CAU Art Gallery Analysis
The CAU Art Gallery has a collection of comprised of 1,200 works of art in three major categories which are Contemporary American, African American, and African art. In these collections are paintings, murals, sculptures, works on paper and ethnographical artifacts acquired through purchases and donations. The growth and continuation of the Clark Atlanta University Collection of American art report the role of black artists in the history of American art, between the years of 1942 and 1970. CAU's tradition in promoting the arts began in 1942 when exhibition opportunities for artists of color were limited due to segregation. Then Clark Atlanta University, introduced the yearly "Exhibition of Paintings, Prints and Sculpture by Negro Artists of
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America" to provide black artists a nationalized opportunity to display their work .
During a visit to the CAU Art Gallery, you are welcomed to a remarkable visual experience. This tour provided me with history among different cultures and what is unique about them. During my tour, you arise to the top of the stairs. The Art of the Negro murals, painted by Hale Aspacio Woodruff (1900-1980) comes to view. Inside the murals are six enchanted panels that you wont forget.
The first panel was Native forms.
It represented different traditions of Africans in America, and predicts the impact of African culture on Western civilization. In the picture, Shango, the African Storm god, is surrounded by figures costumed in traditional regalia that allude to hunting, harvest, or war. At the bottom of the painting, is men carving and painting . The second panel is Interchange. It indicates cultural exchange among the people of Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Europe in ancient times. Surrounding the top of the painting, presents historic architectural forms from Greece, Egypt, and the Songhai Empire. On the left of the painting, is a Greek musician who is analyzing an African musician playing a thumb piano called kalimba. This panel showed me the exchange between each culture and how they impacted on one another.
The third panel was Dissipation. This panel was very interesting to me. This panel had this shade of darkness at the top. It dramatized the immigration of Africa by European cultures and the following destruction and geographic spreading of its formal artifacts. During the portrayal includes a 400 year span, the fire and representation of a royal artifact of Benin which is this greenish figure with a helmet holding a weapon, specifically pointing out the historic event when a British armed force conducted a vindictive raid, burning the city to the ground and looting all the artifacts in
1897.
The fourth panel was Parallels. This panel illustrated the relationships and commonalities among the ancient and traditional art forms of non-European cultures. This non-European cultures were the Mayans, Aztecs, North American Indians, and African. In the light gray section was Kokopelli symbol. The Kokopelli symbol is represented in a number of semblances depicting Kokopelli role as a source of music making and dancing and spreading joy. Then there are three sculptures going vertical at the top of the panel which are thought to be represented of a totem of the Northwest Haida Indians, a housing post from the Yoruba of Nigeria, and a rooftop from Melanesia, New Caledonia.
The fifth panel was Influences. This panel conveyed the impact of traditional art forms in 20th century Western art. The panel had a collage of different modern artists. In the bottom left corner was stylized work of Henry Moore. The square with the bright yellow color was work from Wilfredo Lam, the mauve figure with upward hands is by Modigliani, and the horizontal rectangle on the left of the mauve figure is by Miro. Above Henry Moore’s work, is a Haitian Veve drawing and African sculptures condensed in black.
The six panel which is also the last panel, is called Muses. At the top of this panel is a Greek and an African together which symbolizes the involuntary marriage of African and European cultures, and the resultant evolution of the African artist in the Western Hemisphere. In the center of the painting is a man sitting with eggshells holding paint, appears to resonate the native artist in Panel 1, located in the lower-left corner painting of an animal hide. Seventeen important artists of color who symbolize this cultural background represent Woodruff's notion including Iqueigha, 13th century sculptor, 20th Century primitive, Joshua Johnston, colonial portraitist; Henry O. Tanner, religious painter and Jacob Lawrence, a contemporary narrative serial painter.
I recommend this gallery to anyone that is interested in black art. This gallery explains about the research of the development African American artists within the historical context of American art. I will take another visit to the gallery soon to learn more interesting facts.
America" to provide black artists a nationalized opportunity to display their work .
During a visit to the CAU Art Gallery, you are welcomed to a remarkable visual experience. This tour provided me with history among different cultures and what is unique about them. During my tour, you arise to the top of the stairs. The Art of the Negro murals, painted by Hale Aspacio Woodruff (1900-1980) comes to view. Inside the murals are six enchanted panels that you wont forget.
The first panel was Native forms.
It represented different traditions of Africans in America, and predicts the impact of African culture on Western civilization. In the picture, Shango, the African Storm god, is surrounded by figures costumed in traditional regalia that allude to hunting, harvest, or war. At the bottom of the painting, is men carving and painting . The second panel is Interchange. It indicates cultural exchange among the people of Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Europe in ancient times. Surrounding the top of the painting, presents historic architectural forms from Greece, Egypt, and the Songhai Empire. On the left of the painting, is a Greek musician who is analyzing an African musician playing a thumb piano called kalimba. This panel showed me the exchange between each culture and how they impacted on one another.
The third panel was Dissipation. This panel was very interesting to me. This panel had this shade of darkness at the top. It dramatized the immigration of Africa by European cultures and the following destruction and geographic spreading of its formal artifacts. During the portrayal includes a 400 year span, the fire and representation of a royal artifact of Benin which is this greenish figure with a helmet holding a weapon, specifically pointing out the historic event when a British armed force conducted a vindictive raid, burning the city to the ground and looting all the artifacts in
1897.
The fourth panel was Parallels. This panel illustrated the relationships and commonalities among the ancient and traditional art forms of non-European cultures. This non-European cultures were the Mayans, Aztecs, North American Indians, and African. In the light gray section was Kokopelli symbol. The Kokopelli symbol is represented in a number of semblances depicting Kokopelli role as a source of music making and dancing and spreading joy. Then there are three sculptures going vertical at the top of the panel which are thought to be represented of a totem of the Northwest Haida Indians, a housing post from the Yoruba of Nigeria, and a rooftop from Melanesia, New Caledonia.
The fifth panel was Influences. This panel conveyed the impact of traditional art forms in 20th century Western art. The panel had a collage of different modern artists. In the bottom left corner was stylized work of Henry Moore. The square with the bright yellow color was work from Wilfredo Lam, the mauve figure with upward hands is by Modigliani, and the horizontal rectangle on the left of the mauve figure is by Miro. Above Henry Moore’s work, is a Haitian Veve drawing and African sculptures condensed in black.
The six panel which is also the last panel, is called Muses. At the top of this panel is a Greek and an African together which symbolizes the involuntary marriage of African and European cultures, and the resultant evolution of the African artist in the Western Hemisphere. In the center of the painting is a man sitting with eggshells holding paint, appears to resonate the native artist in Panel 1, located in the lower-left corner painting of an animal hide. Seventeen important artists of color who symbolize this cultural background represent Woodruff's notion including Iqueigha, 13th century sculptor, 20th Century primitive, Joshua Johnston, colonial portraitist; Henry O. Tanner, religious painter and Jacob Lawrence, a contemporary narrative serial painter.
I recommend this gallery to anyone that is interested in black art. This gallery explains about the research of the development African American artists within the historical context of American art. I will take another visit to the gallery soon to learn more interesting facts.