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https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=1BF9D23F11B14D8C1C7DBF47494CAC5980E0DA27C268C92D0FAF9857F8882255&s=24247294&se=250206929&v=0&f=2017.1_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=6E1FE59C4C85E32E8D6732BD7252DAFACD65F7B0C8FD1EEAF0E2A06F7F942D9F&s=24247294&se=250206929&v=0&f=%5C2017.1det01_o2.jpg

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Mar 20, 2017

Alabama

1960

Norman Lewis

(American, 1909–1979)

America

Oil on canvas

Overall: 122.6 x 184.5 cm (48 1/4 x 72 5/8 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 2017.1

Location

227 Abstract Expressionism

Did you know?

Norman Lewis was the son of parents who had emigrated to the U.S. from Bermuda.

Description

During the Civil Rights Movement, Lewis sought to align his interest in abstraction with current events. With its black and white palette, Alabama offers a symbolic duality for a time entrenched in racial conflict. Furthermore, the painting's composition has prompted viewers to draw additional associations from its abstract shapes, such as a nighttime Ku Klux Klan gathering.

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Citations

Litt, Steven. "'Alabama:' A Top Acquisition." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), March 26, 2017. Mentioned: p. A6; Reproduced: p. A6

O'Grady, Megan, "Once Overlooked, Black Abstract Painters Are Finally Given Their Due," New York Times Style Magazine, February 14, 2021.
Mentioned and Reproduced

Litt, Steven. "Cleveland Museum of Art Survey's America's Racial History Through Works by Modern, Contemporary Black Artists," Plain Dealer, February 27, 2022. p. D-2.

Bittencourt, Renata, "Art for Times of Insurrection," in Adriano Pederosa and Rodrigo Moura, eds., Melvin Edwards: Lynch Fragments, exh. cat. (Museu de arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil, 2018). Mentioned p. 16-17; reproduced p. 17.

Amaki, Amalia K. "The African American Aspect of American Art," in Stephen M. Sessler, ed., American Art: Collecting and Connoisseurship (London: Merrell, 2020). Mention, P. 115.

Disman, Barry. Norman Lewis: A Retrospective: Catalogue. New York: City University of New York, 1976. Mentioned: p. 11

Conwill, Kinshasha, and David Craven. Norman Lewis: Black Paintings 1946-1977. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem, 1998. Mentioned: p. 13, 23, 27, 32, 39; Reproduced: fig. 18

McNally, Owen. "Black Tones, Bright Star." Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT), March 28, 1999. Mentioned www.courant.com

Damsker, Matt. "Transcending Race, Refining Abstraction." Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT), April 4, 1999. Mentioned

Zimmer, William. "The Color Black: On the Painter's Canvas and the World." The New York Times (New York, NY), May 30, 1999. Mentioned

Gibson, Ann Eden. "Diaspora and Ritual: Norman Lewis's Civil Rights Paintings." Third Text 45 (June 2008). Mentioned: 31, 39, 42

Wood, Sara. ""Pure Eye Music": Norman Lewis, Abstract Expressionism, and Bebop. In The Hearing Eye: Jazz & Blues Influences in African American Visual Art, edited by Graham Lock and David Murray. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Mentioned: p. 101

Jones, Kellie. EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art. Duke University Press, 2011.

Tan, Mindy. "Canvas Politics: Norman Lewis and the Art of Abstract Resistance." PhD diss., Purdue University, 2015. Mentioned: p. 30; Reproduced: p. 139

Welch, John. "Norman Lewis, Artist, Visionary, Humanist." IRAAA, 2015. Mentioned; Reproduced iraaa.museum.hamptonu.edu

Welch, John. "Discovering the Artistic Genius of Norman Lewis." The Root, December 20, 2015. Reproduced www.theroot.com

Bradford, Mark. "Social Abstraction.' The International Review of African American Art, vol. 26 no. 1: 41-42. Reproduced; p. 42

Blood, Anne. "The Indefatigable Curiosity of Norman Lewis." Hyperallergic, March 28, 2016. Mentioned; Reproduced hyperallergic.com

Vali, Murtaza."Norman Lewis: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts." Artforum 54 (April 2016). Mentioned: p. 240

Qui, Serena. "Norman Lewis: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts." Art in America 104 (June/July 2016). Mentioned: p. 149; Reproduced: p. 149

Eisenman, Stephen. "Painting Black and Blue: A Review of Norman Lewis at the Chicago Cultural Center." Newcity Art (Chicago, IL), December 16, 2016. Mentioned: Reproduced art.newcity.com

Litt, Steven. "Civil Rights Era Masterpiece by Norman Lewis Leads Acquisitions at Cleveland Museum of Art." Cleveland.com (Cleveland, OH), March 21, 2017. Mentioned www.cleveland.com

Schreiber, Kelley Notaro. "Cleveland Museum of Art Announces New Acquisitions." The Cleveland Museum of Art, March 21, 2017, https://www.clevelandart.org/about/press/media-kit/cleveland-museum-art-announces-new-acquisitions-4. Mentioned; Reproduced

Litt, Steven. "Museum Director Wants More." Sunday Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), August 6, 2017. Mentioned: p. A14

Grant, Daniel. "Top Museum Acquisitions: 2017 In Review." Antiques & Fine Art Magazine, Spring 2018. Mentioned: p. 101

Griswold, William M. “Recent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93-104. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 99, no. 12; mentioned: P. 93

Franke, Anselm. Parapolitics: Cultural Freedom and the Cold War.
Berlin : Haus der Kulturen der Welt ; Berlin : Sternberg Press 2021. Reproduced: p. 434

Exhibition history

Recent Acquisitions 2014-2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 17, 2018-June 6, 2018).

Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018).

Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-June 26, 2022).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Alabama|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/2017.1|author=Norman Lewis|year=1960|access-date=29 May 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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