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Page Twenty
the village VOICE, [[ripped]]
A black view of the Whitney
Paint art racist
by Charles Wright
Indispensable as the land, the slaves endured. Then as America progressed, the blacks were offered a wine glass of humanity. They were recognized in the world of music and sports. A visual, entertaining world. In the visual world of art, blacks are invisible. In America paint art racist. Occasionally a black show arrives like the Metropolitan's great disaster, "Harlem On My Mind." At the time, the press and public paid very little attention to the 12 black artists at the Lee Nordness Galleries. But Benny Andrews and Cliff Joseph were forming the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition. Later, they approached John Baur of the Whitney Museum, who agreed to a black show "because black artists have been so neglected." Indeed!
And this was only the beginning. Gossip, accusations, press releases sculpted controversy. Would the Whitney's show be like Hoving's last black hurrah? I wondered. It was at this time that Miss Carole Lyles of the New York Urban Coalition invited me to a press conference at the Studio Museum in Harlem. I arrived after the press conference. There was nothing to do but admire the drawings and paintings of Robert Carter. The well-dressed crowd was quiet and serious. A heavy line of tension seemed to engulf them.
But that night at Nigel Jackson's Acts of Art Gallery, 15 Charles Street, the mood was festive like any opening. Everyone was on and because of the crowd, I couldn't appreciate the art. Since I'd rather have 10 good paintings than 10 good lovers, I returned for two more visits. Space is limited, the collection has been arranged well. But we're not concerned with arrangements. Good Black Art is the question. And: when is a black artist not a black artist? When his art doesn't reflect his African heritage? Many of the artists do pay homage to Mother Africa and to being oppressed and black in America. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of the works of art carry social comment. But is this also good art? Absolutely in the case of Russ Thompson's "Harlem River Room," which is also a good painting. The same is true of Don Robertson's oil on paper titled "Waiting." I also liked the mocking humor of Benny Andrews and Cliff Joseph's work. Lloyd Toones's "Truth and Soul" collage is perhaps a little too dramatic but it is neat, well put together. Certainly, I share Mr. Toones's emotions. I immediately responded to Betty Blayton's non-ethnic paintings. Miss Blayton is represented by four small round abstractions and one large round abstraction. Her work has a haunting oriental quality. Is she Japanese, Eskimo, or black? Betty Blayton is simply a good artist who also happens to be black. Robert Carter is represented by only one drawing downtown. But I suggest you visit the Studio Museum in Harlem to see more of Mr. Carter's work. "Rebuttal to the Whitney Museum Exhibition" is a good, tough, mother. I am proud of them.
The Whitney show? Well, I liked all that gallery space, the slate floor. But some of the pop things were too pretty, too colorful, like department store graphics. And would you believe...one god damn Vassarely imitation? The three old masters, Charles White, Jacob Lawrence, and Romare Bearden are at the Whitney—I suppose they have been hanging on in the white art world for such a long time. I missed the work of Eldzier Cortor, Richard Hunt, and Daniel Johnson. They were also not at Acts of Art. But I was impressed by the young black talents. John Eversley's polyester and resin sculpture, Betty Chase's "Riboned Bronze and Silk" (like the title of a Duke Ellington song). Miss Chase, who exhibits at the Betty Parsons Gallery, sculpts in a non-ethnic vein. But there was a something tribal and powerful about her work. Charles Searles will become one of the best young black artists in America. His "News" is powerful black painting. Mr. Searles's theme, style belong to the Jacob Lawrence school. Yet he is his own man. I also liked C [[ripped]] mixed media [[ripped]] Stephanie Pogue's two color etch [[ripped]] ings, Avel de Knight's work [[ripped]] Joseph H. Ross, Jr.'s "Strange Fruit Repeated." And there was bitter humor in Bettye Saar's "Whitey's World," Murrury De Pillas's 'Aunt Jemima."
I regret that all the black artists could not have exhibited together. But that's the price one pays for being black and an artist in America. Being a novelist, I began speculating about their private lives, how were they making it? Working a nine-to-five gig? Washing dishes? Were they living in the fabled lofts of SoHo and the Bowery? They were good enough to inhabit great, working lofts. One of the black guards at the Whitney Museum said there was a large black crowd at the opening. "Everything went along smoothly," he told me. "I'm glad of that." Then I knew why I had had a funny feeling at the Whitney. The atmosphere was down home, Southern style. But not the Black Art.