Norman Lewis et al. by Bill Hodges Gallery

Norman W. Lewis

& Company

Bill Hodges Gallery 361 Clinton Ave. Suite 4F (Office) Brooklyn, NY 11238 212.333.2640●www.billhodgesgallery.com Front Cover: Norman Lewis New World Acoming' 1971●Oil on Canvas 73 x 87 in. (185.4 x 221 cm)

Opposite: Norman Lewis Figures (Folks Like Us) Oct. 24,1944●Oil on Burlap 30 x 26 in. (76.2 x 66 cm)

Norman W. Lewis 1909 – 1979 By Mindy Tan

As an artist whose work is circumscribed to two distinct artistic milieus—Black art and Abstract Expressionism, Norman Lewis’ oeuvre reveals his lifelong battle to juggle his responsibilities as a black artist and his attraction to abstraction as a way to create and explore new and experimental modes of communication. This collection of paintings features works that are radical and compelling. Whether representational, figurative, or abstract, aesthetically and thematically, they all perform a kind of visual activism that Lewis used to address the lack of social, political, and racial equality for African-Americans. At the time of his death, Lewis was seventy years old and a well-accomplished artist, having exhibited both nationally and internationally. He participated in several distinguished group shows at museums, received numerous honorable mentions for his art, and multiple awards for his paintings.1 In addition to all his accolades, he was a part of the prestigious Willard Gallery in New York from 1946 to 1964, a feat that was rare for African-American artists in the post-war era. At Willard Gallery, Lewis had eight solo exhibitions. His works were also included in group exhibitions alongside the work of important artists such as 19th-century French artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Amadeo Modigliani, and Paul Klee.2 Posthumously, there have been at least twenty exhibitions devoted to showing his work nationally.3 Reviewers unfailingly share the opinion that Lewis was a highly skilled, aesthetically sensitive painter. From the beginning of his career to the early 1940s, Lewis, like most of his American contemporaries, painted in a Social Realist manner, choosing to capture “the exploitation of blacks in New York City and America. . . . people being dispossessed, lynchings, and later fascism.”4 In the Study for a Painting (1935, p.29) drawing featured in this catalogue, as in many other similar drawings and paintings from the period, Lewis positioned his figures so their gazes are obscured, acknowledging the subservient role of blacks in American society; likewise, deliberately increasing the physical and psychic distance between subject and the viewer. By 1946, Lewis was starting to question the “limitations which come under the names ‘African Idiom,’ ‘Negro Idiom’ or ‘Social Painting.’”5 In his artistic pursuits, Lewis wanted to “be publicly first an artist and incidentally, a Negro,” because “the excellence of his work will be the most effective blow against stereotype and the most irrefutable proof of the artificiality of stereotype in general.”6 Lewis writes in his Thesis of 1946 that he was after a concept that: treats art not as a reproduction or as convenient but entirely secondary medium for propaganda but as the production of experiences which combine intellectual and emotional activities in a way that may conceivably add not only to the pleasure of the viewer and the satisfaction of the artist but to a universal knowledge of aesthetics and the creative faculty which I feel exists for one form of expression or another in all men.7 In his quest to be a more effective artist, Lewis was determined to leave Social Realism behind. However, he did not find much support when he transitioned from Social Realist painting to abstraction. According to his peers, Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson, “Part of Lewis’s inner conflict stemmed from the fact that nearly all his friends continued to think and work in terms of social protest painting,” while Lewis became increasingly convinced that a painting is made up of shapes whether they are recognizable or not. The whole composition can be very beautiful—not even knowing what you are doing—if you dare. You suddenly become aware, after years of painting, that . . . if you arrange those shapes in any interesting fashion that might be visually stimulating, it doesn’t have to be a form that you know.8 Lewis, at this stage of his career, was drawn to abstraction as a way to assert his own creativity and individuality. Bearden and Henderson suggest, “As a socially conscious individual, he had been under heavy pressure to paint pictures that expressed a sociopolitical viewpoint,” and that way of painting “left no room for him to express his own feelings and concerns that were not part of the message of the moment.”9 Lewis’ insistence on painting in an abstract style ended up isolating him from most of his old artist friends and young black students who perceived “an involvement with Abstract Expressionism as a desertion of black people.”10 Music, jazz in particular, became a constant source of inspiration, a frequently recurring subject matter, and a strong influence on Lewis’ work during his transition from Social Realism to Abstract Expressionism. Art historian Richard Powell introduced the term, “blues aesthetic” to describe the art produced by black artists that does not specifically address black experience, but nonetheless originates from a shared experience of being black in America.11 For Powell, “blues aesthetic” places black music and culture at the heart of the African-American experience of which black art is a product.12 Lewis both embodied and performed Powell’s “blues aesthetics.” In many paintings from the period, Lewis used multiple continuous lines to replicate and reimagine the exhilarating experience of a jazz performance. Title Unknown (1945, p.24), is an example of one of Lewis’ earliest abstract paintings where he uses bright colors bisected by black lines to form shapes that lead the eye around the canvas. Four in Spade (1947, p.28) shows him experimenting with ideas of color and shape by intermingling musicians, instruments, and lights of a jazz club. In both of these works, Lewis is not necessarily painting jazz music; he is more a jazz composer, improvising and riffing off of what he has already put on the canvas in the same way musicians play off of what each other is doing. Lewis creates a jazz melody of his own with the vibrant lines and deep rhythmic black shapes. Lewis’ use of lines took on a calligraphic resonance the more he experimented with abstraction. From the late 1940s to the 1970s, Lewis developed his distinctive “little figures,” which he explained as “humanity in terms of the space in which you live in.”13 Several works in the catalogue, Bocchi (1957, p.13), New World Acoming' (1971, p.5), and Exodus (1972, p.7) showcase the evolution of Lewis’ loosely drawn calligraphic figures. In Bocchi, abstract forms are created from basic color shapes and brush strokes, suggesting crowds of people in colorful clothes. In contrast, in New World Acoming' and Exodus, the “little figures” become “less and less realistically human looking … Instead of individual masses and showing a lot of heads it was just a blob of black paint or white paint …”14 The line work that exemplified the “little figures” motif in Bocchi has transformed into layers of thicker paint and punchier strokes of color, but the original technique is still evident in the layout of the shapes and the method by which they all intersect and overlay. In these later paintings, Lewis uses “little figures” to explore the idea of a procession. New World Acoming' is atmospheric and celestial with a red orb of light illuminating the canvas. Here, the diagonal lines in the geometric shapes create an ascending rhythm of movement in the procession of “little figures.” Exodus, in contrast, features groups of interlocking shapes and brushstrokes in tones of yellow, black, and white set in a monochromatic space. By sticking to a figurative abstractionist method, Lewis was still able to attend to the purpose of racial uplift without painting explicitly racial subjects. In this sense, he was developing his own unique method of Social Abstraction; where personal experience and social responsibility are juxtaposed, leaving behind just enough clues and connections for the astute viewer. Another subject that Lewis explored frequently was night. Lewis’ partner, Joan Murray Weissman, recalled that Lewis “really loved night; he loved going out at night, and he loved walking at night, and he loved the sky with stars in it, and he loved lights. He was a night kind of guy.”15 Night and the solar system were common themes in Lewis’ paintings. The moon, in particular, occupied a special place in his night paintings. In New Moon (1959, p.23), Lewis uses a more impressionistic brushstroke to capture the appearance of light in darkness. Here, Lewis’ paint is very thin, layered and rhythmic. His dry-brush technique builds translucent layers of black to produce an array of tonality within his repeating shapes. The contrast of the soft dry-brush technique contrasts sharply with the hard edges of the focal shapes. A similarly serene and mystical mood is present in Seachange XIII (1977, p. 15). Art historian Ann Eden Gibson has taken to calling Lewis’ paintings from the mid-70s the “Atmospherics.”16 Many paintings from this period feature obscured, foggy space and ethereal forms painted very thinly using masking techniques. For example, Seachange XIII is composed of ethereal swirls of bluish-white orbs emerging from a dark background. The edges of the shapes do not consist of lines, Lewis, rather, creates the spiraling forms using masking and dry brush fades. This allows the highly contrasting forms to seemingly emerge from the space. Lewis’ artistic skills and innovations aside, he is, today, mostly remembered for being the “forgotten” member of the white-identified

