Mounting frustration: the art museum in the age of Black power

361 Pages·2016·67.12 MB·English

by  Cahan, Susan E

MOUNTING
FRUSTRATION

MOUNTING
FRUSTRATION
THE ART MUSEUM IN THE AGE OF BLACK POWER
SUSAN E. CAHAN
Duke university Press
Durham and London
2016
© 2016 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞
Text designed by Barbara Wiedemann
Typeset in Quadraat Pro by Westchester Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Cahan, Susan, author.
Mounting frustration : the art museum in the age of Black Power /
Susan E. Cahan.
pages cm — (Art history publication initiative)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8223-5897-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-7489-3 (e- book)
1. African American art— New York (State)— New York— Exhibitions—
History—20th century. 2. Racism in museum exhibits— New York
(State)— New York— History—20th century. 3. Museum exhibits— Social
aspects— New York (State)— New York— History—20th century. 4. Museum
exhibits— Political aspects— New York (State)— New York— History—
20th century. I. Title. II. Series: Art history publication initiative.
n6538.n5c34 2016
704.03'9607300747471— dc23
2015022351
Cover photo: Black Emergency Cultural Co ali tion protest at the Whitney
Museum of American Art, New York, January 31, 1971. © Jan van Raay.
This book was made possible by a collaborative grant from
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The project was supported by the Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation
Arts Writers Grant Program.
This book was published with the assistance of The Frederick W. Hilles
Publication Fund of Yale University.
Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Wyeth Founda-
tion for American Art Publication Fund of the College Art Association.
Illustrations in this book were funded by a grant from
the Meiss/Mellon Author’s Book Award of the College Art
Association and by support from the Interdisciplinary Per-
for mance Studies initiative at Yale (iPsy), which is funded by
a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Ac know ledg ments xiii
Introduction 1
1 Electronic Refractions II at the Studio Museum in Harlem 13
2 Harlem on My Mind at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 31
3 Contemporary Black Artists in America
at the Whitney Museum of American Art 109
4 Romare Bearden: The Prevalence of Ritual and
The Sculpture of Richard Hunt at the Museum of Modern Art 171
Epilogue 253
Notes 269
Bibliography 319
Index 335

