Reading and books: the gifts of a lifetime. Art: creating and viewing are not passive activities, they hold, store, and explain the past and the present.
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| Portrait of an African Slave Woman, ~1580, attr. to Annibale Carracci |
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| Portrait of a Wealthy African, ~1540, Flemish or German |
The
Walters Art Museum in Baltimore currently has an exhibit titled
Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe.There are sculptures, cameos, drawings, and paintings, including this one on the left, that show African people of all walks of life interacting with peers, servants, and masters in Europe.The book accompanying this exhibit is excellent and can be found at
this link here.
Holland Cotter, art critic for the New York Times, has an abiding interest in African art. He recently reviewed
three books published just in time for the holiday season. The fourth volume in the series The Image of the Black in Western Art, edited by David Bindman and
Henry Louis Gates Jr.: this series is available for purchase: if the reader wishes to purchase it through
this link,
BlackPast.org will receive six percent of the purchase price.The second book reviewed by him is based on the exhibit at the
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution called African Cosmos:Stellar Arts. And finally, the catalogue for the exhibit
In Extremis:Death and Life in 21st Century Haitian Art at UCLA's Fowler Museum will provide a basis for plenty of thought and discussion. Both the above books are also available
through this link.
And, of course, the children should not be neglected! A thorough selection is available for children and youth at
this link and
also here.