American Abstract Expressionist canon, absent from the art movement he helped establish. Lewis believed himself to be a “contributing force of the movement.”17 In fact, in 1950, he was the only African-American artist invited to participate in a three-day long roundtable discussions at Studio 35 to help define the Abstract Expressionist movement.18 Much of the scholarship on Lewis thus insists on his place in the American Abstract Expressionist canon even though he was not the only African-American abstractionist to emerge in the postwar period.19 Other African American artists, such as Hale Woodruff, Beauford Delaney, Rose Piper, Romare Bearden, and Thelma Johnson Streat were also working in the abstract mode during this time. But the tendency has been to argue for Lewis’ inclusion based on his affinity with the movement and his presence at the invitation-only, closed-door sessions at “Studio 35.”20 His connections to the other Abstract Expressionist artists and the evolution of his style, Gibson offers, place him “geographically, socially, and formally” within the movement.21 In her book Abstract Expressionism: Other Politics, Gibson identifies a select group of eight artists who make up the core of the Abstract Expressionist movement: Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, and Clyfford Still. These “essential eight,” according to Gibson, represent exclusively the white, male, heterosexual embodiment of the violent, aggressive, self-contained, romanticized American hero of post World War II.22 Lewis did not fit this mold, and is therefore unfairly excluded. According to her, the four areas of conflict that have hindered black artists include social segregation, racial discrimination, the problem of Primitivism, and the burden of double consciousness.23 Lewis’ stepdaughter, Tarin Fuller, agreeing with Gibson’s arguments, also mentions that it was Lewis’ “racial identity that had prevented him from receiving due recognition for his achievement.”24 Several other reasons can also be used to explain Lewis’ exclusion. The Abstract Expressionist canon was, very early on, already determined by the art critic Clement Greenberg.25 In Greenberg’s 1955 pivotal essay “’American-Type’ Painting,” he heralded the work of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still as examples of the avant-garde, where “ungoverned spontaneity and haphazard effects,” characterized canvases that “appear to be largely devoid of pictorial incident.”26 According to Greenberg, an Abstract Expressionist work of art is identified by its pureness, a lack of subject matter, and its “new and greater emphasis upon form.”27 Lewis’ work did not satisfy Greenberg’s criteria. Curator Thomas Lawson, who organized the first retrospective show of Lewis’ works, also suggests Greenberg overlooked Lewis because his “painting appeared vastly economical of means in an era which delighted in fat painting, while the pale, sensitive color and general lyricism of mood that it implied was too easily neglected amidst the large scale dramas of American abstraction.28 Lewis did not keep to the “action painting”/ gesturalist style or to the color-field style of painting.29 Many of Lewis’ paintings were hybrids that encompassed both “action” and “color-field” painting techniques to express the resounding tensions of historical racial polarization and the effect on his life. His style may have been abstract, but his execution was neither “spontaneous” nor “haphazard.” On the contrary, Lewis was a very deliberate painter who paid much attention to his use of lines and color. Lewis’ mark makings are meticulous and calculated. The abstractions Lewis utilizes do not necessarily negate or exclude the figure or narrative. Many Abstract Expressionists also chose to evade the use of language in a bid to ensure that their works remain “absolutely autonomous,” and cannot function as “vessels of communication.”30 Not only did artists leave their works untitled, many also antagonized any attempt to interpret their work by refusing to explain what their work “meant” so as to avoid influencing the viewing process.31 Lewis, on the other hand, was not afraid to use words. Having always been concerned with the issue of accessibility, his abstract paintings were often titled to keep his work approachable for the viewing public.32 Despite the many “recovery” projects that try to include Lewis in the Abstract Expressionist canon, Lewis was more of a Social Abstractionist. His work may appear abstract on first sight, but Lewis provides the viewer with a title and just enough visual clues that they can start deciphering the content on their own. Lewis likened Abstract Expressionist art to what he saw on the ground from his window seat on the plane on the way to Los Angeles. He told fellow artist Vivian Browne: “What crooks the Abstract Expressionists are, because I’m sure that this is where they got it from. When you are that high up there is hardly any possibility of detail. You can draw a straight line, but the only real thing is fusion.”33 Of his own experiments in abstraction, Lewis explains, You suddenly become aware after years of painting that that rectangle or square is composed basically of shapes. How if you arrange those shapes in any interesting fashion—that might be visually stimulating. You realize that it doesn’t have to be a form as you know a form.34 He added, That’s the thing you have got to get used to. It’s like smelling yourself … After a while you find you can stand yourself. And visually these things are exciting. You don’t even know at the moment what you have done. In retrospect, you say, ‘Gee, I did that!’ You feel excited about the thing and that’s how it happened to me.35 If Abstract Expressionism is about individualism, experimentation, and innovation, then the trivialization of the importance of Lewis’ work based on the confines of race and identity reduces his quest for a universal visual language to mere random doodles. To propose that he was a victim of racial prejudice is just half-truth. Lewis did not enjoy the freedom that other white artists were afforded. He was not a part of the counterculture the way his peers were. Lewis also did not enjoy the same economic success as some of his colleagues.36 But he was not unknown. While it is a novel, well-intentioned move to want to write him back into the mainstream accounts of Abstract Expressionism, it is perhaps more useful to discuss his contribution to the movement in terms of how he has navigated between the twin goals of personal freedom and social responsibility. Perhaps we have to understand Lewis’ attempt to visualize the interior reality of the relationship between people and the ambient world as being different from the rest of the Abstract Expressionists so we can appreciate his art as a revelation of unique aesthetics and sensibility and thus, an excellent starting point for observing the dynamics of the various forces at play on a society. Art historian, David Craven, contends that “In according Lewis his rightful recognition, he becomes a major force across aesthetic, as well as ethnic lines, rather than simply a minor, or minority, voice within the New York art world.”37 In this sense, Lewis would be better served excluded from the Abstract Expressionist canon. Calling Lewis a Social Abstractionist instead of an Abstract Expressionist thus focuses his creations as a site of interchange between history and subjectivity; his identity as an African-American artist, and the aesthetic and social potential of his blackness. It also frees Lewis’ work from comparisons with his contemporaries since his concerns, unlike Pollock’s, were never fully about the spiritual. In comparison to Pollock’s wild drip paintings, Lewis’ paintings are “meticulous and completely developed and expressed.”38 Lewis’ oeuvre demonstrates that he used different styles at different stages of his career to convey his vision. While some may find his lack of a definitive style to be bothersome, gallery owner, Bill Hodges, who has been collecting Lewis’ work for a long time compares Lewis to a “gifted child” who moved in search of new endeavors after mastering a set of skills.39 Finally, it is also important to note that even though Lewis worked on the margins of the Abstract Expressionist movement, he was a fully committed participant in the black arts community. His life and work demonstrate the interdisciplinary complexity that extends beyond his subject and the canvas. “Much of what happens to those men and women of color who paint in America depends largely on the part of white America,” Lewis says, adding “The very nature of the fact is that unless you become white, as long as there is still racism here, you are not getting your just dessert.”40 In a 1971 interview with Esther Rolick, Lewis asked, “Are they looking for art or are they looking for blackness?”41 Lewis believed that black art was as good and valid as any other kind of art and he devoted his life to the cause of making sure black artists and their work were given due recognition. In response to interviewer Vivian Browne who asked if “we [black artists] belong in the mainstream,” Lewis replied, “We are so much a part of the mainstream that if Black people would suddenly go on strike for one day in America, it would shake the economy.”42

