Bassquiat and Purvis Young at Tampa Museum of Art: Ordinary/Extraordinary Assemblage in Three Acts

Contrary to the museum's protestations to the contrary, the juxtaposition between the lives and art of the black American artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Purvis Young is thrown into sharp relief in exhibits of their work at Tampa Museum of Art. The two discrete shows (Jean Michel Masquiat: One Master Artist/Two Masterpieces and Purvis Young: 91) are part of an exhibition series titled Ordinary/Extraordinary Assemblage in Three Acts; the third show in the series is titled Sacred Diagrams: Haitian Vodou Flags from the Gessen Collection.

Each of the foregoing can be viewed as a separate show but, according to the museum, are linked by

... the use of found objects, such as discarded wood and repurposed textiles ... More importantly, historical and socio-economic narratives informed by the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, the black experience in America, as well as European artistic influences unite the artists featured in the series.

I will focus on the Basquiat and Young shows in this post.

This is the second exhibition of both artists works that I have attended this year -- Basquiat at the Brant and Young at the Deland Museum of Art -- and I am struck by more of the contrasts than the commonalities between the two artists. The chart below is illustrative.

The way that the individual shows are exhibited also provides a juxtaposition, with two Basquiat originals emplaced on a wall, with significant white space around each piece, and, in the next room, separated by a perpendicular wall, the cacaphony of the Young exhibition.

The first of the two Basquiat paintings (Untitled (Word on Wood)) is one of 17 Basquiat paintings that incorporates wood fence slats. The slats are painted black and divided into two unequal hemispheres. The upper hemisphere is dominated by a blue square with a gold border which serves as a frame for an African-mask-like structure with mismatched oval eyes and bared teeth. A line runs from a distinctly negroid nose through a unibrow to the top of the forehead, dividing the forehead into two unequally adorned hemispheres. The top of the head is festooned with light-brown, cornrow-type structures.

The lower hemisphere is populated by some of the markings for which Basquiat is known. The left, chair-like structure is brown in color and associated with a white comb marking while the right leg is entwined by a green vine and is adjacent to an upturned comb.

Untitled (Word on Wood), 1985
Jean-Michel Basquiat

The second painting is a collage of different textured items emplaced on a bright-yellow, two-hemisphere, wooden door. The Spanish word for miracle is repeated a number of times on the structure's upper hemisphere.

Yellow Door (1960), 1985
Jean-Michel Basquiat

As you walk around the dividing wall, you are suddenly confronted with the cacaphony of the Young series. The 91 paintings, the totality of the museum's Purvis Young collection, are hung shoulder-to-shoulder from floor to ceiling in honor of the author's "magnum opus:"

For a short period of time in the 1970s, Young installed his paintings from the ground to the rooftops of abandoned storefronts in his neighborhood. The Wall of Respect in Chicago, a mural that featured heroic black men and women painted at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, influenced Young. He aimed to replicate the Wall of Respect in Overtown with his powerful, provocative paintings and often overlapped the paintings in an extreme salon-style hang. Titled Goodbread Alley Mural, the project was on view from approximately 1971-74 until the City of Miami started to dismantle the artwork. The installation on view in this gallery takes inspiration from the Goodbread Alley Mural ...

I found this layout jarring: I was not sure whether I should evaluate it as a mural or evaluate each piece on its own. In general I find Young's work slightly claustrophobic -- due to the object density on his pieces -- and that feeling was on steroids with so many of his pieces stacked together. Museums are requesting that patrons spend more time evaluating paintings on view: I do not believe that this layout advanced that objective.

It is not obvious how the Vodou Flags exhibit fits in with the works of these two well-known artists.

©EverythingElse238

Masterpieces of African American Art: Museum of Art - Deland

I was unfamiliar with the Museum of Art - Deland; that is, until I read an online article touting the quality of their staff -- of all things -- while sitting in the car waiting for my wife to complete and errand. I clicked through to the museum website upon completing the article and noted that they were featuring an exhibition of works by African-American artists -- titled Masterpieces of African American Art -- to commemorate Black History Month. Now I am not normally a celebrant but when Parlo came back to the car I suggested that we go visit this exhibition. She was in.

I have spent a fair amount of time in Deland during my residence in Florida but had not seen hide nor hair of a museum there. I found that it is housed in a relatively new building on the Stetson Campus; I should have known.

The museum was not very busy at that time of the morning. It was staffed by well-dressed, eager volunteers who were chomping at the bit to show off this facility of which they were so obviously proud.

We checked in at the reception desk where the layout of the feature exhibit was explained. The exhibition was titled Masterpieces of African American Art and featured more that 85 pieces drawn from two significant collections: (i) African American Art: We Too Dream America and (ii) a selection from the museum's permanent collection titled Purvis Young: Overtown's Visual Poet. We climbed to the top floor to begin our exploration of the first collection.

