Currently running at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the photographic exhibit Posing Beauty in African-American Culture takes a look at the evolution of clothing and notions of beauty in the black community. Featuring work by such esteemed photographers as James Van Der Zee and Jamel Shabazz, Posing Beauty is a thought-provoking survey of pictures that are arresting, sometimes heartbreaking and often empowering.
The exhibit is curated by Deborah Willis with images on loan from Kenneth Montague, an art collector who runs the Wedge Gallery in Toronto. Montague offered us a guided tour through the key works.
Regarding the above picture, Montague says, "Van Der Zee is a very well-known Harlem photographer, and in the 1930s in Harlem, there was a blossoming of creative arts, writing, photography and painting on par with Paris at the turn of the century. One of those people in the upscale scene was James, and he was like those people in the photo. He's one of those upper-class black Americans. This was Harlem before the fall, when it was beset with the drug and poverty problems in the 1970s.
"I was born in Windsor [Ont.] to parents from Jamaica. I never really had the sense of the sophistication and richness of African-American life. Luckily, my dad did graduate work in education in Detroit, and my mom would take us to the Detroit Institute of Arts, and I remember in Grade 5 seeing this actual print. Deb Willis, the curator, also had this experience. And it remained with me — this sophisticated couple in their raccoon coats with the car and white-walled tires. It's compelling, because it shows the economic power so unlike what I was seeing at the time in the 1960s. It was a shape-shifter for me."
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http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/201...
Posted By: October Gallery
Tuesday, April 20th 2010 at 5:10AM
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