ILLUSTRATIONS
1.1 The Studio Museum on opening night, September 24, 1968 14
1.2 Artist and HARYOU- ACT instructor Betty Blayton looks on as students work on a wall
mosaic at the YMCA, August 26, 1964 16
1.3 Artist and HARYOU- ACT instructor Arnold Prince looks over the sketchbook of Janet
Henry, August 26, 1964 18
1.4 Postcard invitation from Lisa Wright and Frank Donnelly to Janet Henry,
January 1966 20
1.5 Tom Lloyd working with apprentices in his studio in Jamaica, Queens, 1968 26
1.6 Opening day of the exhibition Electronic Refractions II, Studio Museum in Harlem,
September 24, 1968 28
1.7 Opening night of the exhibition Electronic Refractions II, Studio Museum in Harlem,
September 24, 1968 28
2.1 Protest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 16, 1969 32
2.2 Art Workers’ Co alit ion protest at Lehman Brothers, New York City, June 12,
1970 45
2.3 Art Workers’ Co alit ion protest at Lehman Brothers, New York City, June 12,
1970 46
2.4 Art Workers’ Co alit ion protest at Lehman Brothers, New York City, June 12,
1970 46
2.5 Arthur Rosenblatt speaking at an Art Workers’ Co ali tion meeting, March 23,
1970 48
2.6 Reginald McGhee and Donald Harper at Harlem on My Mind, Metropolitan Museum
of Art 50
2.7 Donald Harper at Harlem on My Mind 50
2.8 New York magazine, January 20, 1969 54
2.9 Exhibition entrance, The Family of Man, Museum of Modern Art,
January 24– May 8, 1955 59
2.10 Charles and Ray Eames, Glimpses of the U.S.A., Moscow Fair Auditorium, 1959 61
2.11 Amsterdam News, December 7, 1968 68
2.12 Protest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cliff Joseph, January 12, 1969 71
2.13 Protest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 12, 1969 71
2.14 Protest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Norman Lewis and Benny Andrews,
January 16, 1969 73
2.15 Opening reception of Harlem on My Mind exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
January 16, 1969 73
2.16 Installation of the Harlem on My Mind exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art 82
2.17 Entrance, Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900–1968,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 18– April 6, 1969 83
2.18 Installation view of “1900–1919, From White to Black Harlem,” Harlem on
My Mind 84
2.19 Installation view of “1900–1919, From White to Black Harlem,” Harlem on
My Mind 84
2.20 Installation view of “1900–1919, From White to Black Harlem,” Harlem on
My Mind 86
2.21 Installation view of “1900–1919, From White to Black Harlem,” Harlem on
My Mind 86
2.22 Installation view of “1920–1929, An Urban Black Culture,” Harlem on My Mind 87
2.23 Installation view of “1920–1929, An Urban Black Culture,” Harlem on My Mind 88
2.24 Installation view of “1930–1939, Depression and Hard Times,” Harlem on
My Mind 89
2.25 Installation view of “1930–1939, Depression and Hard Times,” Harlem on
My Mind 90
2.26 Installation view of “1930–1939, Depression and Hard Times,” Harlem on
My Mind 90
2.27 Installation view of “1940–1949, War, Hope, and Opportunity,” Harlem on
My Mind 91
2.28 Helen Levitt, New York [Button to Secret Passage], 1938 91
2.29 Installation view of “1950–1959, Frustration and Ambivalence,” Harlem on
My Mind 92
2.30 Installation view of “1960–1969, Militancy and Identity,” Harlem on My Mind 92
viii ILLUSTRATIONS
2.31 Installation view of “Hall of Heroes,” Harlem on My Mind 93
2.32 Installation view of The Family of Man, Museum of Modern Art,
January 24– May 8, 1955 93
2.33 Roy DeCarava, Man on stoop with baby, 1952 96
2.34 Opening night of Macbeth, New Lafayette Theater, 1936 98
2.35 Opening night of Macbeth, New Lafayette Theater, 1936 98
2.36 Opening night of Macbeth, New Lafayette Theater, 1936 98
2.37 Art Workers’ Co alit ion protest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hans Haacke,
October 20, 1970 105
2.38 Art Workers’ Co alit ion protest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alex Gross,
October 20, 1970 105
3.1 The newly opened Whitney Museum of American Art, October 2, 1966 124
3.2 Installation view of Invisible Americans: Black Artists of the 1930s exhibition at the
Studio Museum in Harlem, November 19, 1968– January 5, 1969 130
3.3 Hale Woodruff, Forest Fire, 1939 132
3.4 Poster for Black Emergency Cultural Co ali tion protest, January 1971 146
3.5 Benny Andrews and his son protesting at the Whitney Museum of American Art,
January 31, 1971 147
3.6 Protest at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Nigel Jackson and Vivian Browne,
January 31, 1971 147
3.7 Protest at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Cliff Joseph, January 31,
1971 148
3.8 Signage in Contemporary Black Artists in America exhibition, Whitney Museum of
American Art, April 6, 1971 150
3.9 Barkley Hendricks refusing to cross the picket line against Contemporary Black Artists
in America in front of the Whitney Museum of American Art, April 1971 152
3.10 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America exhibition, Whitney Museum
of American Art, April 6– May 16, 1971 153
3.11 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 153
3.12 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 154
3.13 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 154
3.14 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 156
3.15 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 156
3.16 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 157
3.17 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 158
3.18 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 158
3.19 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 159
3.20 Installation view of Contemporary Black Artists in America 160
3.21 Installation view of Rebuttal to Whitney Museum Exhibition, Acts of Art Gallery, April
1971, with Nigel Jackson 167
4.1 Muhammad Speaks, April 4, 1969 174
ILLUSTRATIONS ix