Wadsworth Jarrell
Encyclopedia
Wadsworth Aekins Jarrell is an African-American painter
, sculptor and printmaker. Born in Albany, Georgia
, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he attended the Art Institute of Chicago
. After graduation, he became heavily involved in the local art scene and through his early work he explored the working life of blacks in Chicago and found influence in the sights and sounds of jazz music. In the late 1960s he opened WJ Studio and Gallery, where, along with his wife, Jae, he hosted regional artists and musicians.
Mid-1960s Chicago saw a rise in racial violence leading to the examination of race relations and black empowerment by local artists. Jarrell became involved in the Organization of Black American Culture, a group that would serve as a launching pad for the era's black art
movement. In 1967, OBAC artists created the Wall of Respect, a mural in Chicago that depicted African American heroes and is credited with triggering the political mural
movement in Chicago and beyond. In 1969, Jarrell co-founded AFRICOBRA
: African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists. AFRICOBRA would become internationally acclaimed for their politically themed art and use of "coolaid colors" in their paintings.
Jarrell's career took him to Africa in 1977, where he found inspiration in the Senufo people of Nigeria
. Upon return to the United States he moved to Georgia
and taught at the University of Georgia
. In Georgia, he began to use a bricklayer's trowel
on his canvases, creating a textured appearance within his already visually active paintings. The figures
often seen in his paintings are abstract and inspired by the masks and sculptures of Nigeria. These Nigerian arts have also inspired Jarrell's totem sculptures. Living and working in Cleveland, Jarrell continues to explore the contemporary African American experience through his paintings, sculptures, and prints. His work is found in the collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
, High Museum of Art
, The Studio Museum in Harlem and the University of Delaware
.
, in 1929 to Solomon Marcus and Tabitha Jarrell. Named after the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
, he was the youngest of six children. A year after Jarrell's birth the family moved to a 28-acre farm near Athens, Georgia
, where they grew vegetables and cotton
. Jarrell's father was a carpenter
and furniture
maker who had his own business, the S.M. Jarrell Furniture Store. All three Jarrell boys worked there, one of them learning to cane
chairs. Their father's artistic ability and mother's skill as a quilt-maker
contributed to the entire family's love for art. As a child, Jarrell first attended a one-room schoolhouse where he was encouraged by his teacher, Jessie Lois Hall, to explore his artistic side. He then went to a private Baptist
school starting in the seventh grade before transferring to Athens High in the tenth grade. In high school his talent for art was apparent as he started creating his own comic strip
, cartoons for the school paper, and illustrations for sports events, finally taking up oil painting
. As a young man interested in art during the late 1930s and early 1940s he learned about painting and illustration through magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's. Unable to figure out the distinction between illustration
and painting
, Jarrell thought "artists eventually got rich - but it was illustrators making the large sums of money."
Jarrell's relationship with his mother became closer once his father and one of his brothers left to work at a shipyard
during World War II
. His father died of malaria while working there. While in high school, Jarrell helped his mother tend the farm, but did not like the work. After graduating from high school, he joined the Army, was stationed at Fort Polk
, Louisiana
and served briefly in Korea
. At Fort Polk he became company artist and made extra money designing shirts and making paintings for fellow soldiers.
where his sister Nellie attended Northwestern University
. It was in Chicago where Jarrell would have his first museum experiences. Growing in up Georgia, African Americans were not allowed to visit museums until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, therefore these early museum visits made a major impression on him. A year later he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago
for advertising
art and graphic design
, where he attended night classes. His days were spent working at the International Paint Corporation where he mixed paint. He also took classes at the Ray Vogue School for Commercial Arts. He began attending the Art Institute full time in 1954. Jarrell eventually lost interest in commercial art
and focused on classes about painting and drawing, gaining inspiration from instructor Laura McKinnon and her ideas about spatial relationship theory
. In 1958, he graduated with his original major(s), retaining a strong desire to pursue the life of a fine artist. At this time he also met artist Jeff Donaldson
, who became a friend who influenced his career. In 1959, the year of his first marriage, he became an advertising photographer, taking photos of type and lettering styles. The couple would divorce shortly after the marriage.
