The Art Institute of Chicago
Museum Studies
Vol. 24, no. 2 (Fall 1998)
Edited by Susan F. Rossen
The city of Chicago, particularly its South Side, has rivaled Harlem as an important locus for African American culture. While it has been rightfully celebrated for its contributions to jazz, Chicago has also been a flourishing center for the visual arts. This book reflects the growing collection of art by African Americans in the city’s leading art organization, The Art Institute of Chicago. Intended to provide an overview of the concerns surrounding race in art, to celebrate the achievements of a number of gifted African American artists, and to provide a broad and multifaceted view of American art and culture, this book includes four intriguing essays and a stunning portfolio of twenty-nine images illustrated in full color, with informative, brief entries examining individual works. An examination of a striking daguerreotype of Abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass is followed by two essays discussing the work of seminal, Chicago-based artists: the complex, engaging paintings of Archibald J. Motley, Jr., and the impassioned sculpture of Marion Perkins. The fourth essay looks at recent, mixed-media work by Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, and Willie Robert Middlebrook. The contributors to this publication include Art Institute of Chicago curators Colin L. Westerbeck and Daniel Schulman; and scholars Andrea D. Barnwell, Kirsten P. Buick, Amy M. Mooney, Cherise Smith, and others.
Articles in this publication:
Colin L. Westerbeck, “Frederick Douglass Chooses His Moment”
Amy M. Mooney, “Representing Race: Disjunctures in the Work of Archibald J. Motley, Jr.”
Andrea D. Barnwell and Kirsten P. Buick, “Continuing the Dialogue: A Work in Progress”
Daniel Schulman, “Marion Perkins: A Chicago Sculptor Rediscovered”
Cherise Smith, “Fragmented Documents: Works by Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, and Willie Robert Middlebrook in the Art Institute of Chicago”
272 pages, 8 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.
ISBN-13: 9780295978338
ISBN-10: 0295978333
