the UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS of the University of Delaware

Spring 2008

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In Remembrance:  Artists from the Paul R. Jones Collection 

January 22 – May 23, 2008
The Galleries at Mechanical Hall
University of Delaware, Newark

In Remembrance brings together artworks from the Paul R. Jones collection by thirteen artists who have passed away since the announcement of the gift of the collection to the University of Delaware in 2001: Benny Andrews (1930-2006), John Biggers (1924-2001), Ernest Crichlow (1914-2005), Michael Ellison (1952-2001), Reginald Gammon (1921-2005), Earl Hooks (1927-2005), Gwendolyn Knight-Lawrence (1913-2005), Alvin Loving (1935-2005), Eugene Martin (1938-2005), Hayward Oubre (1916-2006), John Riddle (1933-2002), Charles Searles (1937-2004) and Alvin Smith(1933-2001).

Coming of age in the middle decades of the twentieth century, these artists are linked by the experience of developing during a period which saw an increase in the recognition of African American cultural production. This era was also characterized by mounting resistance to the political and social restraints placed on the lives of African Americans, peaking in the activities of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s.  The role of African American visual artists was widely debated during this time, and the artists included in this exhibition actively participated in this discourse. African American artists continuously negotiated the tension between personal expression and social responsibility, and fighting to create a place for themselves in the “mainstream” American art world, while maintaining connections to African American constituencies.

The artists included in this exhibition responded to these challenges in diverse ways. Their art should be considered as the production of individuals whose unique visions reflect conscious choices about how to engage with the artistic and social developments of the 20^th century. Created during a span of over fifty years, the works on view demonstrate the artists’ engagement with a variety of media, formal styles and subject matter, influenced to varying degrees by African diasporan art and cultural concerns.

This exhibition was curated by Janet Dees, Ph.D. student in the department of Art History.