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November 2005  

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Syncopated Rhythms

20th Century African American Art
from the George and Joyce Wein Collection
Boston University Art Gallery
November 18 2005 - January 22, 2006

Title: Louis Armstrong, 1977
Artist: Oliver Johnson (American b. 1948)
Medium: Oil on Paper.
Dimensions: 27 x 22 in. (68.6 x 55.9 cm).
© Oliver B. Johnson – Gallery Felicie, Inc.
Image Courtesy: The Boston University Art Gallery

Jazz musician George Wein and his wife Joyce were collectors of African-American art. For the first time their collection will be on display in a fitting location the Art Gallery at Boston University, where the musician was an Alumnus.

Bearden, Catlett, Lee-Smith, Saar, White and Yarde are just a few of the artists that have works in the display of sixty works. A common theme is music, dance and musicians.

Co-curator Patricia Hills, Professor of Art History at Boston University, describes Syncopation as "a shifting of the normal accent, usually by stressing the normally unaccented beats". Spanning several decades beginning in the roaring twenties as ragtime evolved into jazz the visual artists that captured this spirit in their oeuvre. The canvas was all but empty when they began emphasizing African Americans in American life.

The Artists

Palmer Hayden [1890-1973] who was one of the first to ever focus on African-Americans in his paintings. In 1926 his work Fetiche et Fleurs a still life of African sculpture won the Harmon Foundation's Gold Award.

Jacob Lawrence [1917-2000] was trained, like many African American artists of his day in the workshops of Harlem given the traditional art schools were not easily opened to them. He found inspiration and many of his early works reflect scenes of daily life of Harlem.

Romare Bearden [1912-1988] was inspired to paint 'the life of my people as I know it'. His early work is best described as social realism using his art to educate, illustrate and motivate change. He was a painter of note but it was in photo collage that he dominated his field.

Benny Andrews [b. 1930] is a painter and an art activist. One of his passions is to see the inclusion of African American artists in American public art collections. It can be said that his art and activism both reflect the inclusion of the African-American spirit.

One of the outstanding pieces on view will be Louis Armstrong an oil on paper work by Oliver Johnson. The self-taught artist turned a troubled youth resulting in incarceration into the development of his self-taught craft. Johnson ended up teaching during his confinement and has gone on to have several solo shows. The artist, like many masters before him, is a noted draftsman.

The Collectors

George Wein has been a professional pianist since his teenage years eventually forming his own band. He is the creator of the Newport Jazz Festival that was first held in 1954. He met his wife Joyce, at a 1947 concert at the Boston Opera House. She wrote a jazz column for the Simmons College newspaper. Together they shared a passion for jazz and art and created the Newport Opera Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, France. George Wein's autobiography Myself Among Others: A Life in Music was recognized as 2004's best book about jazz by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Syncopated Rhythms brings their two loves jazz and art together. Sadly Joyce passed away earlier this year, before seeing her collection brought for the public's view. The exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, drawings and a painted story quilt.