"Ars Longa, Vita Brevis, Occasio Praecepes, Experimentum, Periculosum, Ludicium Difficile" It’s Business I’ve written those words all too often; but I have always felt some statements require constant repeating. My art collecting began in Newark, New Jersey in 1976, after I purchased a signed Picasso lithograph from his verve series. The price of the lithograph was about $125.00. I gave a deposit and six months later I took it home. The work was purchased from a small gallery named, “The Art Gallery”, which was about 2 blocks from Rutgers University and owned by a gentleman named Allen. His tiny gallery specialized in Salvador Dali’s, massive, Dante Alighieri series, the Divine Comedy, a portfolio of prints that numbered into the thousands. His passion for the arts infused my desires, and although I had attended art classes with Camille Billiops and numerous Afro American art history classes at Rutgers, Allen’s passion and business ethics set the course for my future endeavor in the business of art. The next year I left Newark, moved to Arverne, which was actually Far Rockaway, to the newly built Ocean Village, a complex of apartment buildings near the Atlantic Ocean in New York City. Although I left Newark, I continued to teach in the Newark public school system, which meant travelling 2 hours from the south end of Queens, New York to the central ward of Newark. In the 1970s, the trains were cold and the trip was long, but what I had, which was very much worth the commute, was the ocean at my doorsteps when I would get home. This kept me sane. Teaching afforded me summers off and opportunities to visit museums, art galleries, and eventually auction houses. PB 84, Christie's and Phillips auction houses were places I constantly visited. This was a time when the major auction houses had a main space, and also had a separate division or “annex” which was used to sell less expensive works of art including furniture for generally under $5,000. I visited there often. This was when I learned what the wealthy did with their last season’s furniture and how art galleries that sold secondary works of art, stocked their collections. By 1979, I had attended more than 50 auctions and purchased more than a dozen works of art. It was also the year my taste changed. After 3 years of collecting mostly original graphics, I wanted something more, so I began looking at unique works (one of a kind). However, in order for me to afford these, it was necessary for me to sell some of my signed original graphics. This was the beginning of A.F.T.U. Gallery. Art For The Uncontrolled As I continued to acquire, I decided that in order to evolve into watercolor and drawings, more cash was needed than my teacher’s salary provided. I therefore sold a few works and registered the business name A.F.T.U. which I felt was fitting for my obsession. Soon after placing an ad in the New York Times, for about $135 for a 2 day ad run, Friday and Sunday, I sold a work, this was the summer of 1979, 38 years ago, and I was in business. I have learned much in my 38 years of selling art, most importantly, integrity and the ethical treatment of both the artist and client. And since I found the artist the more difficult of the two to work with, I decided to become a buy and sell art dealer or as it’s called, a dealer in the secondary market. The Works Joshua Johnson is irrefutably, the most significant artist in African-American art history, though sadly many American art curators have never heard of him. I feel proud and privileged to be the custodian of a matching pair of works by him. If asked which work I deem the most important of the collection, without hesitation, it would be these Johnson paintings. Highly documented, they were exhibited in museums and included in the two most important books on his work, Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800-1950 (p. 16, 18), and Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter (p. 129, 130). Both publications include illustrations of each work, one in full color. Of the approximately 100 authentically documented works, my research notes only 10 in private collections. As there are very few documented Johnson works, this pair would command a major position in the collection of any world class museum. When my search for art began, it included artists Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Beauford Delaney, Joshua Johnson (Johnston), Horace Pippen (who has been collected for many years as a primitive painter), Robert S. Duncanson and Edward Mitchell Bannister, many of whom are included in this catalogue. The museum quality work within has been carefully selected from the gallery collection and will stand against any other collection. The Delaney is what we in the business call an “A” picture, a masterwork. I acquired the canvas from the Darthea Speyer Gallery in Paris about 10 years ago. I “chased” this after I was made aware of it on a trip to Paris when Harriet Kelley asked if I would visit Darthea Speyer Gallery. The next time I visited Paris, it was there from a traveling exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and I decided to purchase it. The Charles Sebree is unequivocally the largest in scale known, and the provenance is impeccable. It was acquired from the Gertrude Vanderbilt estate (label on reverse indicates name “Mrs. Robert Livingston”). My understanding is it hung in the same location in her home for more than 50 years. A gem! I am blessed to have acquired more than 50 Sam Gilliam works over the years, and not one draped work. Not because they were not offered to me, but because I do not like them. I feel they fade easily, hold much dust and are just not as beautiful as the steel works from the early to mid-1980’s. I have always considered the steel and heavy impacted works his greatest. Please take a look at our two large steel and acrylic painted works; they are exemplary works, produced at a time I consider among his finest years, the mid 1980's. And then there are the Elizabeth Catlett sculptures, both master works. My buying and selling art has continued for more than 40 years. As it is said "we are not the owners of art but the custodians of art". These days museums are “gung-ho” on African American artists. I guess the notion is to correct the wrong that was once committed. My great desire is for museums to collect works by those who laid the groundwork for the present generation of artists, those artists who worked 50, 60, 70 years ago and more. Unfortunately, many American art curators have never heard of the artists Leslie Bolling, David Bowser, Edwin Harleston, and of course the great Julian Hudson. And in order to do such significant work, they need to hire curators who are knowledgeable in this history. But as my quest continues, I must also realize that by only proceeding in that vein, I will miss out on the new 21st century artists. So I began listening to the encouragement of my good friend E.P. by acquiring and selling the 21st century artists represented here. Painters like the highly respected up and coming, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, with her challenging images; a massive drawing by Kehinde Wiley; an enormous and highly seductive photograph by Mickalene Thomas, of which only 4 others exist; and the photographer / story teller, Carrie Mae Weems from her most masterful series, the Kitchen Table Series, where she has corrected me by saying “Oh, you’re talking about the Untitled series”. All whose works are presented here I consider to be The Norman Lewis Retrospective. It’s been a 24 year quest of mine for museums to look more critically at the works of Lewis. As many already know, the only reason I opened a gallery was to try and get as many museums as possible to look at and acquire his work. He was, in my opinion a brilliant thought provoking painter. Unlike many of my colleagues in academia and the private sector, I do not consider Lewis an Abstract Expressionist, but an Abstract Lyricist. The retrospective that began November 2015 was an amazing event. If you did not have the opportunity to see this important exhibition, please get the catalogue edited by Ruth Fine. This is our 29th catalogue, our first, Norman W. Lewis: The Second Transition, was published in 1994. All of the 9 paintings of that catalogue found excellent homes including, New York’s Museum of Modern Art. I would like that progress to continue. It really is all about the art.

