Afro-American Artists, New York and Boston [Frank Bowling, Thomas Sills, Emma Amos, Robert Blackburn]

Edmund B. Gaither, introduction. William A. Bagnall, foreword

Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1970. Offset. 10 x 10 in. Perfect bound in full-bleed photo-illustrated wraps with a fold-out inside cover. [92] pp.

The superbly designed and profusely illustrated catalog from the 1970 exhibition of contemporary Black artists, presented in Boston by The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The catalog presents work by 70 artists including bigger names like Frank Bowling, Emma Amos, Thomas Sills, and Robert Blackburn, as well as lesser known figures. The paintings and sculpture range from the overtly political, including a piece about Fred Hampton’s murder at the hands of Chicago police and another from inside a prison cell, to the more abstract, and one work that was not in the exhibition but is presented in the catalog.

An excellent survey of contemporary art produced by Black artists from a pivotal moment in the history of race and racism in the United States.

Artists in the catalog include Ronald Boutte, Calvin Burnett, Dana Chandler, Henry DeLeon, Milton Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones, Harriet Kennedy, Edward McCluney, Jr., Jerry Pinkney, Stanley Pinckney (Babaluayie S. Dele), Gary Rickson, Al Smith, Richard Stroud, Lovett Thompson, Richard Waters, John Wilson, Ellen Banks, Richard Yarde, Emma Amos, Benny Andrews, Ellsworth Ausby, Malcolm Bailey, Romare Bearden, Robert Blackburn, Betty Blayton, Lynn Bowers, Frank Bowling, Marvin Brown, John Chandler, Edward Clark, Cliff Joseph, Eldzier Cortoir, Ernest Crichlow, Emilio Cruz, Avel de Knight, James Denmark, Reginald Gammon, Felraith Hines, Alvin Hollingsworth, Bill Howell, Zell Ingram, Gerald Jackson, Daniel L. Johnson, Benjamin Jones, Tonnie Jones, Hughie Lee-Smith, Norman Lewis, Tom Llloyd, Alvin D. Loving, Jr., Richard Mayhew, Algernon Miller, Joseph Overstreet, Louise Parks, John W. Rhoden, Barbara Chase Riboud, Bill Rivers, Mahler Ryder, Raymond Saunders, Thomas Sills, Vincent Smith, Alma Thomas, Bob Thompson, Russ Thompson, Lloyd Toone, Luther Van, Paul Waters, Jack White, Yvonne Williams, and Hale Woodruff.

Mild wear to wraps at edges and spine; annotation to p. 6 and 79, and a few instances of spotting, not obstructing image or text. Overall, a tight, clean copy of the rare catalog from this important 1970 exhibition of Black American artists. Very good.