Artist adds print to Jones Collection

4:12 p.m., Sept. 23, 2005--Margo Humphrey, an internationally recognized printmaker and artist-in-residence last semester in the University of Delaware’s Department of Fine Arts and Visual Communications, has added a commissioned print, American Legacy, to the Paul R. Jones Collection at UD.

Described by Humphrey as “an homage to the rhythm and blues artists of the ’50s who never made any money off their work,” the print depicts early rhythm and blues greats Frankie Lymon, Ron Baker, Clyde McPhatter, LaVern Baker and The Five Satins. It mimics the style of the posters used to promote the concerts back in the ’50s and early ’60s and, Humphrey said, is intended to be evocative of a bygone era.

“The print is very straightforward, very graphic,” Humphrey, an associate professor of art at the University of Maryland, said. “It’s intended to be reminiscent of the 18” x 24” posters that often were tacked to telephone poles in African-American neighborhoods to advertise the shows.”

Designed primarily to get the word out quickly, the posters, Humphrey explained, were typically one-color, budget affairs. But, she added, the musicians represented always placed such a high premium on style that this somehow translated despite the low-cost materials.

“The posters made the rounds when all the groups still wore suits and used style as a status symbol,” she said. “I wanted to capture that in the print.”

Humphrey, who comes from a family of musicians and grew up playing music herself, said that she was inspired to cover the subject matter she did because of the influence rhythm and blues music had on her.

“Giving tribute to all the rhythm and blues artists of the ’50s who signed contracts that gave everything they made away seemed really important, because of their huge contribution to the African-American culture. And, because they created such delicious, wonderful music and never got any royalties, I thought a print remembering them would be a great addition to the Paul R. Jones Collection,” she said.

“I’m honored to be able to do that and to be the first commissioned artist to have a piece in the collection,” she said.

Humphrey was born in Oakland, Calif., in 1942. After receiving a BFA in painting and printmaking from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and an MFA in printmaking from Stanford University, she became a faculty member of the University of Maryland’s department of art, in 1989.

Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad, and she represented the United States at the Print Biennale in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1999, and at the International Invitational World Printmaking Survey at the Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., in 1996.

Highly regarded as an artist and printmaker, Humphrey was awarded an honorary degree by the Stanford Committee for the Arts and served as a nominator for the MacArthur Fellowship Awards in 2001-02. Her works are held by many distinguished museums and private collections.

Article by Becca Hutchinson

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