-Billy Ellison Hodges

Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979)

New World Acoming' 1971â&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 73 x 87 in. (185.4 x 221 cm)

Exodus

1972●Oil on Canvas 72 x 88 ½ in. (182.9 x 224.8 cm)

Figures (Folks Like Us) Oct. 24, 1944â&#x2014;?Oil on Burlap 30 x 26 in. (76.2 x 66 cm)

Yellow with Black

1963●Oil on Canvas 60 x 63 ¼ in. (152.4 x 160.7 cm)

Bocchi

1957●Oil on Canvas 51 ¼ x 63 ¼ in. (130.2 x 160.7 cm)

Seachange XIII

1977â&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 60 x 80 in. (152.4 x 203.2 cm)

Serpentine

1970 - 1971â&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 60 x 48 in. (152.4 x 121.9 cm)

Title Unknown

July 1943â&#x2014;?Gouache and Watercolor on Wove Paper 20 x 14 in. (50.8 x 35.6 cm)

No - 5

1973●Oil on Canvas 78 ¼ x 54 ¾ in. (198.8 x 139.1 cm)

Black Series #8

ca. 1970s●Oil on Canvas 54 ⅝ x 78 in. (138.7 x 198.1 cm)

Eye of the Storm

1973●Oil on Canvas 51 ⅛ x 87 ½ in. (129.9 x 222.3 cm)

New Moon

1959â&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 43 x 71 in. (109.2 x 180.3 cm)

Title Unknown

ca. 1949●Oil on Canvas 50 x 19 ¾ in. (127 x 50.2 cm)

Title Unknown

1955 - 1978●Oil on Canvas 37 ¼ x 62 ½ in. (94.6 x 158.8 cm)

Title Unknown

1961â&#x2014;?Oil on Linen 12 x 20 in. (30.5 x 50.8 cm)

Title Unknown

1945●Oil on Canvas 29 ¼ x 16 in. (74.3 x 40.6 cm)

Four in Spade

1947â&#x2014;?Oil on Masonite 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Study for a Painting 1935●Graphite on Paper 12 ¾ x 10 in. (32.4 x 25.4 cm)

Charles Alston (1907 - 1977)

Symbol

1953●Oil on Canvas 48 x 36 ⅜ in. (121.9 x 92.4 cm)

Charles Alston (1907 - 1977)

Family #2

1958â&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm)

Woman on Bench

ca. 1960sâ&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm)

Milton Avery (1885 - 1965)

Study For "The Nursemaid"

ca. 1934●Watercolor and Graphite on Paper 22 ¼ x 15 ¼ in. (56.5 x 38.7 cm)

Edward M. Bannister (1828 - 1901)

Title Unknown

ca. 1890sâ&#x2014;?Oil on Panel 10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.6 cm)

Edward M. Bannister (1828 - 1901)

East Hancock Harbor ca. Late 1880sâ&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 8 x 12 in. (20.3 x 30.5 cm)

Richmond Barthé (1901 - 1989)

Black Narcissus

1980●Bronze with Dark Brown Patina 18 x 5 x 8 ½ in. (45.7 x 12.7 x 21.6 cm)

Romare Bearden (1912 - 1988)

The Family

1975●Color Aquatint and Photoengraving, Edition of 25 19 ¼ x 26 ⅛ in. (48.9 x 66.4 cm)

Elizabeth Catlett (1915 - 2012)

Mother and Child

ca. 1975●Bronze with Brown Patina 16 ⅛ x 5 ⅞ x 6 ½ in. (41 x 14.9 x 16.5 cm)

Elizabeth Catlett (1915 - 2012)

Rebozo

1952●Bronze with Brown Patina 11 ⅞ x 6 ⅜ x 7 ⅛ in. (30.2 x 16.2 x 18.1 cm)

Edward Clark (1926 - )

Vetheuil

1968●Acrylic on Canvas 74 x 58 ¼ in. (188 x 148 cm)

Chuck Close (1940 - )

Lorna Simpson

2002●Gelatin Silver Print, Edition of 35 48 ¼ x 40 in. (122.6 x 101.6 cm)

Eldzier Cortor (1916 - 2015)

Environment No. V

1969●Color Etching and Aquatint on Paper, Edition of 100 34 ⅝ x 42 in. (87.9 x 106.7 cm)

Roy DeCarava (1919 - 2009)

Untitled (Man with Portfolio) ca. 1950sâ&#x2014;?Gelatin Silver Print 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm)

'Kids God Bless' from Belafonte, New York 19 1952â&#x2014;?Gelatin Silver Print 20 x 14 Âź in. (50.8 x 36.2 cm)

Beauford Delaney (1901 - 1979)

Title Unknown

1964 - 1965â&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 25 x 21 in. (63.5 x 53.3 cm)

Joseph Delaney (1904 - 1991)

The Muse

1973●Pastel on Paper 17 ½ x 12 in. (44.5 x 30.5 cm)

Melvin Edwards (1937 - )

Yellow Way

ca. 1970â&#x2014;?Painted Steel 16 x 38 x 33 in. (40.6 x 96.5 x 83.8 cm)

Sam Gilliam (1935 - )

Renaissance I

1986â&#x2014;?Acrylic, Enamel, Aluminum and Canvas Construction on Wood 75 x 90 x 7 in. (190.5 x 228.6 x 17.8 cm)

Sam Gilliam (1935 - )

Arc Composition

1987●Steel and Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Wood 36 ¼ x 73 x 16 in. (92.1 x 185.4 x 40.6 cm)

Sam Gilliam (1935 - )

Trick Pony

1993●Acrylic and Polypropylene Mounted on Wood 22 ¾ x 71 ¾ in. (57.8 x 182.2 cm)

Yellow Tower and Square

2006●Acrylic on Assembled Birch Panel 77 ⅜ x 27 ⅛ in. (196.5 x 68.9 cm)

Joshua Johnson (ca. 1763 - ca. 1830) Baltimore Shipowner ca. 1815●Oil on Canvas 19 ½ x 15 ½ in. (49.5 x 29.4 cm)

Provenance Senator Theodore Francis Green (1867-1966), Providence, Rhode Island Martha H. Theuer Sold, Weschler’s and Son, Washington, D.C., 1974 Private Collection Exhibited Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800-1950, 14 January - 31 August, 1986, The Bronx Museum, Bronx, New York; Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, California; The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 56

Baltimore Shipowner's Wife ca. 1815●Oil on Canvas 19 ½ x 15 ½ in. (49.5 x 29.4 cm)

Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter, 26 September 1987 - 9 November 1988, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Maryland; The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Art Center, Williamsburg, Virginia; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, Stamford, Connecticut Literature: David C. Driskell, Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800-1950 (San Francisco, 1985), pp. 16, 18, illus. 18. Carolyn J. Weekley and Stiles Tuttle Colwill, Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter (Baltimore, 1987), pp. 129-130, illus. 129. 57

Lois Mailou Jones (1905 - 1998)

