The image of the Black in western art V, part 2, The twentieth century : the rise of black artists V, part 2, The twentieth century :

Review by New York Times Review

DOMINQUE DE MENIL'S monumental archival project of collecting and documenting the "image of the black in Western art" began in the 1960s as an aesthetic form of resistance to anti-black racism at the height of the civil rights movement. But with the publication of the fifth volume, concentrating on the 20th century, it has become a necessary cultural resource documenting the visual construction of blackness over the past 5,000 years. This latest and perhaps last volume - subdivided into two parts, "The Impact of Africa" and "The Rise of Black Artists" - redirects the underlying colonialist, Euro-centric framing of the previous four volumes. The co-editors, David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates Jr., bring focus to black artists globally as makers of their own art and imagery, rather than solely the subjects of others' fantasies and fascination. Though some attention is paid to overtly racist imagery popular in the first half of the 20th century, the books as a pair stand in line with de Menil's original, corrective intent to assert presence. Given the volumes' title and the original terms of de Menil's archival project, a reader could not be faulted for anticipating a salon installation of numerous images - but in fact, brilliant essays by the likes of Deborah Willis, Christian Weikop, Petrine Archer and many other noted scholars richly motivate this endeavor. As Bindman observes, the two books of Volume V are not to be read sequentially, but instead function coterminously, especially during the prewar years of the 20th century, where the persistent resonance of slavery remains in aesthetic projects throughout the diaspora in each nation's particular history. Essays and images investigate changes to the conception of Africa both geopolitically and artistically, within Europe and its colonies, as the strict dichotomy of the "modern" versus the "primitive" is engaged by Africans and Euro-Americans alike. In many ways, Bindman and Gates successfully use Volume V to rectify gaps in the prior volumes. For example, Willis's chapter on 19th-century photography addresses the omission of photography in Volume IV, "From the American Revolution to World War I." Willis investigates a broad range of photographs, from pseudoscientific, pseudo-anthropological documents of slaves as specimens and property, to portraits of noted abolitionists and former slaves like Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass. Willis's essay is especially satisfying as it pulls the 19th-century photographs into the 20th century by discussing their use by Carrie Mae Weems in her seminal series "From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried" (1995-96). Willis, without stating it directly, shows how the archives can be used by artists who contextualize what they find there. Laudatory in its scope, notable for the high quality of its essays and, in terms of reproduction quality, impressively illustrated, "The Image of the Black in Western Art: Volume V" should have wide popular and scholarly appeal. CLAUDIA RANKINE'S most recent book, "Citizen: An American Lyric," was a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 30, 2014]

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Review by Library Journal Review

Starred Review. The final volume in the ten-volume monumental study (five previously published; five new) of the image of and contributions of black people in the history of art, is the only one that almost exclusively focuses on black artists and their works. It is in the 20th century that social, cultural, and political change allowed for African Americans to express themselves more openly in the arts. Like the previous volumes, the book consists of chapters written by renowned experts in the field of African American art, each not only describing the art but analyzing how that work expresses the historical trends in which they were created. Beginning with the era of the Harlem Renaissance (1920-mid-1930s) and the importance of photography in black self-expression, the text turns to the post-World War II period of activism and self-defining of identity and closes with considerations of worldwide contemporary trends that incorporate the black experience. VERDICT Of all the volumes in the series, this one has the most to offer to readers unfamiliar with the extent, diversity, and significance of the accomplishments of artists of color and deserves the highest recommendation for any library. [See "African American Lives: Books for February, Black History Month," LJ 11/1/14.]-Eugene C. Burt, Seattle (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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