CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/20/2015

Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting

"Pink Psyche Queen" (1973) is reproduced from Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting, the first substantial overview of this important yet egregiously overlooked artist—published to accompany the retrospective currently on view at the Walker Art Center. "I came to New York to study at the Cooper Union in 1960," Whitten is quoted in Kathryn Kanjo's essay. "I came in at a time right at the end of Abstract Expressionism, Pop artists were moving in. There were a lot of things in flux. I came in at a time where the scene was open. I had the opportunity to know Bill de Kooning; I had the opportunity to know Franz Kline; I had the opportunity to know Philip Guston, Barney Newman, Rothko. All these people actually met with me, talked to me. I was just a student, an art student! People were more open. The scene was more open. Okay, all these people were white, but at the same time I met Romare Bearden; I met Jacob Lawrence; I met Norman Lewis. Can you imagine what this meant for me? I’m getting information from both sides of the divide and, believe me, we’re talking a divide. Those divides did not meet. By being a student—my coming in at that opportune time—I had access to both sides of the divide. In retrospect, this was the best thing that could have happened to me, a young, black kid from Alabama—from the background that I came out of—to have access to these kinds of people. I am talking mentor figures."