Marchande D'Haiti, Petionville 1954●Watercolor on Paper 18 ⅝ x 23 ⅝ in. (47.3 x 60 cm)

Grossesse

1980â&#x2014;?Acrylic on Board 36 x 30 in. (91.4 x 76.2 cm)

Jacob Lawrence (1917 - 2000)

After the Show

1953â&#x2014;?Tempera on Board 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)

Jacob Lawrence (1917 - 2000)

Children at Play

ca. 1955â&#x2014;?Ink, Wash and Graphite on Paper 18 x 22 in. (45.7 x 55.9 cm)

Hughie Lee-Smith (1915 - 1999)

Still Life with Oranges 1975●Oil on Linen 15 ¾ x 11 ¾ in. (40 x 29.8 cm)

Richard Mayhew (1924 - )

Portrait of a Young Man ca. 1950s●Oil on Canvas 24 ⅛ x 18 ⅛ in. (61.3 x 46 cm)

Gordon Parks (1912 - 2006)

American Gothic, Washington D.C. 1942 (Printed in 1991)â&#x2014;?Gelatin Silver Print 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm)

Adam Pendleton (1984 - )

Ego Tripping

2004●Silkscreen on Canvas, Edition of 3 37 ⅜ x 44 ¾ in. (94.9 x 113.7 cm)

Because

2004 - 2005●Silkscreen on Canvas, Edition of 3 51 ¾ x 52 in. (131.4 x 132.1 cm)

Adam Pendleton (1984 - )

Afro-Futuristic (bottom type) 2006●Silkscreen on Canvas 96 x 70 ¾ in. (243.8 x 179.7 cm) Each: 48 x 70 ¾ in. (121.9 x 179.7 cm)

Adam Pendleton (1984 - )

Lab Painting (So I Independent in Georgia in the 90s Black) 2006●Silkscreen on Canvas 67 ¼ x 48 in. (170.8 x 121.9 cm)

The Excited Version (reading Samuel R. Delany in no particular order) 2008●Silkscreen on Canvas 70 ¼ x 48 ½ in. (178.4 x 123.2 cm)

Charles Ethan Porter (1847 - 1923)

Roses

ca.1884●Watercolor on Paper 10 ⅞ x 29 in. (27.6 x 73.7 cm)

Still Life with Pink Roses Before 1887●Oil on Canvas 12 ⅛ x 16 ¼ in. (30.8 x 41.3 cm)

Charles Ethan Porter (1847 - 1923)

Title Unknown

ca. 1887â&#x2014;?Watercolor on Paper 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.1 cm)

Charles Sebree (1914 - 1985)

Mystic

Late 1940s●Oil on Masonite 13 ⅝ x 10 in. (34.6 x 25.4 cm)

Charles Sebree (1914 - 1985)

Woman in White Turban 1939â&#x2014;?Oil on Canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

Charles Sebree (1914 - 1985)

Saltimbanque

ca. 1960sâ&#x2014;?Gouache on Paper 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Christ with a Crown of Thorns ca. 1940sâ&#x2014;?Oil on Masonite 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm)

Charles Sebree (1914 - 1985)

Deep Dream

1947â&#x2014;?Oil on Masonite 16 x 19 in. (40.6 x 48.3 cm)

Mickalene Thomas (1971 - )

Les Trois Femmes Noires 2006●C-Print, Edition of 5 56 ¼ x 65 ¼ in. (142.9 x 165.7 cm)

William Villalongo (1975 - )

Earth, Wind and Fire

2005â&#x2014;?Acrylic, Gold Leaf and Velvet on Wood 96 x 72 in. (243.8 x 182.9 cm)

Kara Walker (1969 - )

Emancipation Approximation: Plate 15 2000â&#x2014;?Screenprint in Colors, Edition of 25 44 x 34 in. (111.8 x 86.4 cm)

Kara Walker (1969 - )

Untitled

2015●Porcelain Pitcher, Edition of 1,000 8 ¼ x 7 ⅝ x 5 ⅛ in. (21 x 19.4 x 13 cm)

Carrie Mae Weems (1953 - )

Title Unknown (Kitchen Table Series) 1994â&#x2014;?Gelatin Silver Print, Edition of 25 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)

Charles White (1918 - 1979)

Profile

1974●Etching on Paper 18 ¼ x 21 in. (46.4 x 53.3 cm)

Kehinde Wiley (1977 - )

Passing Posing (The Martyrdom of St. Symphorian) Study 2004●Watercolor, Enamel and Graphite on Paper 74 x 50 ¾ in. (188 x 128.9 cm)

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (1977 - )

Grammy

2003●Oil on Canvas 110 ¼ x 70 ¾ in. (280 x 179.7 cm)

Dairy Natural

2003●Oil on Canvas 40 x 31 ⅞ in. (101.6 x 81 cm)

P.5 Norman Lewis New World Acoming' 1971●Oil on Canvas 73 x 87 in. (185.4 x 221 cm) Stamped on Reverse: THIS PAINTING IS A GIFT TO MY WIFE OUIDA B. LEWIS, Title New World Acoming', Size 72 x 87, Signed Norman Lewis, Date 7-21-79, Witness David K. Baker. Titled and Dated on Reverse: 71- New World Acoming'

P.7 Norman Lewis Exodus 1972●Oil on Canvas 72 x 88 ½ in. (182.9 x 224.8 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Right:

Norman Lewis 72.

Stamped on Reverse: THIS PAINTING IS A GIFT TO MY WIFE OUIDA B. LEWIS, Title Exodus, Size 72 x 87 ½, Signed Norman Lewis, Date 3-20-72, Witness David K. Baker. Titled and Dated on Reverse: 72 – Title "Exodus"

P.9 Norman Lewis Figures (Folks Like Us) Oct. 24, 1944●Oil on Burlap 30 x 26 in. (76.2 x 66 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Center:

Norman Lewis–Oct 24 1944

P.11 Norman Lewis Yellow with Black 1963●Oil on Canvas 60 x 63 ¼ in. (152.4 x 160.7 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Right:

Norman Lewis–63.

Signed and Titled on Reverse

P.19 Norman Lewis Title Unknown July 1943●Gouache and Watercolor on Wove Paper 20 x 14 in. (50.8 x 35.6 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Left:

Norman Lewis, July 1943

P.20 Norman Lewis No - 5 1973●Oil on Canvas 78 ¼ x 54 ¾ in. (198.8 x 139.1 cm) Signed, Dated and Titled on Reverse: Norman Lewis – 1973,

No - 5

P.21 Norman Lewis Black Series #8 ca. 1970s●Oil on Canvas 54 ⅝ x 78 in. (138.7 x 198.1 cm)

P.22 Norman Lewis Eye of the Storm 1973●Oil on Canvas 51 ⅛ x 87 ½ in. (129.9 x 222.3 cm) Signed and Dimensions on Reverse:

Norman Lewis H 51 x W 81 1/4 P.13 Norman Lewis Bocchi 1957●Oil on Canvas 51 ¼ x 63 ¼ in. (130.2 x 160.7 cm) Signed and Dated, Lower Left:

Notes

Norman Lewis - 57

Label on Reverse: Artist: Norman Lewis Title & Date: Bocchi 1957 Medium & Size: Oil ...51 x 64 Numbered on Stretcher on Reverse: #30 359 #30

P.15 Norman Lewis Seachange XIII 1977●Oil on Canvas 60 x 80 in. (152.4 x 203.2 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Right:

