herring alongside his protegee, curator Alonzo Aden. The gallery was housed in a private home that they shared, located on 127 Randolph Street NW in Washington, DC. These men aimed to create an art gallery that provided a venue for underrepresented artists of all races and genres. It was this partnership that laid the foundation for the shift in African American representation in modern art. Aden stated that the gallery's aims were to help foster new talent while also bringing "art of superior quality" to the community. Throughout its history, the gallery held almost 200 exhibitions and showcased the work of over 400 artists.
James Vernon Herring was born on January 7, 1887 in Clio, South Carolina to an African American mother, Alice Herring (1860-1942), and white father, William Culbreth. As a young man, he moved to Washington, DC for better educational opportunities. Herring was educated at the Howard Academy, a preparatory high school located at nearby Howard University campus. Herring received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and completed graduate studies at Columbia and Harvard Universities. Trained in art and classical studies with a focus on French impressionism, Herring was initially brought on Howard University's faculty as architecture instructor in 1920. This experience inspired Herring to create the Department of Art at the university where he convinced former home economics student and future prominent visual artist, Alma Thomas to be the art school's first graduate in 1924. Herring continued to mentor and discover young artists as was the case with Alonzo Aden.
Alonzo Aden was born on May 6, 1906 in Spartanburg, South Carolina to Naomi Barnett (1883-1956) and Ephraim Aden (1859-1917). His working-class parents wanting more for their eldest son, decided to send him to live with relatives in Washington, DC for greater educational opportunities. Aden did well academically and completed some studies at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) before finally entering Howard University in 1927. The following year, Herring opened the Howard University Gallery of Art and installed Aden as its first curator. Aden initially pursued a career as an educator but became more interested in art history and after his graduation from Howard in 1933, he pursued studies in museum and curatorial work.
Recent scholarship has suggested that Herring and Aden were in a romantic as well as working relationship. Working together in the Howard Gallery of Art, they sought to provide a space for art students, local artists and other relatively unknown artists from around the world. Living together since 1929, Herring supported Aden's post-graduate pursuits including his studies of African arts and crafts in galleries across Europe as well as his curatorial work at the American Negro Exposition in Chicago in 1940. Aden returned to Washington to great acclaim and continued his work with Herring at the Howard Gallery of Art.
The Gallery was housed in a Victorian townhouse located in the then middle-class African American neighborhoods of LeDroit Park and Logan Circle (present-day Bloomingdale). Research notes that the house was purchased during the late 1920s by Herring with some assistance of artist Alma Thomas (or vice versa). Both were listed as owners of the property until 1933 when Aden was listed as the co-owner. In 1943, Aden resigned as head of the Howard Gallery for unknown reasons which led Herring and Aden to open a gallery in their home. The gallery was named after Aden's mother Naomi, who also served as an early benefactor of the gallery giving $1,000 in support. It was the support of various benefactors alongside Herring's salary as a Howard professor and Aden's several "government jobs" that kept the gallery afloat during its time in the home. The first floor of the gallery consisted entirely of exhibition space with the second-floor space interchanged between exhibition, study, and living spaces over the years. Herring's library, also located on the upper floors, was used for research by students and local scholars. Herring and Aden never saw the gallery as a truly profitable venture but instead wanted to offer avenues for the artists to showcase their work. As policy, each artist retained all money earned from sales but were required to donate at least one work of art to the Barnett-Aden collection.
The gallery, the first of its kind in Washington at the time, exhibited works of artists regardless of race; African American artists displayed alongside their more notable white peers. Notable artists featured in the gallery include Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and M.C. Escher were exhibited alongside notable African American artists Richmond Barthé, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Charles White, Selma Burke as well as many others. Several Howard professors who went on to have notable art careers also exhibited their work at the gallery including James Porter, Lois Mailou Jones, and James Lesesne Wells. Many of the artists featured in the gallery were also greatly involved in the operations. Alma Thomas served gallery's vice president before she began exhibiting her work there in 1950s. Artist and scholar, David Driskell served as the associate director of the gallery after Aden's death.
