African American and American Indian artist Richard Mayhew was a pivotal member of the movement, headed by Romare Bearden, of the most important black artists of the Abstract Expressionist era. Bearden's group, Spiral, was formed as a visual response to the March on Washington. Mayhew associated with Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and Bearden, and formed alliances with such African American artists as Faith Ringgold, Norman Lewis, Ed Clark, and Emma Amos; his work is exhibited in major collections and museums throughout the world. This book explores his art and discusses the critical exclusion from the history of art of Native Americans and African Americans who are not figurative or "narrative" and creates a framework for reconsideration of such art.
Janet Berry Hess teaches African, African American, and American Indian culture and gender studies at the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction Part I: The Life andOne: Origins, Influence and DiasporaTwo: “Shadows in the Trees”: Art Movements and Critical ReceptionThree: “He Just Came Off the Reservation”: Native and African American Art and the Civil Rights Movement Four: “Forty, Forty, Forty”: Creative Consciousness, Landscape and the Sense of “Place” Between pages 88 and 89 are 12 plates containing 33 color imagesFive: Collectors and Students Part II: InterviewsSix: Conversations, 2003–2007Seven: Mayhew on Selected Topics, 2012Afterword Chapter Notes Bibliography Index