P.23 Norman Lewis New Moon 1959●Oil on Canvas 43 x 71 in. (109.2 x 180.3 cm) Signed on Reverse:

Norman Lewis

Titled and Dated on Studio Museum in Harlem Label on Reverse: "New Moon”, 1959

Norman Lewis 1977 P.24 Norman Lewis Title Unknown ca. 1949●Oil on Canvas 50 x 19 ¾ in. (127 x 50.2 cm) Signed Lower Left:

Norman Lewis P.17 Norman Lewis Serpentine 1970 - 1971●Oil on Canvas 60 x 48 in. (152.4 x 121.9 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Right:

Norman Lewis 70

Signed, Date and Titled on Reverse Upper Right:

Norman Lewis 70, 60 x 48 Serpentine

P.25 Norman Lewis Title Unknown 1955 - 1978●Oil on Canvas 37 ¼ x 62 ½ in. (94.6 x 158.8 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Left:

Norman Lewis 1955 - 1978

P.26 Norman Lewis Title Unknown 1961●Oil on Linen 12 x 20 in. (30.5 x 50.8 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Left: Norman Lewis – 61

P.31 Charles Alston Symbol 1953●Oil on Canvas 48 x 36 ⅜ in. (121.9 x 92.4 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Left:

Norman Lewis-45

E M Bannister.

Alston '53

P.32 Charles Alston Family #2 1958●Oil on Canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm) Signed and Dated, Lower Right:

Alston 58

P.27 Norman Lewis Title Unknown 1945●Oil on Canvas 29 ¼ x 16 in. (74.3 x 40.6 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Center:

P.36 Edward M. Bannister East Hancock Harbor ca. Late 1880s●Oil on Canvas 8 x 12 in. (20.3 x 30.5 cm) Signed Lower Right: Titled on Reverse:

East (Illegible) Hancock Harbor

P.37 Richmond Barthé Black Narcissus 1980●Bronze with Brown Patina 18 x 5 x 8 ½ in. (45.7 x 12.7 x 21.6 cm) Inscribed on Bottom: Barthé 1980 ©

P.38 Romare Bearden The Family 1975●Color Aquatint and Photoengraving Edition of 25 19 ¼ x 26 ⅛ in. (48.9 x 66.4 cm) Numbered and Signed, Lower Left:

P.33 Charles Alston Woman on Bench ca.1960s●Oil on Canvas 50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm) Estate Stamped Lower Right. Estate Stamped on Reverse.

2/25 Romare Bearden

P.28 Norman Lewis Four in Spade 1947●Oil on Masonite 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm) Signed Lower Left:

Norman Lewis

P.29 Norman Lewis Study for a Painting 1935●Graphite on Paper 12 ¾ x 10 in. (32.4 x 25.4 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Right:

Norman Lewis - 35

P.34 Milton Avery Study For "The Nursemaid" ca.1934●Watercolor and Graphite on Paper 22 ¼ x 15 ¼ in. (56.5 x 38.7 cm) Signed Lower Right:

Milton Avery

P.35 Edward M. Bannister Title Unknown ca.1890s●Oil on Panel 10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.6 cm) Signed Lower Right:

EM Bannister.

P.39 Elizabeth Catlett Mother and Child ca.1975●Bronze with Brown Patina 16 ⅛ x 5 ⅞ x 6 ½ in. (41 x 14.9 x 16.5 cm) Initialed on Reverse:

P.40 Elizabeth Catlett Rebozo 1952●Bronze with Brown Patina 11 ⅞ x 6 ⅜ x 7 ⅛ in. (30.2 x 16.2 x 18.1 cm) Initialed on Reverse:

E.C.

P.41 Edward Clark Vetheuil 1968●Acrylic on Canvas 74 x 58 ¼ in. (188 x 148 cm) Titled, Dated and Signed on Reverse:

Vetheuil, 68 FEB, Clark

P.47 Beauford Delaney Title Unknown 1964 - 1965●Oil on Canvas 25 x 21 in. (63.5 x 53.3 cm) Signed Lower Right: Beauford Delaney Dated Lower Left: 1964 Signed and Dated on Reverse:

Beauford Delaney Paris 1965

P.42 Chuck Close Lorna Simpson 2002●Gelatin Silver Print Edition of 35 Image: 39 ¾ x 34 in. (101 x 86.4 cm) Paper: 48 ¼ x 40 in. (122.6 x 101.6 cm) Signed Dated and Editioned on Lower Margin:

P.48 Joseph Delaney The Muse 1973●Pastel on Paper 17 ½ x 12 in. (44.5 x 30.5 cm) Signed and Dated, Lower Left

Jos Delaney 73

P.54 Sam Gilliam Trick Pony 1993●Acrylic and Polypropylene Mounted on Wood 22 ¾ x 71 ¾ in. (57.8 x 182.2 cm) Signed and Dated on Reverse:

Sam Gilliam 93

P.55 Sam Gilliam Yellow Tower and Square 2006●Acrylic on Assembled Birch Panel 77 ⅜ x 27 ⅛ in. (196.5 x 68.9 cm) Signed and Dated on Reverse:

Sam Gilliam 2006

2/5 Chuck Close 2002

P.43 Eldzier Cortor Environment No. V 1969●Color Etching and Aquatint on Paper Edition of 100 Image: 23 ½ x 34 ⅝ in. (59.7 x 87.9 cm) Paper: 34 ⅝ x 42 in. (87.9 x 106.7 cm) Editioned Titled and Signed on Lower Margin:

P.49 Melvin Edwards Yellow Way ca. 1970●Painted Steel 16 x 38 x 33 in. (40.6 x 96.5 x 83.8 cm)

P.56 Joshua Johnson Baltimore Shipowner ca. 1815●Oil on Canvas 19 ½ x 15 ½ in. (49.5 x 39.4 cm)

12/100 Environment No.V Eldzier Cortor

P.44 Roy DeCarava Untitled (Man with Portfolio) ca. 1950s●Gelatin Silver Print Image:12 ¾ x 9 ¼ in. (32.4 x 23.5 cm) Paper: 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm) Signed Lower Left:

DECARAVA

P.50 Sam Gilliam Renaissance I 1986●Acrylic, Enamel, Aluminum and Canvas Construction on Board 75 x 90 x 7 in. (190.5 x 228.6 x 17.8 cm) Signed and Titled on Stretcher on Reverse:

P.57 Joshua Johnson Baltimore Shipowner's Wife ca. 1815●Oil on Canvas 19 ½ x 15 ½ in. (49.5 x 39.4 cm)

Gilliam #2 "Renaissance" Signed and Titled on Reverse:

Renaissance I Sam Gilliam

P.45 Roy DeCarava 'Kids God Bless' from Belafonte, New York 19 1952●Gelatin Silver Print Image:19 ½ x 13 ¾ in. (49.5 x 34.9 cm) Paper: 20 x 14 ¼ in. (50.8 x 36.2 cm) Titled and Annotated on Reverse:

12 Kids God Bless 4 on 1

P.53 Sam Gilliam Arc Composition 1987●Steel and Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Wood 36 ¼ x 73 x 16 in. (92.1 x 185.4 x 40.6 cm) Signed and Dated on Reverse:

Sam Gilliam 87

P.58 Lois Mailou Jones Marchande D'Haiti, Petionville 1954●Watercolor on Paper 18 ⅝ x 23 ⅝ in. (47.3 x 60 cm) Signed and Inscribed Lower Right:

Lois Jones (illegible) Pierre-Noel Haiti' 54 Signed Titled and Inscribed on Reverse:

Lois Pierre NoelPentionville(scribbled out) #2 Marchande d'Haiti Pentionville-

P.59 Lois Mailou Jones Grossesse 1980●Acrylic on Board 36 x 30 in. (91.4 x 76.2 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Right: Lois M. Jones Haiti - '80 Inscribed (Twice) on Reverse: GROSSESSE BY LOIS M JONES HAITI-AFRICA SERIES # 4706 17th ST N.W, WASH. D.C 20011.