The gallery held five to eight exhibitions every year including a special annual anniversary exhibition. In 1944, the gallery opened a show featuring Brazilian modern artist, Candido Portinari, who had previously completed a mural at the Library of Congress, that sparked great interest at the gallery. The exhibition opening brought in visitors from all over Washington including members of the president's cabinet, foreign ambassadors and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. This renewed interest created a somewhat hectic pace in keeping up with the work of the gallery. This pace coupled with the full-time jobs and other ventures including a gift shop enabled the gallery to act as a luminary of the African American and local arts community in Washington.
In 1961, while preparing for the annual anniversary exhibition, Alonzo Aden died suddenly. Herring with aid of his friends and students took on the management of the gallery after his partner's death but was unable to keep the pace of Aden's work and the attendance declined. In 1969, Herring died in the home leaving behind a formidable legacy. The home and its contents including the gallery's art collection was sold in order to settle the debts of Herring's estate. The collection was divided amongst three individuals. Artist and former Herring student, Adolphus Ealey inherited the bulk of the collection that featured 250 significant works. Herring's books, graphic drawings, and prints were given to Herring associate and friend, Dr. Felton J. Earls, while the sculptures went to art collectors and friends Dr. and Mrs. Cecil Marquez.
The portion of the collection owned by Ealey was described as the preeminent selection from the gallery's collection. The size and ongoing upkeep of the collection was significant which caused the collection to be moved several times over the years. The collection which out of necessity was originally stored in Ealey's Southwest Washington apartment then moved a to a house in LeDroit Park and then to another space in the Washington neighborhood of Fort Lincoln. Ealey collaborated with colleagues and institutions to have it exhibited in various locations but also bid to find the collection a permanent home. During the 1970s, the collection was featured at the Museum of Afro-American Culture and History in Philadelphia, the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum (now the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum) and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Unable to find an institutional home for the collection, Ealey was forced to sell the collection in 1989 to the Florida Endowment Fund for Higher Education. Ealey stipulated that collection must remain intact but also that the new owners had to develop educational and outreach programs focused on African Americans in the arts. Failing to find consistent opportunities to exhibit the collection, the owners were forced to sell the collection. In 1998, Robert L. Johnson, then chairman and founder of the television channel, Black Entertainment Television (BET), purchased the collection. The collection went on a national tour then was displayed for some time at the BET headquarters in Washington. In 2015, Johnson donated selections from the gallery collection to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in an effort to preserve the legacy of the Barnett-Aden Gallery and the tireless work of James V. Herring and Alonzo Aden for generations to come.
Historical Timeline
1897 -- James Vernon Herring was born January 7 in Clio, South Carolina.
1906 -- Alonzo James Aden was born May 6 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
1914-1916 -- While attending Syracuse University, Herring taught summer classes at Wilberforce University in Ohio for two summers.
1917 -- Herring graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelors of Pedagogy in Art degree.
1917-1920 -- Herring served as YMCA secretary for the YMCA in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and then Camp Lee, Virginia. Herring also held teaching positions at Straight College in New Orleans and Bennett College in North Carolina
1920 -- Alonzo was sent to Washington, D.C. to live with his uncle, James Aden, and his wife Laura.
1921 -- Herring was initially hired as architectural drawing instructor at Howard University and after negotiations established Department of Art later that same year.
1927 -- Herring organized an exhibition of Howard U. students' artwork that toured the Deep South U.S. Aden enrolled in Howard University in pursuit of an education degree.
1930 -- The Howard University Gallery of Art formally opened on April 7. Aden was hired as gallery assistant.
1933 -- Aden received his Bachelor of Arts in Education; Herring added Aden's name as co-owner of the 127 Randolph Place home.
