Recovering History: Clevelanders Bring African Art to Their City in the 1920s

Blog Post

Kristen Windmuller-Luna, Curator of African Art

April 23, 2025

“It has occurred to several persons that if a sum of money was raised by colored citizens to be used by Mr. Travis to purchase and collect various [African] art objects, a great deal of good could be accomplished in the promotion of inter-racial good will and understanding,” wrote Ella C. Phillips as vice president and chairman of the African Art Sponsors in a 1927 letter seeking funding to buy works of African art and scientific material for the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH).

2 page letter from the African Art Sponsors group at the CMA — 1927 letter from the African Art Sponsors explaining their project in the Paul Travis Packet of the CMA’s curatorial files

More than two hundred Clevelanders, mostly from the Black community, answered Phillips’s call. Long before the days of Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and other contemporary crowdfunding websites, they banded together as the African Art Sponsors to celebrate African culture and creativity while seeking to improve their city. Their efforts were also linked to fundraising by the Gilpin Players of Karamu House, the oldest African American theater group in the US, to buy similar objects for both the museum and their theater. The fundraising of the AAS and a season of earnings from the Gilpin Players resulted in $1,500 (about $28,000 today), which they sent to professor Paul B. Travis in 1928. A painter, Travis was midway through a journey from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo, Egypt, while on sabbatical from the Cleveland Institute of Art. When he received a telegram with news of their fundraising success, he began making purchases on their behalf.

The fundraising of the Gilpin Players and the African Art Sponsors from 1926 to about 1931 resulted in significant gifts. The Gilpin Players gifted 57 objects to the CMA, while the African Art Sponsors gifted 32 objects. Their donations remain one of the largest gifts of African objects to the CMA in the institution’s history.

At the CMA, many of the works were included in a 1929 exhibition entitled Exhibition of Primitive Negro Art of Africa, planned to coincide with a meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). While that historical title uses language we now recognize as offensive, it was a monumental event in Cleveland. It was the first time the museum used the word art in tandem with African objects, and its first exhibition on the topic. W. E. B. DuBois—famous sociologist, historian, author, and civil rights activist—was asked to speak on art at the museum as part of the conference. After the event, Harry E. Davis, civil service commissioner of Cleveland (later state senator), NAACP conference chairman, and president of the African Arts Sponsors wrote to the CMA to say, “We all feel that the Saturday morning meeting held at the museum was the most impressive and dignified in our history and we want you to know how much we appreciate your efforts to make our conference a success.”

Black and white photo of an old gallery view of African objects — Installation view of exhibition titled *Exhibition of Primitive Negro Art of Africa*, June 8–July 7, 1929. The Cleveland Museum of Art Archives, 09404

Unfortunately, a 1939 fire destroyed the Karamu House theater and the objects within. Works purchased by the African Art Sponsors for the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History are still cared for by those institutions. The African Art Sponsors purchased this Baule male figure in 1929 from the French art dealer Paul Guillaume and donated it to the museum in 1931. You can see this sculpture today in gallery 108. While the exact reasons that the AAS dissolved and stopped fundraising remain unclear, it is likely that the beginning of the Great Depression (1929–39) was a major factor because of its severe economic effects on Cleveland, especially its Black residents.

Gallery view of several African figurative sculptures — *Male Figure*, by 1931. Totokro Master, Wood; 44.8 x 9.3 x 7.7 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the African Art Sponsors of Karamu House, 1931.204. Location: Gallery 108A

Identifying and Acknowledging the African Art Sponsors

While Travis’s role in the purchase of works in Africa on behalf of three Cleveland cultural institutions has been acknowledged through publications and exhibitions in 1982 and 2001, far less credit has been given to the socially impactful motivations and fundraising skills of the African Art Sponsors and the Gilpin Players. Nor has much acknowledgment been given to Louise M. Dunn, the CMA’s associate curator of education, who advised Travis on what to buy for the institution, as their handwritten correspondence shows.

Who were the members of the African Art Sponsors? This is one question of my current research as I seek to better understand this moment in the CMA’s history. Correspondence held in archives with full names makes it easy to recognize individuals like Ella C. Phillips and Harry E. Davis. Tracing the historical records uncovers other names, like Bishop Charles Henry Philips, husband of Ella C. Phillips. Born enslaved in Georgia, he received multiple degrees and rose to the position of bishop in the Colored Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church. Some names with initials are recognizable as well-known Clevelanders, like the inventor and businessman Garrett A. Morgan and his wife Mary Morgan (née Hasek).

Other members of the African Art Sponsors are harder to identify, like individuals named only by their first initial and who have common last names like Smith. Many of the donors were also women, as individuals and members of social clubs like the Book and Thimble Club. Some women’s names are obscured by their husbands’ names, as was the social practice at the time: These include Mrs. S. T. Mitchell as well as Ella C. Phillips, present in the list as Mrs. C. H. Phillips.

As the 100th anniversary of the first exhibition of African arts at the CMA approaches, I’m seeking to learn more about the people beyond the important work of the African Art Sponsors and to acknowledge their contributions to the CMA. If you recognize a name on this list at the end of this blog, please reach out at africanart@clevelandart.org.