In 1963, Jarrell met Elaine Annette Johnson, known as Jae, who ran a clothing boutique
, the woman who became his second wife on June 2, 1967. They spent their honeymoon in Nassau and on January 7, 1968, Wadsworth Jr. was born. During the pregnancy Jae closed her boutique and moved into Jarrell's studio, running a mail order service instead. As the social and economic world of Chicago declined
, gang violence threatened the family's neighborhood. After their second child, Jennifer, was born the family decided to move to the New York
area. In May 1971, they made the move, first heading to Waterbury, Connecticut
, then New Haven
before spending three months in Boston
. The family then moved to Washington, D.C.
where Jarrell began teaching at Howard University
in 1971, recruited by Jeff Donaldson
. At Howard he pursued his MFA, focusing on African culture, specifically the Senufo people.
Struggling to fit in at Howard, unable to make tenure, and with concerns about the increasing crime rates in Washington, in 1977 the family decided to move once again, this time to Athens, Georgia. Shortly after the move Jarrell became an assistant professor at the University of Georgia
. He and his wife started a high-end educational toy
company that stemmed from their children's love for similar toys when living in Washington, D.C.
. They opened a small shop called Tadpole Toys and Hobby Center in Athens to great reception. However, as a result of poor sales in May 1982 they were forced to close it. Soon afterwards, Jarrell received tenure at the University. In 1988, he retired from his position and from teaching as a whole in order to focus on his creative work. By 1994 all three children were grown; the two daughters attended the Art Institute of Chicago, and Wadsworth Jr. became a seafarer. That year, Jae and daughter Jennifer moved to New York to find a place to live, settling in SoHo
, where they were joined by Jarrell a few months later. Currently, Jarrell and Jae live and work in Cleveland, Ohio
.
and the Union League Show. Jarrell produced artworks inspired by theories learned in school and scenes of everyday life in black Chicago. With an interest in horse racing
, jazz clubs and bars, he often took a sketchpad
on his explorations, eventually creating paintings like Neon Row (1958), a street scene, Shamrock Inn (1962), a bar scene, and The Jockeys #1 (1962), from a visit to a horse racing track. These themes would recur throughout his career. His early works display the "two-dimensional illusionism" he learned in school: linear
and geometric perspective
with overlapping objects receding to a vanishing point
on the horizon. Color is used to depict movement and stability, a contrast seen in Shamrock Inn and The Jockeys #1, however, Jarrell's palette had evolved into brighter and bolder color combinations, at times contrasting in their final execution. The influence of post-impressionism
is evident in these earlier works, in line with art education trends at the time.
A notable turning point for his career came in 1963 when a watercolor (similar to Jazz Giants #1 (1962)) was accepted for the Art Institute's "2nd Biennial Drawing, Watercolor and Print Exhibition." The exhibit earned him prizes, media attention, and the opportunity to exhibit his work at other galleries throughout the Midwest. He moved to a large studio in the Hyde Park
neighborhood and continued expanding on his work and focusing on musical and sport related themes. His pigment application became rapid, whether he was depicting a jazz musician or a jockey
on his horse, allowing the image to express strong movement. Cockfight (1965) shows the evolution of Jarrell's work: intense color bands, swirls, and at times a psychedelic
appearance to the bird in focus, a style that became a mainstay in his work.
Influenced by his honeymoon in the Caribbean
, Jarrell became interested in the effects of man-made and natural sunlight on the environment. Experimentation with pigments, media, imagery and design allowed him to create artworks that fully expressed his intended messages. Referring to works such as Nassau (1968) and Sign of the Times (1966), Jarrell commented: "The colors of the Bahamas influenced my use of color and my approach to my work." With Sign of the Times he shows a street scene, his first attempt at a painting involving social interaction. In 1968, Jarrell became art director at Sander Line Graphics, only to quit shortly thereafter to become self-employed. Aside from creating his art he also started a successful mail-order photo processing business. Soon after Jarrell and Jae decided to open a gallery space below their studio: WJ Studio and Gallery. While the studio and gallery flourished, Jarrell taught part-time art classes at Wadsworth Elementary School and considered moving to New York, seeking refuge in the heart of the art world.