P.61 Jacob Lawrence After the Show 1953●Tempera on Board 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Left:

P.65 Gordon Parks American Gothic Washington D.C. 1942 (Printed in 1991)●Gelatin Silver Print Image: 10 x 7 ¼ in. (25.4 x 18.4 cm) Paper: 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm) Signed on Lower Right:

(illegible) Gordon Parks

P.66 Adam Pendleton Ego Tripping 2004●Silkscreen on Canvas, Edition of 3 37 ⅜ x 44 ¾ in. (94.9 x 113.7 cm)

Jacob Lawrence 53

P.62 Jacob Lawrence Children at Play ca. 1955●Ink, Wash and Graphite on Paper 18 x 22 in. (45.7 x 55.9 cm) Signed Lower Right:

P.71 Adam Pendleton The Excited Version (reading Samuel R. Delany in no Particular Order) 2008●Silkscreen on Canvas 70 ¼ x 48 ½ in. (178.4 x 123.3 cm) Signed and Dated on Overlap:

A (illegible) 2008

P.72 Charles Ethan Porter Roses ca. 1884●Watercolor on Paper 10 ⅞ x 29 in. (27.6 x 73.7 cm) Signed Lower Right:

C.E. Porter

P.67 Adam Pendleton Because 2004 - 2005●Silkscreen on Canvas, Edition of 3 51 ¾ x 52 in. (131.4 x 132.1 cm)

Jacob Lawrence

P.73 Charles Ethan Porter Still Life with Pink Roses Before 1887●Oil on Canvas 12 ⅛ x 16 ¼ in. (30.8 x 41.3 cm) Signed Lower Left:

C.E. Porter

Titled on Reverse:

Children at Play

P.63 Hughie Lee-Smith Still Life with Oranges 1975●Oil on Linen 15 ¾ x 11 ¾ in. (40 x 29.8 cm) Signed, Lower Right:

Lee Smith

Dated on Frame on Reverse:

P.69 Adam Pendleton Afro-Futuristic (bottom type) 2006●Silkscreen on Canvas 96 x 70 ¾ in. (243.8 x 179.7 cm) Each: 48 x 70 ¾ in. (121.9 x 179.7 cm)

1975

P.64 Richard Mayhew Portrait of a Young Man ca. 1950s●Oil on Canvas 24 ⅛ x 18 ⅛ in. (61.3 x 46 cm) Signed, Lower Left:

Mayhew

P.70 Adam Pendleton Lab Painting (So I Independent in Georgia in the 90s Black) 2006●Silkscreen on Canvas 67 ¼ x 48 in. (170.8 x 121.9 cm) Signed and Dated on Overlap

P.74 Charles Ethan Porter Title Unknown ca. 1887●Watercolor on Paper 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.1 cm) Signed Lower Left:

C.E. Porter

P.75 Charles Sebree Mystic Late 1940s●Oil on Masonite 13 ⅝ x 10 in. (34.6 x 25.4 cm) Signed Lower Left:

Sebree

(illegible) Adam P 2006

P.77 Charles Sebree Woman in White Turban 1939●Oil on Canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Signed and Dated Upper Right:

P.82 William Villalongo Earth, Wind and Fire 2005●Acrylic, Gold Leaf and Velvet on Wood 96 x 72 in. (243.8 x 182.9 cm)

Sebree 39

P.87 Kehinde Wiley Passing Posing (The Martyrdom of St. Symphorian) Study 2004●Watercolor, Enamel and Graphite on Paper 74 x 50 ¾ in. (188 x 128.9 cm) Signed and Dated Lower Right:

Kehinde Wiley 04

P.78 Charles Sebree Saltimbanque ca. 1960s●Gouache on Paper 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Signed Lower Left:

Sebree

Dimensions on Reverse:

8 x 10

P.79 Charles Sebree Christ with a Crown of Thorns ca. 1940s●Oil on Masonite 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm) Signed Lower Right:

Sebree

P.83 Kara Walker Emancipation Approximation: Plate 15 2000●Screenprint in Color Edition of 25 44 x 34 in. (111.8 x 86.4 cm) Signed on Reverse Lower Left: KW 2000 Inscribed on Reverse Lower Right: xx/xxv

P.84 Kara Walker Untitled 2015●Porcelain Pitcher Edition of 1,000 8 ¼ x 7 ⅝ x 5 ⅛ in. (21 x 19.4 x 13 cm) Titled on Base Untitled Stamped Signed on Base:

KW Kara Walker Editioned on Base:

Edition Limitée 621/1000

P.80 Charles Sebree Deep Dream 1947●Oil on Masonite 16 x 19 in. (40.6 x 48.3 cm) Signed and Dated Upper Left:

Sebree '47

Titled Signed and Dated on Reverse:

Deep Dream 47 C. Sebree

P.81 Mickalene Thomas Les Trois Femmes Noires 2006●C-Print Edition of 5 Image: 47 ½ x 56 ¾ in. (120.7 x 144.1 cm) Paper: 56 ¼ x 65 ¼ in. (142.9 x 165.7 cm)

P.85 Carrie Mae Weems Title Unknown (Kitchen Table Series) 1994●Gelatin Silver Print Edition of 25 Image: 19 x 19 in. (48.3 x 48.3 cm) Paper: 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Signed and Numbered on Reverse:

Carrie Mae Weems 17/25

P.86 Charles White Profile 1974●Etching on Paper Image: 10 ¼ x 16 ¼ in. (26 x 41.3 cm) Paper: 18 ¼ x 21 in. (46.4 x 53.3 cm) Dated and Signed on Lower Margin of Image:

74 Charles White

Numbered Signed and Dated on Lower Margin of Paper:

Artists Proof Charles White 74'

P.88 Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Grammy 2003●Oil on Canvas 110 ¼ x 70 ¾ in. (280 x 179.7 cm) Signed, Titled and Dated on Reverse:

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Grammy 2003

P.89 Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Dairy Natural 2003●Oil on Canvas 40 x 31 ⅞ in. (101.6 x 81 cm) Initialed and Dated on Reverse: LYB 2003 Signed on Stretcher:

Lynette Boakye

Inscribed on Upper Edge:

