Books by Richard J. Powell

black-art

by Richard J. Powell

"Excellent artists' profiles, lots of reproductions, and illuminating and original discussions of social and cultural contexts of African American art."―Booklist. The African diaspora―a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade and Western colonialism―generated a wide array of artistic achievements in the past century, from blues to reggae, from the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner to the video installations of Keith Piper. Richard Powell's study concentrates on the works of art themselves and on how these works, created during a time of major social upheaval and transformation, use black culture as both subject and context.

From musings on the "the souls of black folk" in early twentieth-century painting, sculpture, and photography to questions of racial and cultural identities in performance, media, and computer-assisted arts in the 1990s, the book draws on the works of hundreds of artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Spike Lee, Archibald Motley, Jr., Faith Ringgold, and Gerard Sekoto.

This revised edition includes expanded coverage of video art and a new chapter that discusses work by a number of artists who have newly risen to prominence, such as Chris Ofili, Kara Walker, and Renée Cox. Biographies of more than 170 key artists provide a unique art-historical reference.

Placing its emphasis on black cultural themes rather than on black racial identity, this groundbreaking book is an important exploration of the visual representations of black culture throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. 190 illustrations, 36 in color

Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist

by Richard J. Powell

Featuring more than 200 color illustrations, the catalogue Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist accompanies the first full-scale survey of the work of Archibald Motley, on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University from January 30, 2014, through May 11, 2014. Archibald John Motley, Jr., was an American painter, master colorist, and radical interpreter of urban culture. Among twentieth-century American artists, Motley is surely one of the most important and, paradoxically, also one of the most enigmatic. Born in New Orleans in 1891, Motley spent the first half of the twentieth century living and working in a predominately white neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, just blocks away from the city's burgeoning black community. During his formative years, Chicago's African American population increased dramatically, and he was both a witness to and a visual chronicler of that expansion. In 1929 he won a Guggenheim Fellowship, which funded a critical year of study in France, where he painted Blues and other memorable pictures of Paris. In the 1950s, Motley made several lengthy visits to Mexico, where his nephew, the well-known novelist Willard F. Motley, lived. While there, Motley created vivid depictions of Mexican life and landscapes. He died in Chicago in 1981. Motley's brilliant yet idiosyncratic paintings—simultaneously expressionist and social realist—have captured worldwide attention with their rainbow-hued, syncopated compositions. The exhibition includes the artist's depictions of African American life in early-twentieth-century Chicago, as well as his portraits and archetypes, portrayals of African American life in Jazz Age Paris, and renderings of 1950s Mexico. The catalogue includes an essay by Richard J. Powell, organizer and curator of Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist, as well as contributions from other scholars examining the life, work, and legacy of one of twentieth-century America's most significant artists. After debuting at the Nasher Museum of Art, the exhibition will travel to other museums across the country: the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Chicago Cultural Center, Illinois; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Contributors: Davarian L. Baldwin, David C. Driskell, Olivier Meslay, Amy M. Mooney, Richard J. Powell, Ishmael Reed Publication of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills

by Richard J. Powell, Jarrett Earnest, Raymond Saunders

Discover Raymond Saunders's dynamic paintings and his extraordinary legacy as an artist and thinker in this first ever monograph.

Saunders’s work brings together his extensive formal training with his own observations and lived experience. His assemblage-style paintings frequently begin with a monochromatic black ground elaborated with white chalk—a pointed reversal of the traditional figure-ground relationship. He subsequently adds a range of other markings, materials, and talismans—from wallpaper to advertisements, rulers to paintbrushes. Expressionistic swaths of paint, minimalist motifs, line drawings, and passages of vibrant color tangle with found objects, signs, and doors collected from his urban environment at home and abroad, creating unexpected visual rhymes and resonances that reward careful and sustained looking. At once deliberately constructed and improvisatory, didactic and deeply felt, these richly built surfaces conjure a range of themes, allowing for a vast and nuanced multiplicity of meanings.

A record of a two-part exhibition presented at David Zwirner and Andrew Kreps Gallery in 2024, this publication considers Saunders’s ability to infuse his work with social relevance and commentary. Featured texts include an introduction by curator Ebony L. Haynes and a conversation between Haynes and Studio Museum of Harlem director Thelma Golden about her multidecade engagement with Saunders’s artwork and writing. A facsimile of Saunders's self-published pamphlet from 1967, Black Is a Color—his vital essay on the creative expression of the artist, which continues to spark cultural conversation nearly five decades after its appearance, is reproduced along with new annotated commentary by art historian Darby English. An essay by Jarrett Earnest offers an in-depth interpretation of two of Saunders’s complex chalkboard works. Also included is a never before published interview from 1980 between the artist and Judith Wilson in which Saunders discusses his multilayered practice. Lastly, a reprint of a pivotal text from 1993 by art historian Richard J. Powell offers a panoramic examination of Saunders’s art from 1968–1993, with a special focus on his iconic painting Dr. Jesus. This robust group of texts and academic considerations offers a compelling exploration of Saunders’s wide-ranging practice and lasting influence.

Going There Black Visual Satire

by Richard J. Powell

A kaleidoscopic survey of black satire in 20th- and 21st-century American art

In this groundbreaking study, Richard J. Powell investigates the visual forms of satire produced by black artists in 20th- and 21st-century America. Underscoring the historical use of visual satire as antiracist dissent and introspective critique, Powell argues that it has a distinctly African American lineage. Taking on some of the most controversial works of the past century—in all their complexity, humor, and provocation—Powell raises important questions about the social power of art.

Expansive in both historical reach and breadth of media presented, Going There interweaves discussions of such works as the midcentury cartoons of Ollie Harrington, the installations of Kara Walker, the paintings of Robert Colescott, and the movies of Spike Lee. Other artists featured in the book include David Hammons, Arthur Jafa, Beverly McIver, Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, and Carrie Mae Weems. Thoroughly researched and rich in context, Going There is essential reading in the history of satire, racial politics, and contemporary art.