Souls grown deep
Subtitle: African American vernacular art of the South.
By: Paul Arnett, William Arnett, executive editors
Contributors: Arnett, Paul; Arnett, William
Edition: 1st ed
Publisher: Tinwood Books; In association with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the New York Public Library
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Atlanta, Ga; [New York, N.Y.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 544
Subjects: Arnett, William -- Art collections; African American art -- Southern States; African American artists -- Southern States; African American folk art -- Southern States; Outsider art -- Southern States
Other titles: Tree gave the dove a leaf
Description: The African American culture of the South has produced many of the twentieth century’s most innovative art forms. Widely appreciated for its music—from the blues and jazz, to gospel, soul, rock ‘n’ roll—the region has also played host to a less visible but equally important visual art tradition. Working without significant formal training, often employing the most unpretentious and unlikely materials, these grassroots artists have created powerful statements that, like the music, are strongly influenced by the legacies of African belief systems, rooted in community, and committed to cultural continuity. At the sametime, however, this quintessentially American art testifies to the originality and transformative force of individual imaginations. Since the 1980s, popular and critical interest in this genre has grown dramatically and has given it many names: “self-taught,” “folk,” “outsider,” “visionary.” Souls Grown Deep: African AmericanVernacular Art is the opening work in a multi-volume study that offers the first comprehensive exploration of this art form’s development during the late twentieth century, an era shaped by the civil rights movement. Souls Grown Deepilluminates a remarkable spectrum of creativity: the media of painting, sculpture, and works on paper; the region’s outdoor art environments and art installations; historical examples from earlier eras; and relevant decorative arts and crafts. With unprecedented thoroughness and scope, Souls Grown Deep takes readers inside these creators’ worlds. The book includes lavishly illustrated, full-color chapters on forty vernacular artists. Writing from diverse perspectives, thirty-seven contributing writers—including civil rights leaders, art historians, museum curators, and folklorists—present thematic, and historical overviews crucial to and understanding of the art’s origins.
Notes: Includes index and bibliographical references
Table of contents: title: Map; title: An introduction to other rivers; title: Life behind the wall : a call to respond / Andrew Young; title: An artist goes back to the ocean / Lonnie Holley; title: In pursuit of new freedoms / John Lewis; title: More than previously imagined / Howard Dodson; title: Vernacular art : a palpable expression / Roger Cardinal; title: "I always wanted to be free" / Vincent Harding; title: Beyond Borobudur / William Arnett; title: African roots, American branches : tradition and transformation in African American self-taught art / Babatunde Lawal; title: The African artist / Roy Sieber; title: Tradition and continuum in African American folk art / Jack L. Lindsey; title: The hidden charms of the Deep South / Paul Arnett, William Arnett, Robert Hobbs, Theophus Smith, Maude Southwell Wahlman; title: William Edmondson : the geometry of vision : the work of William Edmondson; title: Eldren M. Bailey : whitewash; title: Vernon Burwell : le garage ravi de Rocky Mount : an essay on Vernon Burwell; title: Root sculpture : tornadoes inside eggs; title: Ralph Griffin : "then the whisper put on flesh"; title: Bessie Harvey : "God is the artist"; title: Bessie Harvey; title: The root sculptures of Thornton Dial : a network of ideas; title: Lonnie Holley : pulling on the root; title: Jesse Aaron : nobody leaves empty-handed; title: Ulysses Davis; title: Leroy Almon; title: Herbert Singleton : secular and sacred; title: Big Al and J. P. Scott : folk art in New Orleans; title: Dilmus Hall : blue hands; title: Steve Ashby; title: Archie Byron : anatomically correct; title: James "Son" Thomas : inside the jook joint : blues and sculpture in the life of James Thomas; title: Juanita Rogers : mud woman; title: Jimmy Lee Sudduth : cutting to the slice; title: Bill Traylor : mysteries; title: The word in their hands; title: Gertrude Morgan; title: Nellie Mae Rowe : inside the perimeter; title: Minnie Evans; title: Clementine Hunter; title: Anderson Johnson; title: Contemporary African American folk portraiture; title: Sam Doyle : the news from Frogmore; title: Mose Tolliver : picture maker; title: "Tree roots, that's what I started with"; title: Lorenzo Scott; title: Theodore Hill; title: J. T. McCord; title: Half-told tales : some thoughts on African American self-taught art as narrative; title: Arthur Dial : "a record of what went by"; title: Luster Willis : templates; title: Henry Speller : handy man; title: Georgia Speller : folk theory : laughing with Legba; title: George Andrews : "the Dot Man"; title: Frank Jones : drawings from the devil house; title: William L. Hawkins : photographic memory; title: Alyne Harris; title: Richard Burnside; title: Royal Robertson : night vision; title: Sandy Hall : a look at myself; title: John B. Murray : the handwriting on the wall; title: Painting out of a corner; title: Notes on African American vernacular art in the age of globalization / Jerry Cullum; title: Revolutionary democratic art from the cultural commonwealth of Afro America / Amiri Baraka; title: Self-taught art and the conscience of museums / Maxwell L. Anderson