movement came into fruition. Artists began to explore ways to express black pride, self-determination and self-reliance leading in 1966 to the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC). Artist Norman Parish asked Jarrell to attend a meeting for OBAC's Artists' Workshop. The meetings would consist of artists bringing their work to be critiqued and reflect on ideas of the black experience in art, leading to the concept behind Wall of Respect. The mural consisted of African American heroes and personalities, each artist deciding who should be depicted in their section. Sylvia Abernathy designed the layout, giving Jarrell a 12 × 14 foot space to share with photographer Bill Abernathy. Jarrell focused on a favorite theme, rhythm and blues
, and featured portrayals of James Brown
, B.B. King, Billie Holiday
, Muddy Waters
, Aretha Franklin
and Dinah Washington
. The Artists' Workshop would sour towards the end of the project: there were controversies stemming from the painting in Norman Parish's section, conflicts regarding copyrights being sold without permission, disagreements on law enforcement involvement, as well as deceit. Nevertheless the Wall was considered a success, triggering the creation of liberation themed murals in Chicago and beyond.
and jazz
music made it easy for him to access the city's talent and his involvement with OCAC provided him with contacts in the poetry world. Artists such as Muhal Richard Abrams
, John Stubblefield
, Henry Threadgill
, Anthony Braxton
and the Chicago Art Ensemble would perform at the space. The gallery also served as a gathering place for the likes of Jeff Donaldson, Barbara Jones, Gerald Williams and others, who would come to discuss concepts of a relevant black art aesthetic. The group struggled: Jarrell described the search as an attempt to find "a collective concept that would say 'black art' at a glance." Eventually, the group made a breakthrough while listing principles and ideas regarding the concept of black art; the word "coolade colors" was contributed by a fabric designer. The term covered the bright fashion
of stylish African American men of the time, which Jarrell described as "loud lime, pimp yellows, hot pinks, high-key color clothing." The final concept for their aesthetic search would be message oriented art, revolving around socially aware content. African design would be included and meaningfulness for black people would be a necessity. This group's formation would be considered one of the best aligned and organized collectives in the Black Arts Movement
. This group went on to form COBRA.
organizations, Jarrell's gallery group struggled to carry the torch after the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Jarrell and his fellow Chicago artists took the path of non-violence by way of their artistic talents and a sense of ownership through their contributions at WJ Studio and Gallery. With these ideals backing them and their new aesthetic philosophy, the group took on the name COBRA – Coalition of Black Revolutionary Artists. With the creation of COBRA, Jarrell completed his first work that conceptualized the concept behind the group, Black Family (1969), which utilized the color scheme of the coolade colors such as light blue and orange
contrasting with white areas, which heightened the bright colors' intensity. This technique allowed Jarrell to create what he described as an "intuitive space," drawing the viewer's attention towards the family on the canvas: a caring mother, protective father and two relaxed children. With a father depicting strength and honesty, and what Robert Douglas describes as a "heroic quality," to the painting, Jarrell expresses important aspects of the COBRA ideal. Writing also appears on the canvas, with the word "blackness" represented by the letter B
. The group decided to go from focusing on themed exhibitions to encouraging artworks that "portray the general problems of black people or attempt to visualize some solutions to them."
In 1969 COBRA revised their philosophy and artistic concept to expand their concern for black liberation and civil rights on an international level. Inspired by the words of Malcolm X
, "All black people, regardless of their land base, have the same problems, the control of their land and economics by Europeans or Euro-Americans.", they changed their name to AFRI-COBRA: African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists. Jarrell's work had evolved to bring the focus figure to the foreground of his paintings, as seen in Coolade Lester (1970), a portrait of musician Lester Lashley. Letters make another appearance: D (down), B (black), F (fine) and Q (question). The work is described as a "humanistic portrayal of the genius of Africans in the creation of jazz." Other works by Jarrell at the time became politically and socially charged with the aesthetics put forth by AFRICOBRA. Homage to a Giant (1970) is Jarrell's first tribute to Malcolm X. This work is used by Jarrell to speak for the black struggle against oppression and the death of student protestors fighting for that cause. Four images of Malcolm X are painted alongside those of Huey Newton, Jesse Jackson
and Stokley Carmichael. "B" makes its usual appearance representing "blackness" and "badness" as well as a quote from Ossie Davis
's eulogy at Malcolm's funeral. This piece, along with Coolade Lester, appeared in AFRI-COBRA's first exhibition in 1970 at the Studio Museum in Harlem
: "AFRI-COBRA I: Ten in Search of a Nation." The response to the show was one of misunderstanding by many viewers, with the result that the concepts presented were interpreted as "protest art."
