Celebrating Black History Month Through Art – International Arts & Artists (2024)

Above: President Ford meeting with Civil Rights Leaders (left to right) Dorothy Height, Stanley Scott, Vernon Jordan, and Rev. Jesse Jackson, 1974. Photograph by Ricardo Thomas. Courtesy of Chicago Sun-Times Archives.

Above: Joseph Holston, After Harriet, 2008, mixed media on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.

Since the mid-19th century, some of the most powerful stories in American history have been those of the Underground Railroad. Painter and printmaker Joseph Holston brings this stark subject matter to vivid life in Color in Freedom: Journey Along the Underground Railroad, organized by the Arts Program of the University of Maryland and toured by IA&A from 2009 to 2015. The 49 paintings and etchings in the exhibition evoke the courage and tenacity of slaves throughout the 1800s and the harsh conditions they endured to reach the Underground Railroad. Slavery remains an inexplicably horrifying part of America’s past, and its remembrance is essential to recognizing the contributions of African-Americans to our society today. Holston honors these significant events through his works by showing that even through bondage, the resilient black spirit has endured and overcome extraordinary challenges, and continues to resonate in American culture today.

Above: Jacob Lawrence, The Builders, 1974, silkscreen, 291/300. Photograph by IA&A. ©2017 Jacob Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

As featured in IA&A’s Hechinger Collection, Jacob Lawrence’s remarkable tableaux of The Great Migration take viewers through one of the most influential periods of African-American history. In the wake of rampant economic and racial disenfranchisem*nt in the Jim Crow South, a prolonged period of northward African-American migration flourished in the years after World War I. This mass movement of African-Americans away from the farms and rural communities of the South marked a new era of industrialization, cultural revolution, and workforce diversification. Lawrence’s 1974 lithograph The Builders evokes the experience of thousands of newly-arrived African-Americans who had to adapt rapidly to a (seemingly) new country. Black migrants were a pivotal factor in the rise of Northern industrialization, and their new urban presence ushered a profound cultural clash as well as significant socioeconomic changes in the cities. Lawrence’s prints can be seen in IA&A’s traveling exhibitions ReTooled (2014-2020) and Making Your Mark (2021-2023).

Above: Claude Clark, Self Determination, 1969, oil on board. Photograph by Reis Birdwhistell.

Known for his work with a palette knife, painter Claude Clark is featured in Memories and Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art, currently on view through July 26, 2020 at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Like Lawrence’s prints, many of Clark’s works illuminate the unique plight of African-Americans as they sought to settle into the more industrial North. In his painting Self-Determination, Clark charts the emotional and economic crossroads experienced by black society at this tumultuous time. As industrialization began to take off in the United States, the rights and livelihoods of minorities rose on its slipstream, as African-Americans gained more financial independence, political representation, and artistic expression. Memories and Inspiration highlights the visual reverberations of civil rights and social justice, including work by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Ernest T. Crichlow, Sam Gilliam, Gordon Parks, and Alma Thomas.

Above: Carl Michel, Pas de Dix jacket, 1983. Photograph 2013 by Earl Hudnall.

As African-American literature and art entered the late 20th century, black culture saw its most precipitous rise since the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. This latest rebirth of African-American culture yielded a plethora of vibrant art forms, including a new dance and theater scene. From 2014 to 2018, IA&A toured an exhibition organized in partnership with The Dance Theatre of Harlem, the California African American Museum, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts featured a rich array of costumes, photographs, and set pieces from the iconic Dance Theatre of Harlem. Since its founding in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook, the legendary theatre company has vaulted to the front ranks of the American ballet world, soundly dispelling the notion that classical ballet could not be performed by those of African descent. With its groundbreaking productions, stylistic innovations, and tours—more than 40 countries and 250 cities around the world—the Dance Theatre of Harlem has blazed a peerless reputation as a dynamic cultural force to be reckoned with.

Above: Lary Hulst, Jimi Hendrix at the Golden Bear Raceway, Cal Expo, April 26, 1970, photograph. Courtesy of the artist.

Likewise, 1960s rock star Jimi Hendrix—another iconic (and genre-breaking) colossus of American culture—has few peers among artists of any race. Fifty years after his death, James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix, a musical prodigy known for his legendary guitar playing and songwriting, remains one of the most influential musicians of modern times. Touring from 2021 to 2023, Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blue, and Soul includes raw, candid photographs of Hendrix’s ferocious passion for his music. His talent pulses and shines through every image—just as the protean genius of his immortal music has left a timeless, searing mark on American art and history.

Today, our society and culture are virtually unimaginable without the contributions of African-Americans—an essential thread in our history since the early 17^th century. The cultural, social, and technological fabric of our country was woven in part by them, and all Americans have a duty to honor their significance; especially on the month dedicated to their memory. Countless artists have dedicated their work to the remembrance of black culture, which IA&A’s exhibitions try to reflect. The arts play a powerful role in bridging cultural barriers and opening doors to new worlds; and through IA&A, cross-cultural understanding becomes a reality.

Discover more about IA&A's mission, and about many other works dedicated to the awareness of African-American arts, in our exhibitions below.

Above: Loïs Mailou Jones, Mère du Senegal, 1985, acrylic. Courtesy of the Loïs Mailou Jones Pierre-Noël Trust.

Above: Randy Hayes, Rodney, Mississippi #2 (Road), 2004, oil on photographs with pushpins. Courtesy of the artist.

Above: Nora McKeown Ezell, Star Quilt, 1977. Cotton and synthetics. American Folk Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, with matching funds from The Great American Quilt Festival. Photo by Scott Bowron.

Above: Jean-Marcel St. Jacques, Mother Sister May Have Sat in That Chair When She Lived in This House Before Me, 2014, wood, nails, and antique hardware on plywood. American Folk Art Museum, Gift of Jean-Marcel St. Jacques.

Above: Richard Hunt, Wing Generator, 1989, welded corten steel. Installation at the The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan.