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Expert lauds value of Paul R. Jones Collection
In his presentation, “African American Art Enters the Academy,” Long described the emergence and growth of African American art in American society, dating back to the first major exhibition by the Harmon Foundation in 1928 and its gradual recognition and exposure in academic institutions. “The establishment of the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American art at the University of Delaware provides an occasion and an opportunity to reflect upon the collection and exhibition of African Americian art over the last century and its relationship to and uses in higher education,” Long said. The Paul R. Jones Collection is among the world’s oldest, largest and most complete holdings of works by 20th-Century African American artists. Jones donated his collection to UD in February 2001, and the University renovated an historic building, Mechanical Hall, to house it. During the lecture, Long highlighted the gradual development of the awareness of African American art through several generations and quoted observations of the process made by experts, such as Alain Locke, an educator, writer and philosopher, who is best remembered as a leader and chief interpreter of the Harlem Renaissance. The lecture, which was sponsored by the News Journal, was held in conjunction with the exhibition, “A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection,” which opened in September and will continue through the academic year in Mechanical Hall and the University Gallery in Old College. “The installation of ‘A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection’ here at the University of Delaware, is both a culmination and an inauguration: A culmination of years of activity of artists, educators, curators and arts historians in the realm of African American art: an inauguration of intensely focused activities in the interweaving of African American art and culture in American higher education,” Long said.
Long has a distinguished career in the study of language and the arts and is the author of several books on the contributions of African Americans to the arts. He has served as a member of the faculty at West Virginia State College, Morgan State University and Hampton (Va.) University, and held a visiting appointment at Harvard University. He settled in Atlanta and taught at both Clark Atlanta University and Emory University. His books include The Black Tradition in American Dance and Grown Deep: Essays on the Harlem Renaissance. He is a co-author of Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy and co-editor of Afro-American Writing: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry, and his work has been included in more than 20 anthologies and encyclopedias of African American culture. Long’s research interests include African American literature, music, art and dance history. He has a particular interest in African American authors Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, musician Louis Armstrong and artist Romare Bearden. Several of Bearden’s works are in the Jones Collection at UD. In 2001, Long was a panelist during the Preservation of Dance symposium at the Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts, and, in 2002, he served as a moderator during the Emory University conference on “Lynching and Racial Violence in America.” He is a member of the national planning board for the Zora Neale Hurston Festival in Eatonville, Fla. Article by Martin Mbugua To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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