Rooftop

1957
(American, 1915–1999)
Unframed: 61 x 63.5 cm (24 x 25 in.)
© Estate of Hughie Lee-Smith / Licensed by VAGA at ARS, NY
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Hughie Lee-Smith ran track with fellow student Jesse Owens at East Technical High School in Cleveland.

Description

Trained in Cleveland before launching his mature career in Detroit and New York, Lee-Smith frequently painted isolated—and often solitary—figures amid desolate cityscapes and landscapes. They have pronounced overtones of introspection, which the artist attributed, in part, to his experiences navigating the forces and effects of racism: "In my case, aloneness, I think, has stemmed from the fact that I’m Black. Unconsciously it has a lot to do with alienation."
Rooftop

Rooftop

1957

Hughie Lee-Smith

(American, 1915–1999)
America, 20th century

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Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists
Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists
Antwaun SargentWhat's new, now and next from contemporary Black artistsThis book surveys the work of a new generation of Black artists, and also features the voices of a diverse group of curators who are on the cutting edge of contemporary art. As mission-driven collectors, Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi have championed emerging artists of African descent through museum loans and institutional support. But there has never been an opportunity to consider their acclaimed collection as a whole until now.Edited by writer Antwaun Sargent (author of The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion), Young, Gifted and Black draws from this collection to shed new light on works by contemporary artists of African descent. At a moment when debates about the politics of visibility within the art world have taken on renewed urgency, and establishment voices such as the New York Times are declaring that "it has become undeniable that African American artists are making much of the best American art today," Young, Gifted and Black takes stock of how these new voices are impacting the way we think about identity, politics and art history itself.Young, Gifted and Black contextualizes artworks with contributions from artists, curators and other experts. It features a wide-ranging interview with Bernard Lumpkin and Thelma Golden, director, and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem; and an in-depth essay by Antwaun Sargent situating Lumpkin in a long lineage of Black art patrons. A landmark publication, this book illustrates what it means (in the words of Nina Simone) to be young, gifted, and Black in contemporary art.192 pagesFirst published September 29, 2020

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