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38
Ollie Harrington was popular with the masses. Let [[strikethrough]] it [[strikethrough]] me put it this way, during those years the masses of black people were not looking at much of any kind of art. So perhaps we can only [[strikethrough]] ju [[strikethrough]] gauge "recognition" on the basis of establishment acceptance.
Q. I notice that [[strikethrough]] many [[strikethrough]] most books, particularly the Dover book and even the Porter book categorize Lawrence's work as "Primitive" or "neo-Primitive" - what's your feeling on that?
A. I think his work is very sophisticated. There is a kind of sensitive power [[strikethrough]] behind [[strikethrough]] at work in his figures. They are like nothing we've seen before in terms of the picturization of [[strikethrough]] in [[strikethrough]] the [[strikethrough]] depiction of [[strikethrough]] black [[strikethrough]] people [[strikethrough] figure. He is [[strikethrough]] an [[strikethrough]] a very elegant designer, a beautiful colorist and a wonderful draughtsman and his angular figures all bespeak this. Lawrence is an intellectual not a primitive...
Q. What would you call his work?
A. Well I think it has a special quality for which we have no precedent. There is nothing similar to [[strikethrough]] if [[strikethrough]] it which can be used as a reference but it may find a parallel in some aspects of African Art. As you know, African Art is not primitive. [[strikethrough]] This is a sophisticated, highly refined art form and the African artis [[strikethrough]]
[[strikethrough]] To [[strikethrough]] A [[strikethrough]] true [[strikethrough]] primitive is on who gropes and tries to create something moving and who somehow, luckily, [[strikethrough]] makes [[strikethrough]] creates a charming work. African Art is a sophisticated highly refined art form. The African sculptor knew what he was doing and so does Lawrence. Jake Lawrence is a very intelligent painter.
Q. We've been talking about "official" acceptance but I'd like to know if there was an "in-group" of artists who established their own standards [[strikethrough]] for [[strikethrough]] of excellence during the twenties and thirties?
A. Well, there was the Harlem Artists Guild. Spinky (Charles) Alston, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Mike (Henry) Bannam, Eugene Grigsley - [[strikethrough]] guys working [[strikethrough]] a whole host of guys up there working- a fellow who went down to Le Mayne to teach, I forget his name {Vertis Hayes}. But, this was a New York guy who had a large studio in Harlem where they all worked and congregated- they even lived there. There was also the Harmon Foundation. They did the exhibiting but the