"AFRICOBRA II" was held in 1971 at the Studio Museum in Harlem before it traveled to five other museums and galleries. Jarrell exhibited Revolutionary and Black Prince (both 1971) at the show. These two portraits are described by art historian Robert Douglas as displaying "Jarrell's masterful understanding of portraiture, rendered through a chiaroscuro technique employing a multitude of meticulously painted B's in different sizes and coolade hues." Revolutionary is a homage to Angela Davis
. She wears a Revolutionary Suit that was designed by Jae Jarrell for the AFRICOBRA II exhibition. Prints were made of the work. However, in the original, the cartridge belt is attached to the canvas, an idea of Jae's. The words "love", "black", "nation", "time", "rest", "full of shit", "revolution", and "beautiful" burst out of her head on the canvas. The message "I have given my life in the struggle. If I have to lose my life, that is the way it will be," travels down her chest and left arm. "B", as usual, represents "blackness" "bad" and in this painting "beautiful". The work epitomizes the goal by AFRICOBRA artists to use all space possible in their creations, described as "jam-packed and jelly tight." Revolutionary was reviewed by Nancy Tobin Willig as "a portrait of a young black woman screaming slogans – with a bandoleer loaded with real bullets slung over her shoulder. Jarrell's painting is an overstatement. It is not art as the weapon. It is the weapon as art." Black Prince is Jarrell's second tribute to Malcolm X. "B" appears in the painting, as well as "P"; "PRINCE" and "BLACK" which travel throughout Malcolm's face and hand. The quote "I believe in anything necessary to correct unjust conditions, political, economic, social, physical. Anything necessary as long as it gets results," is painted across his chest and arm. Their second show, "AFRICOBRA III", opened in 1973. Critics were more aware of the aesthetic and movement at this show; critic Paul Richard commented that the works of Nelson Stevens, Jeff Donaldson and Jarrell "together contradict something I have long believed: that art that is so blatantly political is not art at all."
's art department, Jarrell sought to remain independent and the family moved to New York. Jarrell obtained work as a photographer in Boston, eventually choosing to accept Donaldson's offer, moving the family in time for Jarrell to teach photography classes during the fall semester. During this time "AFRICOBRA II" traveled to Howard and Jarrell exhibited Together We Will Win (1973), showing black "warriors," children, women and workers "offering solutions to African people's problems," and Liberation Soldiers, (1972), depicting the Black Panthers. Both works included the use of aluminum and gold foil
glued to the canvas. In 1973 the final AFRICOBRA
show, "AFRICOBRA III" was held. However, members still continued to meet and practice the ideals put forward by the group.
and the Senufo people appeared as a major influence during the mid-1970s. Paintings such as Prophecy, Reorientation and Navaga depict human figures that appear blended with Senufo sculptures. Navaga (1974) shows a seated woodcarver, holding a staff he works on, appearing to be made of wood himself. He wears clothing of and is surrounded by coolade colors. The face is that of Jarrell's father, manipulated into a Senufo sculptural style. In the triptych
Prophecy Jarrell shows African women as Senufo figures holding sculptures of the Yoruba deity Shango
, and is described as "jam-packed" with imagery, making it hard to decipher in a short time.
In winter of 1977 Jarrell and Jae visited Lagos, Nigeria as part of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, making this the couple's first international exhibition. Other AFRICOBRA members journeyed there as well. Jarrell was influenced heavily by the bronze
lost-wax castings of Benin
and the woodcarving and textile arts
of Oshogbo, which he believed solidified the mission of AFRI-COBRA's symbolic work through "intuitive space." Jarrell also revisited his passion for horse racing, attending the Grand Durbar in Kaduna
. On Jarrell's return, AFRI-COBRA formed their next show "AFRI-COBRA/Farafindugu"; farafindugu inferring "black world" in Mandinka
. The exhibit, at the African American Museum in Philadelphia
, featured two works by Jarrell created as a response to his journey to Africa: Mojo Workin and Soweto (both 1977). Mojo Workin featured a contribution from his then six-year old eldest daughter, Jennifer. She created the drawing The Magic Lady and with Jarrell's painting it was believed that mojo was expressed when others encountered the work. This is one of the first times Jarrell uses a stained canvas. Soweto reflects the struggles of African people, specifically those suffering from the apartheid in South Africa. The painting is named after the city of Soweto
, where a massacre of students occurred in 1976. Continuing to be inspired by his travels to Nigeria, Jarrell completed the work Zulu Sunday which was created to express similarities between African Americans and Nigerians through a celebration of a Sunday afternoon social affair. The painting shows Zulus dressed in ornate traditional dress, socializing on the street, unified by a sunburst
.