African American Art: We Too Dream America
This curation is broad, utilizing a variety of artists, styles, media, expressions and topics to show that African American art is not hemmed in or stereotypical. Like non-African American artists -- and even though straitened by their times and experiences -- African American artists can still capture and relay a broad array of Americana, both within and without their lived experiences.

Two of the works that jumped out at me immediately were Jazz Stories ... and Tar Beach #2. Faith Ringgold is an artist, educator, sculptor, and children's book author and illustrator who has doggedly pursued her career; and has the accolades and awards to prove it. She was born in Harlem during the Renaissance period and graduated from City College with Bachelors and Masters degrees in Art. She taught in the New York City School System and at the collegiate level all while pursuing her own personal art efforts. She has painted traditionally, produced sculptures, produced portraits of famous people, and produced quilts, some of her best received works of art. She is also a Children's Book author and illustrator and won the Caldecott Book Award for Tar Beach in 1992.

Faith has over 30 quilts to her credit. They are mostly written in the form of children's stories wherein each part of the quilt is a page.

Faith Ringgold
Jazz Stories: Mama Can Sing, Papa Can Blow
#1: Somebody Stole my Broken Heart,
2004

Faith Ringgold
Tar Beach #2
1990 - 1992

In the two quilts above we see the dichotomy of Faith's work. Tar Beach #2 is definitely child-like with panel-based story telling while Jazz Stories is all about the visual and appears to be targeted at an adult audience.

The second most impactful piece for me was The Harp (Lift Every Voice and Sing) by Augusta Savage. The piece is a stunning visual. But the story's conclusion is sad.

Augusta Savaga
The Harp (Lift Every Voice and Sing)
circa 1939

Augusta Savage was a black sculptor and educator working out of Harlem during the time of the Renaissance. She endured many hardships and disappointments in pursuit of her goals but was eventually rewarded with a commission to produce a piece to be exhibited at the 1939 World's Fair. The piece that she produced was a 16-foot-tall plaster sculpture that was inspired by the James Weldon and Rosamund Johnson classic Lift Every Voice and Sing.

The sculpture depicted a group of twelve stylized black singers in graduated heights that symbolized the strings of a harp. The sounding board was formed by the hand and arm of God, and a kneeling man holding music represented the foot pedal.

The Harp was exhibited in the court of the Contemporary Arts building and received much acclaim. Unfortunately, Augusta could not raise the funds to have the sculpture cast in bronze so it was destroyed at the end of the fair. A number of small replicas -- like the above -- exist.

Ms. Savage working on The Harp 

Aaron Douglas was a leading player in the Harlem Renaissance with his home being a major gathering point for the likes of Langston Hughes and W. E. du Bois. Aaron's Mr Bill is a much more refined and less hairy version of The Beggar from the Louis Dewis exhibition now showing at the the Orlando Museum of Art. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Berthe Morrisot style in that the face is well defined while the clothing is less so. There is a lot of empty space on the right side of the work and the subject is not looking out at the viewer. Beautiful palette of colors in the open space. Combination portraiture and abstract art. Almost sculpted hairline.

Aaron Douglas
Mr. Bill
c. 1940s

Selected other pieces from the African American Art selection are shown below:

Romare Bearden
All the Things You Are
1987

Jacob Lawrence
Builders #1
1972

Benny Andrews
Untitled (Woman in a Yellow Dress Under a Tree)
circa 1958 - 62

Robert S. Duncanson
Waterfall
Undated

Richmond Barthé
Stevedore
Undated

Herbert Gentry
Handshake
1991

Mary Lovelace O'Neal
The Mother of the Twins Carries a Gun
1994

Richard Yarde
Red Dress
1989

Ronald Joseph
Home - Paris
1951

Selected Pieces from Purvis Young: Overtown's Visual Poet
Purvis Young returned to Overton, a formerly thriving Black literary and cultural enclave in Miami, from a stint in prison for breaking and entering. Overton had been reduced to "a few square blocks of decay, despair, and devastation" and it is this place, and its people, that serve as the inspiration for Purvis' works.

Purvis began his effort by painting on any available material -- pieces of cardboard, pieces of wood, discarded books -- and then hanging the completed works on abandoned buildings in Good Bread Alley. His works came to the attention of collectors to include the Rubell family who, at one point, bought the entire contents of his studio and donated the more than 3000 pieces to museums around the country.

Mr Young was a prolific artist who constantly battted away recommendations that he should paint less in order to positively impact the value of his works. A selection of his works currently in the Deland Museum's permanent collection is shown below.

Purvis Young
Procession
circa 1995

Purvis Young
Figure Study
circa 1995

Purvis Young
Overtown Landscape

*******************************************************************************************************************
I enjoyed this exhibition. The museum is uncrowded so one can examine the pieces at one's own pace. The one area in which I felt a void was in the information provided, both about the broader themes and on individual pieces.

This was great for Deland and should be visited as soon as possible as the exhibition ends March 17th.

©Everythingelse238