Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance, (Published in association with the Hayward Gallery, London, and the Institute of International Visual Arts) [Paperback]

Richard J. Powell (Author), David A. Bailey (Author)

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Product Details

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: University of California Press (Sep 30 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0520212681
ISBN-13: 978-0520212688
Product Dimensions: 28.2 x 22.6 x 1.5 cm
Shipping Weight: 1.1 Kg
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,409,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

From Kirkus Reviews

A handsomely illustrated and provocative investigation of the accomplishments of black American artists, including actors, singers, painters, photographers, and sculptors, during the 1920s and '30s. While the book is meant to accompany an exhibit that has opened in London and will travel to the US, Powell (Art History/Duke Univ.) and Bailey (director of the African and Asian Artists' Archive/Univ. of East London) have produced something more than a catalog: The essays collected here are ambitious and decidedly controversial, and favor very focused inquiries (on black theater, on Josephine Baker's impact on the black image in white media, and on Paul Robeson's struggles to define what it meant to be a black artist) rather than chronological summaries. Those looking for an overview of the Harlem Renaissance will not find it here. But the reader will find some interesting ruminations on the origins and nature of a distinctly African-American art and some stunning work, including vibrant street scenes by Archibald Motley and Edward Burra, a portfolio of crisp, vibrant photographs of Harlem by James VanDerZee, and the vigorous, folk-influenced paintings of Jacob Lawrence. (150 color plates, 100 b&w illustrations) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

Harlem has captivated the imagination of writers, artists, intellectuals, and politicians around the world since the early decades of this century. Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance examines the cultural reawakening of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s as a key moment in twentieth-century art history, one that transcended regional and racial boundaries. Published to coincide with the exhibition that opens in England and travels to the United States, this catalog reflects the Harlem Renaissance's impressive range of art forms--literature, music, dance, theater, painting, sculpture, photography, film, and graphic design. The participants included not only artists based in New York, but also those from other parts of the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe.
Richard J. Powell and David A. Bailey present selected works that focus on six themes: Representing "The New Negro;" Another Modernism; Blues, Jazz, and the Performative Paradigm; The Cult of the Primitive; Africa: Inheritance and Seizure; and Jacob Lawrence's Toussaint L'Ouverture series. The visual arts from 1919 to 1938 included in the book suggest the extraordinary vibrancy of the time when Harlem was a metaphor for modernity. In spite of the importance of the Harlem Renaissance to early twentieth-century American culture and to the artistic climate of "Jazz Age" Paris and Weimar Berlin, few art exhibitions have been devoted exclusively to the subject. Rhapsodies in Black will be welcomed for its unique presentation of this creative time.

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Amazon.com: 4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars expanding the scope of a central moment in modern art, July 26 1998

By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance, (Published in association with the Hayward Gallery, London, and the Institute of International Visual Arts) (Hardcover)

This book provides those who are more likely to have believed the Harlem Renaissance to be entirely literary and entirely Harlem-centered with evidence of the all-encompassing scope and international import of this crucial, modern, blackened artistic surge. The exploration of black identity and construction of black nationality called the Harlem Renaissance is insightfully revisited through the social and artistic problems enacted in the works, within the voices, and upon the bodies of protagonists: Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, and surprisingly, Orson Welles. This book is a fine complement to books which focus on literary-hitsorical aspects (such as David L. Lewis' _When Harlem was in Vogue_) and those which focus on music such as Angela Davis' _Blues Legacies and Black Feminism_ and Albert Murray's _Stomping the Blues_). It is a a fabulous expansion of the artistic territory encompassed in black art. Maya Angleou has said: "I am human, and therefore nothing h! uman can escape my grasp." I believe that black art has languished too long in the storage bin where fads and fanices go to die. _Black Rhapsodies_ rescues the Renaissance from this fate by positing black art as a philosphical stance, therefore attainable in varied ways throughout the post WWI world--not as the exotic and undisciplined, irregular expressions of primitive black jungle souls on the drum-pulsing streets of 20s Harlem. I couldn't agree more, and I hope that the idea that black art is both a real category and a complex one full of contadictions is adopted in the teaching of the Renaissance.

My one complaint is minor and may stem from my own unfamiliarity with the indexing system of books on art. I found it difficult to locate quickly the visual art being described in certain passages. If there were a more convenient way on idexing the art or of expaining the system to the novice reader, it would be appreciated.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfied customer, Oct 2 2009

By roxana - Published on Amazon.com

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This review is from: Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance, (Published in association with the Hayward Gallery, London, and the Institute of International Visual Arts) (Paperback)

This book i ordered came within two days of my order and it was not torn nor were its pages written on.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews 4.5 out of 5 stars