. With his children getting older and the couple's toy company struggling to stay afloat, Jarrell became assistant professor at the University of Georgia
. His position at the university assured him studio space. In 1979 he had two solo shows and participated in three AFRICOBRA exhibitions. His work continued to be socially and politically aware with paintings like Festival #1 (1978) showing brilliant Senufo figures, a work supporting South Africans at war. African imagery became more apparent in his paintings with zigzag
patterns and lizards appearing, representing "that Africans, as the first people, have the right to speak on their own behalf," as seen in Midnight Poet at 125th Street & Lenox (1979). In 1979 Jarrell received grant money to create a 52 x 31 foot mural at the East Athens Community Center. A team of art students helped Jarrell and Jae to complete the work, titled Ascension, which remains in Athens today.
By the mid-1980s Jarrell was being represented by the Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta. In 1984 the family moved to Atlanta when Jae accepted a teaching position at The Lovett School
. Jarrell continued to commute to Athens to teach. The move to Atlanta provided more income for the family while allowing Jarrell to sell more work and spark relationships with potential customers, galleries and museums in the region. Jarrell became the painting professor for the University's Studies Abroad Program in 1986. For two months he lived in Cortona
, Italy
with Jae and his two daughters, while Wadsworth Jr. remained in Atlanta finishing high school. The opportunity allowed him to explore the country, visiting historic sites throughout Italy and the Venice Biennale
. Upon his return he was promoted to full professor at the university in February 1987, but he resigned in 1988.
During the 1990s Jarrell continued to explore aspects of black life in his paintings. Dudes on the Street (1991) is a depiction of black life in the city; two cartoon-like men and two women stand on the street with an expired parking meter
next to them. The background features a ribs
restaurant and a record shop
, with coolade colors drenching the entire landscape. Robert Douglas compared the piece to Chicken Shack by Archibald Motley
, stating "both artists have fulfilled the mission of celebrating black life." Two paintings about boxing were created during this time as well: Stride of a Legend/Tribute to Papa Tall, a tribute to Muhammad Ali
and textile
designer Papa Tall of Senegal
, and The Champion (1991) a portrayal Evander Holyfield
.
s, creating the paintings The Jocks #2 (1981) and Master Tester (1981) and Homage to Isaac Murphy (1981). The Jocks #2 is a group portrait of James "Soup" Perkins, William Walker
, Jimmy Winkfield and Isaac Murphy. The figures appear like a Kemetic wall painting with hints of green and light blue. At the center is Isaac Murphy, a legendary jockey of the Kentucky Derby
, wearing a glowing crown
. A full tribute to Murphy is seen in Homage to Isaac Murphy, a large polyptych
consisting of four canvasses. Cut out leaf motifs are adhered to the canvas and applied with acrylic stains, which make the motif's appear as negative space on the surface of the painting. Zigzags are prominent, a lizard appears to represent speed, a lawn jockey
, and the dates of Murphy's wins, titles and horse names are at the top. The painting is finished with a stylized portrait of Murphy and cowry shells
are glued to the canvas representing the money won by Murphy during his career. Master Tester is an abstract of horse trainer Marshall Lilly, riding a horse, wearing a derby hat. In 1993 Jarrell would have a solo show, titled "Edge Cutters," at the Kentucky Derby Museum
in Lexington, Kentucky
.
to create a three-hundred-foot mural in their Athens headquarters, to boost the morale
of the employees. The mural was the first time he used a bricklayer's trowel
in his work, a tool introduced to him by Adger Cowans. The Apple Birds and The Return of the Apple Birds, from 1983, show his dramatic use of the trowel. The paintings were inspired by a drawing by his daughter, Jennifer, at the age of two. The Apple Birds were drawn by and talked about by Jennifer as having apple
-shaped heads with stems at the top, long arms and short bodies. Zigzags, geometric shapes and layers make up the environment that the Apple Birds live in on the canvas. The trowel is used throughout to create 3-D layers and overlaps.
