Tate Modern Archives - Elizabeth WoodcraftElizabeth Woodcraft

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power

Two weeks ago at Tate Britain Val Wilmer was in conversation with Zoe Whitley, co-curator with Mark Godfrey of the exhibition Soul of a Nation at Tate Modern. It was one of a programme of talks and events accompanying the exhibition.

Val told extraordinary stories of the extraordinary people, writers, musicians, photographers, she has interviewed and photographed throughout her career, including James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Sun Ra and Jayne Cortez. Interviewing James Baldwin she ran out of questions. Bravely she admitted this to him and his response was immediate. ‘No problem, let’s have a drink.’

Today I went to the exhibition at Tate Modern. It was fascinating. Some of the issues I remembered, the Civil Rights Movement, the formation of the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, but other pieces and artists were completely new to me, as was the representation and imagery of the events. But the anger and the shame that I felt walking through the rooms were as fresh as they were in the 60s and 70s.

The show begins in 1963 with the formation of the Spiral Group, a New York–based collective who questioned how Black artists should relate to American society. They responded to current events in their photo-montages and abstract paintings. Artists also considered the locations and audiences for their art – from local murals to nationally circulated posters and newspapers – with many turning away from seeking mainstream gallery approval to show artwork in their own communities through Black-owned galleries and artist-curated shows. The exhibition uses archive photographs and documentary material to illustrate the mural movement, including the ‘Wall of Respect’ in Chicago.

Away from New York artists across the Unites States, in Chicago and Los Angeles, engaged in the Black Art debate. AfriCOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) in Chicago devised a manifesto for Black Art during this period. In Los Angeles the Watts Rebellion of 1965 had a direct impact on the art being produced there. Back in New York the Just Above Midtown gallery (JAM) was a pioneering commercial gallery that displayed the work of avant-garde Black artists. Soul of a Nation ‘showcases the debate between figuration and abstraction’.

Taking photos was permitted in the exhibition, so I was able to capture a few of the images and exhibits. I am going to leave the art to speak for itself (accompanied by the excellent and helpful notes provided by the curators). Be appalled, uplifted, shocked, and thrilled. Thank you to the Tate Modern and the curators for producing such a powerful exhibition.

The exhibition closes on Sunday, 22 October, and after that will go on tour to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas and the Brooklyn Museum, New York. A wonderful exhibition, not to be missed.

I have never been a great fan of Matisse’s cut-outs. I like his paintings very much. But the dancing blue nudes have never done much for me. But I like to keep an open mind – several thousand visitors can’t be wrong – and so we made a visit to Tate Modern to see the exhibition – which ends on Sunday. But apparently open for 36 hours from tomorrow!

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) began using cut-outs in the last 17 years of his life. The method began as a way of planning his pictures but as his health failed the cut-outs became the image itself. With this new information – what did I know of his intentions? – each picture became something exciting, energetic, fluid.

The images – sometimes with the pins holding the pieces in place – shiver with muscle, power and control. The dancers leap from the wall, heads thrown back, arms flung wide. The Knife Thrower, the Toboggan, the Dragon slide, shimmer and slither. It is extraordinary to think he has created these vibrant pictures with a few pieces of painted paper and a pair of scissors.

Matisse used this innovative medium in every way imaginable. His home was his studio and his gallery. He lived with his images. He created book covers, illustrations, carpets (for Alexander Smith Carpets) and stained glass windows.

The last room in the exhibition is titled Christmas Eve and displays a cut-out model and the stained glass it became, commissioned for the Time-Life Building in New York. Bright sharp colours on a Christmas theme. About the connection between stained glass windows and his cut-outs Matisse said that he cut out his paper in the way you would cut glass. The difference is that with the cut-outs you were trying to reflect light. Arranging glass had to be done differently because the light was shining through.

The light came shining through for me.

This is a fascinating, uplifting exhibition. Catch it now. Go after the NHS march and rally in Trafalgar Square on Saturday!

And afterwards have a discussion about the exhibition over a very good cup of coffee in the coffee shop with the wonderful view of the Thames – on Thursday the sky-line looked almost, fittingly, Parisian.

Elizabeth Woodcraft

writing about the law, books and other matters of obvious importance

Tag Archives: Tate Modern

Soul of a Nation

Cut it out