Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis

Cloth, 286 pages, illustrations (chiefly colour), portraits; 29 cm. Published in conjunction with the exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, November 13, 2015 to April 3, 2016; and other venues. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Dust jacket protected in a mylar cover. OVERSIZE! Additional shipping charges may be requested for international & priority orders. A large-format coffee-table book. Richly illustrated with colour plates. *** "This beautifully illustrated catalogue accompanies the first major museum retrospective of the painter Norman Lewis (1909-1979). Lewis was the sole African American artist of his generation who became committed to issues of abstraction at the start of his career and continued to explore them over its entire trajectory. His art derived inspiration from music (jazz and classical) and nature (seasonal change, plant forms, the sea). Also central to his work were the dramatic confrontations of the civil rights movement, in which he was an active participant among the New York art scene. Bridging the Harlem Renaissance, Abstract Expressionism, and beyond, Lewis is a crucial figure in American abstraction whose reinsertion into the discourse further opens the field for recognition of the contributions of artists of color. Bringing much-needed attention to Lewis's output and significance in the history of American art, Procession is a milestone in Lewis scholarship and a vital resource for future study of the artist and abstraction in his period. / Ruth Fine retired in 2012 after a long and distinguished career at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, highlights of which included the development and coordination of The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States and exhibitions of the art of Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, John Marin, and Georgia OKeeffe, among others. In 2003 Fine organized the acclaimed exhibition The Art of Romare Bearden, which traveled from Washington to four additional venues. She is chair of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation board." - Publisher. *** CONTENTS: Preface, by David C. Driskell; The spiritual in the material, by Ruth Fine; Drawings and paintings on paper; Jammin' at the press, by David Acton; Prints checklist, by David Acton and Ruth Fine; Lewis on Lewis: On teaching. On art; Susan Stedman commentary; Beyond category: before Afrofuturism there was Norman Lewis, by Jeffrey C. Stewart; The presence of Norman Lewis, by Jacqueline Francis; One world or none: hints of the future in Norman Lewis's abstract expressionism, by Andrianna Campbell; Norman Lewis: presence and absence in the exhibition history, 1933-1980, by Helen M. Shannon. Size: 4to.…