Jarrell created many jazz tributes starting in the 1980s. Cookin' n Smokin (1986) is a tribute to jazz musician Oscar Peterson
, who is shown playing piano
with a sunburst design around his head. To the left of Peterson is bass player Ray Brown
. Both figures have large heads, their faces have exaggerated features similar to African masks, and are described as being "midpoint between naturalism and abstraction
" by Robert Douglas. The trowel is used throughout to blend color. Jazz Giants (1987), another jazz tribute, shows Dizzy Gillespie
, Harry Carney
, Johnny Hodges
and Cootie Williams
performing. Leaf patterns and circles common in Jarrell's work are seen throughout. The trowel is used to create recognizable portraits of the musicians, with the paint on a white background appearing as if a woodcut
. Priestess (1988) depicts another jazz icon, Nina Simone
, who appears twice - playing piano and singing solo, backed by a band. 1979's I Remember Bill is a memorial to Jarrell's friend guitarist Bill Harris, originally of The Clovers
. Jarrell occasionally traveled with Harris, hanging his paintings behind Harris as he performed. The painting is a large mixed-media polyptych of shaped canvas, and a painted six-stringed guitar
sits on the top of the work. The painting features glued on photographs of Harris and two painted portraits of the musician, surrounded by Jarrell's signature symbols, designs and patterns.
Other works include: Corners of Jazz (1988), a large mural featuring Ray Charles
, Lester Young
, and Billie Holiday
, Shon'nuf (1989), featuring Ray Charles, At the Three Deuces (1991) with Miles Davis
, Charlie Parker
and Sam Potter, Basie at the Apollo (1992) with Count Basie
's orchestra, The Empress (1992) for Bessie Smith
, and Lady & Prez #2, showing Holiday and Young performing together.
–like sculptures began to be created in 1995. The three sculputures making up the Ensemble series (1995) each stand over five feet tall and are painted with brilliant colors, topped off with a small animal. For the first time, in Days of the Kings (1995), horse racing appears in Jarrell's sculptures. Sixteen totems serve as tributes to African Americans in horse racing, reminiscent of the designs of the Bijogo and Alberto Giacometti
. Epiphany (1996) memorializes the Million Man March
, held in Washington, D.C. the previous year, an event that Jarrell described as one of the most important of that century. This piece, and other works, were later exhibited at the 1996 Summer Olympics
.
at the University of Alabama describes Jarrell's work as "a remarkable body of vibrant, stylistically innovative and politically engaged art."
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, sculptor and printmaker. Born in Albany, Georgia
Albany, Georgia
Albany is a city in and the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. It is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area and the southwest part of the state. The population was 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the...
, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he attended the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
. After graduation, he became heavily involved in the local art scene and through his early work he explored the working life of blacks in Chicago and found influence in the sights and sounds of jazz music. In the late 1960s he opened WJ Studio and Gallery, where, along with his wife, Jae, he hosted regional artists and musicians.
Mid-1960s Chicago saw a rise in racial violence leading to the examination of race relations and black empowerment by local artists. Jarrell became involved in the Organization of Black American Culture, a group that would serve as a launching pad for the era's black art
Black art
Black art can refer to:* Art forms by persons of African descent ** specifically to the American, Australasian or European Black...
movement. In 1967, OBAC artists created the Wall of Respect, a mural in Chicago that depicted African American heroes and is credited with triggering the political mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
movement in Chicago and beyond. In 1969, Jarrell co-founded AFRICOBRA
AfriCOBRA
-Goals of the AFRICOBRA movement:AfriCOBRA, or the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists, worked to make African-American art something unique in society, and co-founder Gerald Williams explains the dilemma that African American artists faced:...
: African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists. AFRICOBRA would become internationally acclaimed for their politically themed art and use of "coolaid colors" in their paintings.
Jarrell's career took him to Africa in 1977, where he found inspiration in the Senufo people of Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. Upon return to the United States he moved to Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and taught at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
. In Georgia, he began to use a bricklayer's trowel
Trowel
A trowel is one of several similar hand tools used for digging, smoothing, or otherwise moving around small amounts of viscous or particulate material.-Hand tools:...
on his canvases, creating a textured appearance within his already visually active paintings. The figures
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
often seen in his paintings are abstract and inspired by the masks and sculptures of Nigeria. These Nigerian arts have also inspired Jarrell's totem sculptures. Living and working in Cleveland, Jarrell continues to explore the contemporary African American experience through his paintings, sculptures, and prints. His work is found in the collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
National Museum of African American History and Culture
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a Smithsonian Institution museum established in 2003. It will be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. In 2006, the Smithsonian's Board of Regents selected a site near the grounds of the Washington Monument and the...
, High Museum of Art
High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art , located in Atlanta, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States and one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district, the High is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center.-History:The Museum was...