1934-1939 -- Aden engaged in post-graduate study and museum curatorial work around the U.S. and Europe.
1940 -- Aden served as art curator for the American Negro Exposition (the "Negro's World Fair") in Chicago
1943 -- Aden resigned his position at the Howard University Gallery of Art for undisclosed reasons. The Barnett-Aden Gallery was founded by James V. Herring and Alonzo Aden. The first exhibition, "American Paintings for the Home" featured Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Malvin Gray Johnson, James Lesesne Wells, Jacob Lawrence, and many others.
1944 -- First anniversary exhibition featuring artist Candido Portinari, Brazilian artist who was already known in Washington from his mural for the Library of Congress. It was attended by the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Exhibition, "The Negro in Art" and "American Paintings for the Home" featuring Catlett, James A. Porter, Wells, Jones, Richmond Barthé, Hale Woodruff, Betsy Graves Reyneau and others.
1946 -- Exhibition, "Paintings by Lois Mailou Jones" and featured paintings of Jacob Lawrence for Third Anniversary exhibition.
1947 -- Fourth Anniversary Exhibition, "Recent Paintings by Charles White". Exhibition of Elizabeth Catlett, "Paintings, Sculpture, and Prints of The Negro Woman".
1948 -- Exhibition, "Paintings and Drawings by James A. Porter".
1949 -- Exhibition, "Sylvia Carewe".
1950 -- "Exhibition of Six Washington Artists" featuring Romare Bearden, Samuel Bookatz, Bernice Cross, Robert Gates, Norma Mazo, and James A. Porter. "Exhibition "Paintings and Prints by James Lesesne Wells."
1951 -- Exhibition, "Three Washington Artists" featuring Richard Dempsey, Sam Herman, and Jack Perlmutter Exhibition, "Herman Maril: Paintings in Retrospect, 1931-1951"
1953 -- Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, "Eighteen Washington Artists" featuring Sarah Baker, Samuel Bookatz, William Calfee, Bernice Cross, Robert Franklin Gates, Jacob Kainen, Marjorie Phillips, James Porter, and James Lesesne Wells.
1954 -- Exhibition "Six Washington Painters" featuring Theresa Abbott, Gabriel Cherin, Gloria Besser Green, Alma W. Thomas, and Anita Wertheim.
1955 -- Twelfth anniversary exhibition focused on "Jack Perlmutter".
1957 -- Exhibition, "David C. Driskell: Exhibition of Paintings"
1958 -- Exhibition "Norman Lewis: Paintings"
1959 -- Sixteenth Anniversary Exhibition of "Paintings by Pietro Lazzari, Helen Rennie, Alma Thomas, Andrea De Zerega". Exhibition of "Religious Paintings and Prints by James L. Wells and Sculpture by Selma Burke"
1962 -- Alonzo Aden died suddenly at the age of 56 on October 13 in Washington D.C. Herring solely inherits the Gallery collection.
1969 -- Herring dies at age 84 in Washington, DC. on May 29. Artist Adolphus Ealey inherits the bulk of the gallery collection along with Dr. Felton J. Earls and Dr. and Mrs. Cecil Marquez.
1974 -- Two exhibitions of the collection at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
1989 -- Collection sold to Florida Endowment Fund for Higher Education.
1998 -- Robert Johnson, founder and former CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET) purchased the entire collection and serves as administrators over the collection.
Provenance:
Acquired through a purchase by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access to collection materials requires an appointment.
Rights:
The NMAAHC Archives can provide reproductions of some materials for research and educational use. Copyright and right to publicity restrictions apply and limit reproduction for other purposes.
An interview with Renée Stout conducted 2019 June 5 and 6, by Nyssa Chow, for the Archives of American Art, at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewee Renée Stout (1958- ) is a sculptor, assemblage artist, and painter in Washington, D.C. Interviewer Nyssa Chow (1980- ) is an oral historian in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
The transcript and recording are open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
