The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume V: The Twentieth Century, Part 2: The Rise of Black Artists
An ambitious project initiated by Harvard University in 2010, “The Image of the Black in Western Art” assiduously documents artistic depictions of African-descended people, from the earliest known examples to the present. The Rise of Black Artists, the second of two books on the twentieth century and the final volume in the 10-volume series, marks an essential shift in the project and focuses on representation of blacks by black artists in the West. This volume takes on important topics ranging from urban migration within the United States to globalization, to Négritude and cultural hybridity, to the modern black artist’s relationship with European aesthetic traditions and experimentation with new technologies and media. Concentrating on the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean, essays in this volume shed light on topics such as photography, jazz, the importance of political activism to the shaping of black identities, as well as the post-black art world.