Erased From the Canon
The Spiral Alliance, African American Abstract Expressionism, and Questions of Place
An Online Experience Created by Lorene Sugars for Dr. Gretchen Sorin's African American Art Course Spring 2020 at the Cooperstown Graduate Program (SUNY Oneonta)
The Full Story of Abstract Expressionism
Art history textbooks do not tell the full story. African American artists have been largely left out of what is called the "art historical canon" or mainstream textbook art history. Until recently, most museums did not even actively collect their works.
The story of Abstract Expressionism, in particular, is whitewashed. Erased from the story of this uniquely American art movement from the 1940s, African Americans played a crucial role in its beginnings and development. During a time when African Americans around the United States were rising up to fight for their equality in society, many African American artists were isolated or unacknowledged due to the color of their skin.
It is the goal of this project to begin to break down the erasure of African Americans from the history of Abstract Expressionism.
 Romare Bearden |
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 Norman Lewis |
 Felrath Hines |
 Alvin Hollingsworth |
 Merton Simpson |
 Charles Alston |
 Emma Amos |
 Reginald Gammon |
 Hale Woodruff |
Do you know these artists? Click the photo to find out!
"Is there a Negro Image?"
-Norman Lewis
"Is there a White Image?"
-Felrath Yeargans
The Spiral Alliance
From 1963 to 1965 African American Artists in New York City formed an art group called the Spiral. Begun as a group to discuss how they as artists could take part in the civil rights movement, the purpose of the group expanded to hosting discussions of the definition of African American art. The 15 group members all had differing opinions about this topic ranging from questioning why it needed to be defined at all, to stating that it was something that even African American artists were not always good at creating.
Scroll down to see two paintings from the Spiral's 1964 Show!
Despite their theoretical differences, Spiral had one show in 1964 First Group Showing: Works in Black and White in which they all displayed works that were black and white and related to the civil rights movement, to which a part of the proceeds of the show went. The works ranged from abstract to collage to realism. The Spiral fits into the abstract expressionist movement because, these artists, just like the abstract expressionist were striving to define their purpose in the art world. Many turned to abstraction as a style in which to do this.
After the 1964 show, the group slowly disbanded. There was not a museum exhibition on the Spiral until 2010.
Freedom Now
Reginald Gammon
Smalltown Perry Ferguson
What is similar about these two paintings? What is different?
The Spiral show represented a wide range of artistic styles but they were all united under the common theme of the civil rights movement.
"Rembrandt painted the ordinary Dutch people about him, but he presented their emotions in such a way that their appeal was universal".
-Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden was a founding member of the Spiral Alliance and the Abstract Expressionist Movement. Bearden showed at the Sam Kootz Gallery, one of the premiere Abstract Expressionist Galleries until 1950. After this, he could only get shows with other African American artists.
Bearden's Abstract Expressionism style was different from that of the mainstream styles. He agreed with the theoretical focus of the movement on presenting universal human experiences in art, however, he did not always use complete abstraction.
While in the Spiral, Bearden began to create his now-famous collages. Referencing back to his lived experiences as an African American growing up and living in both the urban and rural United States. In these collages, Bearden is attempting to represent common people, the people who live on city streets or rural hills, and the experiences that unite them even during a time of segregation.
An example of Bearden's more abstract work.
Part of his Projections exhibition in 1964, shortly after the spiral exhibition.
This recalls a social realist work that Bearden did in the 1940s that he has recreated in collage with more references to African American culture and heritage.
An example of Bearden's more abstract work.
"I am not interested in an illustrative statement that merely mirrors some of the social conditions, but in my work I am for something of deeper artistic and philosophic content"
-Norman Lewis
Can you find Norman Lewis at the Studio 35 meeting?
Norman Lewis is a well known African American artist and member of Spiral. What is not as well known is his role in Abstract Expressionism. Lewis was part of shows at MOMA between the 1940s and 1960s. During this time Lewis met many other founding members of the art movement and became part of the Studio 35 artist sessions group who eventually gave the movement its name. Unlike his fellow members, he would never be acknowledged in the cannon history of Abstract Expressionism's founding.
Lewis faced isolation from both his white and black peers due to his involvement in the Abstract Expressionism movement. The Studio 35 meeting that began the movement is documented well, in those accounts, Lewis is characterized as isolated and many of his questions about their art's purpose and relationship to people were ignored. Similarly, many African American artists saw Lewis as deserting his people through being involved with the expressionist movement.
Processional was Norman Lewis' submission to the Spiral Show. Lewis talks about his art in universal ways, wanting it to have a deeper meaning to those who view it. What do you see in this processional?
"The Negro artist is unknown to America"
-Romare Bearden
This statement by Bearden still remains true today. African American artists are continuously removed and ignored in the history of art.
The Spiral, Romare Bearden, and Norman Lewis, like many other artists of their time, were trying to find their position in the art world and turned to abstraction as a way to present universal experiences informed by their personal identity. Bearden and Lewis took part in the Abstract Expressionism movement because of its focus on the universal, but were isolated and erased from the movement's history because that universality did not apply when it came to white versus black artists. Lost to time, it is important that we revive this part of the history of Abstract Expressionism and give these artists the recognition they deserve for the impacts they made on the art world.