RSVP

The history of African-American painting is as old as the United States. As early as the 18th century, notable artists Joshua Johnson and Scipio Moorhead produced portraiture. Each participated in artistic communities that constitute the early foundations of American art and literature. These artists, among others, background the development of a complex lineage that has persisted from the Colonial Period to the present. Bookending a sesquicentennial period in this history with painters Edward Mitchell Bannister (1826–1901) as forebear and Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) as scion provides an opportunity to study cultural continuity of African-American painting from Early Modern art through Contemporary art. This lecture will look at such art by decade, from the Reconstruction era to the present.

Christopher Stackhouse is author of a volume of poems Plural (Counterpath press); and co-author of image/text collaboration Seismosis (1913 press), featuring his drawings with text by writer John Keene. His essays on art, literature, and culture have appeared in many books and periodicals, notably in monographs The Basquiat Reader: Writings, Interviews, and Critical Responses edited by Jordana Moore Saggese (University of California Press); and The Wayland Rudd Collection: Exploring Racial Imaginaries in Soviet Visual Culture edited by Yevgeniy Fiks (Ugly Duckling Presse/D.A.P.) With an exhibition history that includes photography, painting, installation, event-making, and alternative curatorial models, Stackhouse has taught and lectured at various colleges, universities and cultural institutions.