, The Studio Museum in Harlem and the University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
.
Early life
Jarrell was born in Albany, GeorgiaAlbany, Georgia
Albany is a city in and the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. It is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area and the southwest part of the state. The population was 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the...
, in 1929 to Solomon Marcus and Tabitha Jarrell. Named after the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
, he was the youngest of six children. A year after Jarrell's birth the family moved to a 28-acre farm near Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
, where they grew vegetables and cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
. Jarrell's father was a carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
and furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
maker who had his own business, the S.M. Jarrell Furniture Store. All three Jarrell boys worked there, one of them learning to cane
Caning (furniture)
In the context of furniture, caning is a method of weaving chair seats and other furniture. Caning material is wicker such as cane, or it is derived from the skin of rattan vines native to Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Some vines reach 500 feet in length. One of the earliest woven chair...
chairs. Their father's artistic ability and mother's skill as a quilt-maker
Quilt
A quilt is a type of bed cover, traditionally composed of three layers of fiber: a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding and a woven back, combined using the technique of quilting. “Quilting” refers to the technique of joining at least two fabric layers by stitches or ties...
contributed to the entire family's love for art. As a child, Jarrell first attended a one-room schoolhouse where he was encouraged by his teacher, Jessie Lois Hall, to explore his artistic side. He then went to a private Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
school starting in the seventh grade before transferring to Athens High in the tenth grade. In high school his talent for art was apparent as he started creating his own comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, cartoons for the school paper, and illustrations for sports events, finally taking up oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
. As a young man interested in art during the late 1930s and early 1940s he learned about painting and illustration through magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's. Unable to figure out the distinction between illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
and painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, Jarrell thought "artists eventually got rich - but it was illustrators making the large sums of money."
Jarrell's relationship with his mother became closer once his father and one of his brothers left to work at a shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His father died of malaria while working there. While in high school, Jarrell helped his mother tend the farm, but did not like the work. After graduating from high school, he joined the Army, was stationed at Fort Polk
Fort Polk
Fort Polk is a United States Army installation located in Vernon Parish, approximately 7 miles east of Leesville, Louisiana and 20 miles north of DeRidder, Louisiana....
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and served briefly in Korea
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. At Fort Polk he became company artist and made extra money designing shirts and making paintings for fellow soldiers.
Higher education and current life
After military service, Jarrell moved to ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
where his sister Nellie attended Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. It was in Chicago where Jarrell would have his first museum experiences. Growing in up Georgia, African Americans were not allowed to visit museums until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, therefore these early museum visits made a major impression on him. A year later he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
for advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
art and graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, where he attended night classes. His days were spent working at the International Paint Corporation where he mixed paint. He also took classes at the Ray Vogue School for Commercial Arts. He began attending the Art Institute full time in 1954. Jarrell eventually lost interest in commercial art
Commercial art
Commercial art is historically a subsector of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. The term has become increasingly anachronistic in favor of more contemporary terms such as graphic design and advertising art.Commercial art traditionally...
and focused on classes about painting and drawing, gaining inspiration from instructor Laura McKinnon and her ideas about spatial relationship theory
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
. In 1958, he graduated with his original major(s), retaining a strong desire to pursue the life of a fine artist. At this time he also met artist Jeff Donaldson
Jeff Donaldson (artist)
Jeff Donaldson was a pioneering visual artist whose work helped define the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He was born in Pine Bluff, AR in 1932 receiving a BA in Studio Art from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1954. Donaldson went on to complete his MFA at the Institute of...
, who became a friend who influenced his career. In 1959, the year of his first marriage, he became an advertising photographer, taking photos of type and lettering styles. The couple would divorce shortly after the marriage.
In 1963, Jarrell met Elaine Annette Johnson, known as Jae, who ran a clothing boutique
Boutique
A boutique is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry. The word is French for "shop", via Latin from Greek ἀποθήκη , "storehouse"....
, the woman who became his second wife on June 2, 1967. They spent their honeymoon in Nassau and on January 7, 1968, Wadsworth Jr. was born. During the pregnancy Jae closed her boutique and moved into Jarrell's studio, running a mail order service instead. As the social and economic world of Chicago declined
War on Poverty
The War on Poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent...
, gang violence threatened the family's neighborhood. After their second child, Jennifer, was born the family decided to move to the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
area. In May 1971, they made the move, first heading to Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...
