Edited with text by Tom Lloyd. Text by Amiri Baraka, Ray Elkins, Francis & Val Gray Ward, Jeff Donaldson, Melvin Dixon, Babatunde Folayemi, Bing Davis.
A prescient document of art-industry and museum critique from Black artists and writers, now in facsimile
A collection of essays edited by artist and organizer Tom Lloyd and first published in 1971, Black Art Notes was a critical response to the Contemporary Black Artists in America exhibition at the Whitney Museum, but grew into a “concrete affirmation of Black Art philosophy as interpreted by eight Black artists,” as Lloyd notes in the introduction.
This facsimile edition features writings by Lloyd, Amiri Baraka, Melvin Dixon, Jeff Donaldson, Ray Elkins, Babatunde Folayemi, and Francis & Val Gray Ward. These artists position the Black Arts Movement outside of white, Western frameworks and articulate the movement as one created by and existing for Black people. Their essays outline the racism of the art world, condemning the attempts of museums and other white cultural institutions to tokenize, whitewash and neutralize Black art, and offer solutions through self-determination and immediate political reform. While the publication was created to respond to a particular moment, the systemic problems that it addresses remain pervasive, making these critiques both timely and urgent.
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Featured spreads are from Black Art Notes, a new release this week from Primary Information and a Staff Pick for Black History Month. An awesome and highly-relevant facsimile edition, this 80-page staple-bound paperback (with gatefolds) collects eight essays and an appendix written in response to the Whitney's 1971 Contemporary Black Artists in America exhibition, which was famously boycotted by a consortium of artist-members of the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition who had, in fact, initiated the show nearly two years prior. Edited by artist and organizer Tom Lloyd, Black Art Notes features writings by Amiri Baraka, Melvin Dixon, Jeff Donaldson, Ray Elkins, Babatunde Folayemi, Francis & Val Gray Ward and Lloyd himself. His Introduction, "Black Art—White Cultural Institutions," ends with a statement that is equally timely today. "Art, as far as possible, should be inter-connected with political and social action. Community art groups, dance workshops, storefront theatres, film workshops are springing all over the country. Artists are more and more gearing and investing all or part of their creative energies in social action agencies, mental health programs, drug addiction centers and youth organizations. This turning into the community indicates a certain awareness of others in the group—something which has been previously negated. Furthermore since many of these depend essentially on neighborhood funding there is no requirement to support the establishment values of the dominant culture.
In a society where racist institutions are inhumane and unresponsive to the free expression of other cultures the Black aesthetic will assert itself inspite of all the obstacles of alien culture."
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FORMAT: Pbk, 8.25 x 8.25 in. / 80 pgs. LIST PRICE: U.S. $16.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $22.5 ISBN: 9781734489750 PUBLISHER: Primary Information AVAILABLE: 2/23/2021 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ASIA
A prescient document of art-industry and museum critique from Black artists and writers, now in facsimile
Published by Primary Information. Edited with text by Tom Lloyd. Text by Amiri Baraka, Ray Elkins, Francis & Val Gray Ward, Jeff Donaldson, Melvin Dixon, Babatunde Folayemi, Bing Davis.
A collection of essays edited by artist and organizer Tom Lloyd and first published in 1971, Black Art Notes was a critical response to the Contemporary Black Artists in America exhibition at the Whitney Museum, but grew into a “concrete affirmation of Black Art philosophy as interpreted by eight Black artists,” as Lloyd notes in the introduction.
This facsimile edition features writings by Lloyd, Amiri Baraka, Melvin Dixon, Jeff Donaldson, Ray Elkins, Babatunde Folayemi, and Francis & Val Gray Ward. These artists position the Black Arts Movement outside of white, Western frameworks and articulate the movement as one created by and existing for Black people. Their essays outline the racism of the art world, condemning the attempts of museums and other white cultural institutions to tokenize, whitewash and neutralize Black art, and offer solutions through self-determination and immediate political reform. While the publication was created to respond to a particular moment, the systemic problems that it addresses remain pervasive, making these critiques both timely and urgent.
