The Georgia Museum of Art will display the works of prominent 20th-century African-American artists until March 16 in the exhibition I am in the garden…: African-American Art from the Collections to celebrate Black History Month.
Using a title that borrows from a Romare Bearden poem, the exhibition includes select works of art from the museum’s permanent collections, including works by two of the most famous African-American artists of the last century, Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence. Both artists were influenced by the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, a period when African-American culture flourished. The exhibition includes Bearden’s 1979 color lithograph In the Garden. Bearden’s memories of a family garden in Charlotte, N.C., inspired his work.
Other works by accomplished artists Sam Gilliam and Richard Hunt showcase the rise of abstract expressionism. Gilliam investigates abstract forms in his renowned color field paintings, while Hunt creates large-scale, linear sculptures. I am in the garden… also features contemporary works by socially conscious artists Kara Walker and Lorna Simpson. Known for her distinctive, laser-cut silhouettes, Walker creates images that address race, sex and identity. Simpson also critiques society’s engagement with these issues in her thought-provoking sculptural pieces enhanced by text.
