Self Taught Black Artists in the American South at the Mennello

Posted on by The Wandering Art Historian

The Mennello Museum of American Art is currently featuring an exhibition that showcases talented artists frequently overlooked by the art world at large and, sometimes, even by art historians. Self Taught Black Artists in the American South is devoted to giving these artists their rightful due as part of the art historical conversation about what American art really is and who gets to be an artist in America.

I often find myself attaching or associating self-taught artists with the “big name” artists, as if they needed me to vouch for them or justify their place in art history. This is, of course, absurd because they belong in the art historical canon simply because they are creators, processing their lives and their times, just like every artist before them and every artist who comes after. Simply put, these artists belong alongside the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Rothko and even the Ancient Greeks and Romans, not to prove that their work is “worthy” of consideration, but because they are humans tapping into the same creative forces that moved and inspired the so-called “greats” of the art world.

Mary Proctor

Ancient Rome

Kehinde Wiley

*****

Alyne Harris

Vincent van Gogh

*****

Nellie Mae Rowe

Henri Matisse

*****

Jesse Aaron

Pablo Picasso

*****

Mary Tillman Smith

Mark Rothko

*****

Ronald Lockett

Bessie Harvey

Robert Rauschenberg

*****

For more on Self Taught Black Artists in the American South, please visit…

https://www.mennellomuseum.org/stbaitas

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The Wandering Art Historian's avatar
I am writer and artist with a degree in art history who loves to talk to people about art. I have spent the last seven years building up The Wandering Art Historian “brand” as a way to connect with people who want to learn more about art. I give lectures and presentations and teach classes and host book club discussions with a creative or artistic connection. I also write about local artists, events, museums, and exhibitions to promote the arts in Central Florida. In 2021, I had a creative crisis. I struggled with authenticity in the art making process. I decided to make myself vulnerable and find out what a real, genuine Adrienne H. Lee artwork would look like. The process was challenging and emotional and revelatory. I learned that if necessity is the mother of invention, then authenticity is the mother of reinvention. I reinvented myself and learned an entirely new medium. The resulting artwork surprised me, and it will surprise you, too. Some people wish for a fairytale ending. For me, the fairy tale is only the beginning.