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The New York Times, Sunday April 19, 1970
Art Mailbag

A Threat to the Flag? Or Art?
"GIDE'S WORDS"
To the Editor:
When Andre Gide wrote: "Moins le blanc est intelligent plus il trouve le negre bete," he certainly must have had the likes of Hilton Kramer in mind.
In his rather myopic review of the exhibitions of Romare Bearden and Barbara Chase Riboud, Kramer began by stating that the works of these artists "raise some interesting questions about the relation of black experience to modernist forms of painting and sculpture." Although Kramer does not develop these questions, the general tone of his review clearly suggests his total lack of understanding and sympathy for the efforts of those black artists engaged in such interpretations. 
Variously, Kramer referred to Bearden as "a well established figure," "a strong designer" whose "images are compelling." And to Mrs. Riboud as being a "sculptor of real gifts." With these attitudes I heartily agree. Yet while Kramer giveth, so he taketh.
Most glaringly, I feel, his statement that the emotions Bearden portrays "are not so much stated as implied." Inasmuch as Bearden is not painting social propaganda, it would seem that such understatement is more appropriate. Actually though, in connection with other artists who seek or have sought, a classic form, Bearden's serene, refined personages would suffer from any excess of emotion. The flame of life that permeates his silent rooms, his dignified people, emerges as much from his abilities as a designer as from his consummate knowledge of the culture he depicts. 
Kramer's further contention that Bearden's work is at once "arrested" but "nonetheless convey a sense of flux" would require the explanation of a nuclear physicist. I can only say that Bearden makes formidable use of some disparate elements of photograph and of documentary films in an effort to give immediacy to his work, and often to extend its meaning. This, obviously, completely eludes Kramer. 
Regarding Mrs. Riboud, Kramer makes this amazing statement: "There is a very French refinement in these abstract bronzes - which is to say, an over-refinement..." What does Kramer mean? Does he mean, in fact, that all French art of refinement is overrefined? Or that Mrs. Riboud's work is that of refinement, hereby making it overrefined? One strongly suspects that the real motive behind Kramer's severe criticism of Mrs. Riboud's work stems from the fact that she chose to create such tasteful and dignified sculptures in memory of Malcolm X. She, like millions of blacks, has come to see the civil rights activist as an eloquent and beautiful human being, one who played a towering role in helping America's black population to think better of itself. This, in the minds of many, is an unpardonable sin. 
I shall not attempt to explore any more of the discrepancies and lack of insight of Kramer's review. However, I do feel that there is still another motive operative here. It is called a double standard - one for whites and another for blacks! Those who share Kramer's unhealthy sentiments have a stereotype idea that the work of black artists must, by nature, be crude, lacking in craftsmanship and totally devoid of sophistication. When black artists dare to adhere to universal artistic standards as in the case of Bearden and Mrs. Riboud, they are either written off as being derivative or just plain untalented. Certainly in the Benin bronzes and the supreme carvings of Ife - as well as other African works and masters of the American jazz idiom - you now have art that is being universally accepted as being equal to any other art form. In my opinion, this is a spirit, vitality and quality toward which any artist might aspire. Were not Brancusi, Modigliani and Picasso so inspired?

HENRI GHENT
New York City

"NOT JUDICIOUS"
To the Editor:
Recently, I had the occasion to view the exhibition of collage paintings by Romare Bearden, and the exhibition of sculpture by Barbara Chase Riboud. In my opinion, Hilton Kramer's review was not a judicious one. Some of his assumptions and jaundiced observations must be challenged--before his views become logged, hermetically sealed and accepted as the official and unalterable estimate of these two gifted artists.
Kramer's decision to discuss the work of Bearden and Mrs. Riboud, two individualists, in a composite review raises an interesting question about the critic's a priori notions about, and expectations of, art created by Afro-Americans. Could it be that Kramer "lumped" these two artists in his review because he felt that their mutual "black experience" provided a commonality that made is unnecessary to view them, first and foremost, as individuals capable of creating works that also reflect their private involvements--concerns that transcend the matter of color? Further, could it be that, by placing them in the proverbial "black bag," he feels at ease in suggesting to them how best to convey Negritude? For instance, he warns Bearden that "[his] imagery seems to call for . . . stronger form and a more robust expression than it is usually given." He calls to Mrs. Riboud's attention that, as an artist, her chief defect resides in her inability to balance the form-motif equation and that this lack becomes "especially evident in the four 'Monuments to Malcolm X.'"
It becomes rather obvious that Kramer remains a believer in the antediluvian notion that the best esthetic expression of any aspect of the black experience calls for for the creation of raw, aggressive, inimical forms. He seems to feel that Bearden's elaborate efforts to uniquely express his intuitive understanding of his people merely eventuates in so much decoration. What seems to elude him is the fact that Bearden has synthesized American motifs, the most relevant cubist principles and photographic materials in an original manner, thereby revealing, to the truly perceptive, a new set of generalizations about visual phenomena and people.
One understands, all too well, why Kramer might feel that the intransigents——the late Malcolm X and Eldridge Cleaver——are undeserving of the magnificent monuments Mrs. Riboud has created in their honor. Hence the motivation underlying his commentary to the effect that the sculptress has difficulty in relating style to theme is also made absolutely clear.
ALVIN SMITH
Painter
New York City.