Allan Rohan Crite (1910-2007) #BlackNativity, c. 1930 brass, plaster & bronze relief stamped in the metal Allan R Crite 7 x 4 x 1 inches Allan Rohan Crite was one of the first artists to observe and depict average African Americans engaged in their daily activities, primarily in the South End, Cambridge, and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. According to Crite, “I’ve only done one piece of work in my whole life..I wanted to paint people of color as normal humans. I tell the story of man through the black figure.” Crite rejected the images of artists like Archibald Motley, Jr. and Palmer Hayden because he felt they were inaccurate in their portrayal of #AfricanAmerican life--at least, in that those images were universal symbols. He earned the title of “reporter-artist”, rendering his subjects & scenery with such fine detail they appear almost like color photographs. The vast majority of Crite’s artistic output consisted of works on paper, especially watercolors & drawings. He made sketches & designs on a daily basis, and these were in many cases, seen by him as the final product—not a preliminary work . A devout Episcopalian, his work soon began to exhibit strong religious themes as well, depicting blacks in interpretations of Biblical stories and African American spirituals. Crite also wrote & illustrated several books, created hand-tooled brass panels that once adorned a monastery, and designed and painted vestments and banners for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Cambridge. Provenance: Melvin Holmes Collection of #AfricanAmericanArt • #art #iconography #faith #modernart #biblical #blackjesus #jesus #religiousart #allancrite #blackartist #artist #arte #kunst #konst #religion #jesuschrist #nativity #blacknativity #poc #spirituals #christian #christ #artsy #artcollector #artadvisor #artconsultant #joakimvonditmar https://www.instagram.com/p/BvHnK6clQJ-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=qnqy4hi2ubv