09-07-03 From Lynette to Roland

Endnotes and Credits 1. Kellie Jones, “Norman Lewis Chronology,” in Norman Lewis: From the Harlem Renaissance to Abstraction, ed. Corinne Jennings, exh. cat., (New York: Kenkeleba Gallery, 1989), 58-62. 2. Norman Lewis papers in the AAA, roll 69, frame 47. The show was entitled “A Group of Exceptional Drawings.” Two 1952 drawings by Lewis were included. 3. List of “Selected One Person Exhibitions” in Norman Lewis: Pulse, A Centennial Exhibition, exh. cat., (New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 2009), 66. 4. Harry Henderson, “Norman Lewis: The Making of a Black Abstract Expressionist, His Achievements and His Neglect,” International Review of African American Art 13.3 (1996): 61. 5. Norman Lewis, “Thesis 1946,” in Norman Lewis: From the Harlem Renaissance to Abstraction, ed. Corinne Jennings, exh. cat. (New York: Kenkeleba Gallery, 1989), 63. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Norman Lewis, quoted in Bearden and Henderson, 320-21. 9. Ibid., 321. 10.Ibid., 323. 11. Richard Powell, “The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism,” in The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism (Washington, D. C.: Washington Project for the Arts, 1989). Powell’s exhibition, The Blues Aesthetic, included both black and white artists whose work expressed or was derived from the “blues aesthetic.” 12. For more on jazz and black art, see Eric Porter, What is This Thing Called Jazz? African American Musicians as Artists, Critics, and Activists (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002); Saul Scott, Freedom Is, Freedom Ain’t: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003), and Graham Lock and David Murray, eds. The Hearing Eye: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Visual Art, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). 13. Norman Lewis, “Oral History Interview with Norman Lewis, 1968, July 14,” Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Available: http://www.aaaisi. edu/collections/oralhistories/transcipts/lewis68.htm [Accessed April 15, 2009]. 14. Norman Lewis, “Oral History.” 15. Quoted in Ann Eden Gibson, “Black is a Color: Norman Lewis and Modernism in New York,” in Stephanie Saloman, ed. Norman Lewis: Black Paintings, 1946-1977, exh. cat. (New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1998), 18. 16. Gibson, 24. 17. Ibid., 19. 18. Robert Goodnough, ed., Artists’ Sessions at Studio 35 (1950). (Chicago, IL: Soberscove Press, 2009). 19. Some essays include Ann E. Gibson, “Recasting the Canon: Norman Lewis and Jackson Pollock,” Artforum (March 1992): 66-73; Harry Henderson, “Norman Lewis, The Making of a Black Abstract Expressionist, His Achievements and His Neglect,” International Review of African American Art 13.3 (1996): 58-64; and Sara Wood, “”Pure Eye Music’: Norman Lewis, Abstract Expressionism, and Bebop,” in The Hearing Eye: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Visual Art, eds. Graham Lock and David Murray (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 95-119. 20. Present in the photograph are: top section, left to right: Seymour Lipton, Norman Lewis, Jimmy Ernst, Peter Grippe, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hoffman, Alfred Barr, Robert Motherwell, Richard Lippold, Willem de Kooning, Ibram Lassaw, James Brooks, Ad Reinhardt, Richard Pousette-Dart. Bottom section, left to right: James Brooks, Ad Reinhardt, Ricahrd Pousette-Dart, Louise Bourgeoise, Herbert Ferber, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Janice Biala, Robert Goodnough, Hedda Sterne, David Hare, Barnett Newman, Seymore Lipton, Norman Lewis, Jimmy Ernst. 21. Ann Eden Gibson, “Diaspora and Ritual: Norman Lewis’s Civil Rights Paintings,” Third Text 45 (1998-1999): 29. 22. Ann Eden Gibson, Abstract Expressionism: Other Politics (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997), xx. 23. Ann E. Gibson, “Two Worlds: African American Abstraction in New York at Mid-Century,” in The Search for Freedom: African American Abstract Painting, 1945-1975 (New York: Kenkeleba House, Inc. 1991). 24. Juliette Harris, “Norman Lewis—Tarin Fuller: A Stormy, Very Loving Relation,” International Review of African American Art 20.3 (2005): 12. 25. Peter Plagens calls Greenberg “one of two quasi-official spokespersons,” for the Abstract Expressionist; the other he refers to is Harold Rosenberg. See Peter Plagens, “Another Look at Clement Greenberg,” New England Review 28.1 (2007): 51. 26. Clement Greenberg, “’American-Type’ Painting,” in Art and Culture: Critical Essays (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1989), 210. 27. Clement Greenberg, “Towards a Newer Laocoon,” Partisan Review 6 (Fall, 1940). Many scholars consider Greenberg’s essays to be crucial to the early understanding of the Abstract Expressionist movement even if his formalist values are too simple and overlook the experimental ideas and social implications for this new art. For more information on Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg’s role in Abstract Expressionism, see Daniel A. Siedell, “Contemporary Art Criticism and the Legacy of Clement Greenberg: Or, How Artwriting Earned Its Good Name,” Journal of Aesthetic Education 36.4 (Winter 2002): 15-31. 28. Thomas Lawson, Norman Lewis: A Retrospective (New York: City University of New York, 1976), n.p. 29. See Harold Rosenberg, “The American Action Painters,” Art News 51 (September, 1952): 22. 30. Clement Greenberg, “Towards a Newer Laocoon,” Partisan Review 6 (Fall, 1940). 31. Ann Eden Gibson, “Abstract Expressionism’s Evasion of Language,” Art Journal 47.3 (Autumn 1988): 208. 32. When the discussion shifted to the importance of titling (or untitling) paintings, the group at “Studio 35” was split. Many agreed that titles were important in helping the public identify the subject matter but acknowledged that they were also essentially inadequate and, possibly, misleading. Some lobbied for the use of numbers, for the convenience of identification. Then there were others who were against the use of titles because they were content to keep the subject of their work vague and open to public interpretation. See Artists’ Sessions at Studio 35. 33. Norman Lewis, interview by Vivian Browne, August 29, 1974, transcript reprinted in Artists and Influence 18 (1999). The complete original interview is held in the Hatch-Billops Collections, New York City. 34. Harry Henderson, “Norman Lewis, The Making of a Black Abstract Expressionist, His Achievements and His Neglect,” International Review of African American Art 13.3 (1966): 62. 35. Ibid. 36. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art’s posthumous purchase of Jackson Pollock’s painting, Autumn Rhythm, for $30,000 in 1957 set a new precedent for Abstract Expressionist work. See A. Deirdre Robson, “The Market for Abstract Expressionism,” in Pollock and After: The Critical Debate, ed. Francis Frascina (London: Routledge, 2000), 288-93. 37. David Craven, “Norman Lewis as Political Activist and Post-Colonial Artist,” in Stephanie Saloman, ed. Norman Lewis: Black Paintings, 1946-1977, exh. cat. (New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1998),51. 38. Henderson, 62. 39. Bill Hodges, “Forward,” Norman Lewis: The Second Transition: 1947-1951, exh. cat. (New York: Bill Hodges Gallery, 2000), n.p. 40. Norman Lewis, interview with Vivian Browne. 41. Esther G. Rolick, interview with Norman Lewis, 1970, audio tape, Esther G. Rolick Papers, AAA. 42. Norman Lewis, interview with Vivian Browne. Catalogue Design

Billy Hodges, Chelsea Taylor

Catalogue Photography Josh Nefsky, Tyler Akers, Navindren Hodges, Adam Reich Essay

Mindy Tan

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Billy Hodges

Catalogue Coordination Billy Hodges Publisher ISBN

Bill Hodges Gallery 1-891978-27-6

Edition 1500 Printed in China

361 Clinton Ave. Suite 4F (Office)

Brooklyn, NY 11238

212.333.2640

www.billhodgesgallery.com

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