Black Life Matters Feature of the Week: Digging in the Vault by Candice FrederickMarch 16, 2015

Elizabeth Catlett's "New Generation" Elizabeth Catlett, 1991 PR. 09.004
"New Generation;" Elizabeth Catlett, 1991 PR. 09.004
Art © Catlett Mora Family Trust/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Today's Exhibition Feature of the Week comes from Tammi Lawson, our in-house Curator of the Art and Artifacts Division. Below she shares what inspired her to include the impactful artwork you see in our latest exhibition, Curators' Choice: Black Life Matters. 

"In keeping with Arturo Schomburg’s tradition of collecting, identifying and acquiring material about black people throughout the Diaspora, I scoured through  our vast holdings of fine art and material culture items looking for works that represent diverse cultures that will enlighten black people so that they will have a positive sense of themselves and connection to a confirmed, accomplished and diverse history. I chose works from different time periods, formats, and media. One new acquisition of note on exhibit for the first time ever is Jacob Lawrenceʼs untitled tempera on board executed in 1941, the same year of his famed Migration Series that is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

This selection also includes lithographs by widely respected artist Elizabeth Catlett and paintings by younger and lesser-known artists, including Jules Arthur. The works range from the 19th century to Adinkra symbols from West Africa, little-known collections of African brass bells, and everything in between, including a bevy of woodcuts, lithographs, and etchings from the Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop collection. I also chose sculpture in different mediums: Pride, Otto Nealsʼs marble sculpture of a strong black woman; Sana Musasamaʼs ceramic Soweto; and Tree of Life, a Makonde wood carving tradition from Tanzania made out of African blackwood (mpingo), which shows people climbing up and supporting one another.
 
Finally, I considered the recent murders of young black men in this country and what their mothers go through and the universality of pain and suffering that families deal with, whether they are in Soweto, South Africa, or in the United States."
View all posts by Candice Frederick

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Black Lives Matter

Submitted by Camille Ann Brewer (not verified) on March 20, 2015 - 4:23pm

Tammi, Thank you for your contribution to the exhibition. I had a copy of this Catlett print and I gave it recently as a wedding gift to my daughter and son-in-law. Yes - our lives do matter. Camille

Clarence Berry, NYC Folk Artist

Submitted by Casey Neel (not verified) on January 15, 2016 - 4:50pm

I don't know who else to contact or how, but as you are the arts curator at the Schomberg Center, I'm hoping you can help me find out more about the artist Clarence Berry, who lived in my neighborhood on the Lower East Side in the 1990's. I never met him, but did come across some of his artwork at the old 11th street flea market back then. He had just passed away and his wife/life partner was selling his paintings on canvas and paper, primarily portraits. I have photographs if you'd like to see some examples of his work, which I think is extraordinary. Thank you.