, then New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
before spending three months in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. The family then moved to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
where Jarrell began teaching at Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
in 1971, recruited by Jeff Donaldson
Jeff Donaldson (artist)
Jeff Donaldson was a pioneering visual artist whose work helped define the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He was born in Pine Bluff, AR in 1932 receiving a BA in Studio Art from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1954. Donaldson went on to complete his MFA at the Institute of...
. At Howard he pursued his MFA, focusing on African culture, specifically the Senufo people.
Struggling to fit in at Howard, unable to make tenure, and with concerns about the increasing crime rates in Washington, in 1977 the family decided to move once again, this time to Athens, Georgia. Shortly after the move Jarrell became an assistant professor at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
. He and his wife started a high-end educational toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
company that stemmed from their children's love for similar toys when living in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. They opened a small shop called Tadpole Toys and Hobby Center in Athens to great reception. However, as a result of poor sales in May 1982 they were forced to close it. Soon afterwards, Jarrell received tenure at the University. In 1988, he retired from his position and from teaching as a whole in order to focus on his creative work. By 1994 all three children were grown; the two daughters attended the Art Institute of Chicago, and Wadsworth Jr. became a seafarer. That year, Jae and daughter Jennifer moved to New York to find a place to live, settling in SoHo
SoHo
SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores...
, where they were joined by Jarrell a few months later. Currently, Jarrell and Jae live and work in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
.
Artistic career
"Every year you are reminded of George Washington's birthday... my kids learn about this at school, but nothing is said about black heroes. If white Americans can engage in what I call repetitious advertising, then I feel justified in advertising for black Americans." - Wadsworth Jarrell, 1978
Chicago
After graduation from the Art Institute, Jarrell lived off his wages from mixing paint and furthered his skills in his studio for a year. He started to submit his work to competitions, being accepted at the Chicago Show at the Navy PierNavy Pier
Navy Pier is a long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. It is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. The pier was built in 1916 at a cost of $4.5 million, equivalent to $ today. It was a part of the Plan of Chicago developed by architect and...
and the Union League Show. Jarrell produced artworks inspired by theories learned in school and scenes of everyday life in black Chicago. With an interest in horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
, jazz clubs and bars, he often took a sketchpad
Sketchpad
Sketchpad was a revolutionary computer program written by Ivan Sutherland in 1963 in the course of his PhD thesis, for which he received the Turing Award in 1988. It helped change the way people interact with computers...
on his explorations, eventually creating paintings like Neon Row (1958), a street scene, Shamrock Inn (1962), a bar scene, and The Jockeys #1 (1962), from a visit to a horse racing track. These themes would recur throughout his career. His early works display the "two-dimensional illusionism" he learned in school: linear
Linear
In mathematics, a linear map or function f is a function which satisfies the following two properties:* Additivity : f = f + f...
and geometric perspective
Perspective (visual)
Perspective, in context of vision and visual perception, is the way in which objects appear to the eye based on their spatial attributes; or their dimensions and the position of the eye relative to the objects...
with overlapping objects receding to a vanishing point
Vanishing point
A vanishing point is a point in a perspective drawing to which parallel lines not parallel to the image plane appear to converge. The number and placement of the vanishing points determines which perspective technique is being used...
on the horizon. Color is used to depict movement and stability, a contrast seen in Shamrock Inn and The Jockeys #1, however, Jarrell's palette had evolved into brighter and bolder color combinations, at times contrasting in their final execution. The influence of post-impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
is evident in these earlier works, in line with art education trends at the time.
A notable turning point for his career came in 1963 when a watercolor (similar to Jazz Giants #1 (1962)) was accepted for the Art Institute's "2nd Biennial Drawing, Watercolor and Print Exhibition." The exhibit earned him prizes, media attention, and the opportunity to exhibit his work at other galleries throughout the Midwest. He moved to a large studio in the Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Chicago
Hyde Park, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois, United States and seven miles south of the Chicago Loop, is a Chicago neighborhood and one of 77 Chicago community areas. It is home to the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of Science...
neighborhood and continued expanding on his work and focusing on musical and sport related themes. His pigment application became rapid, whether he was depicting a jazz musician or a jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
on his horse, allowing the image to express strong movement. Cockfight (1965) shows the evolution of Jarrell's work: intense color bands, swirls, and at times a psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
appearance to the bird in focus, a style that became a mainstay in his work.
Influenced by his honeymoon in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, Jarrell became interested in the effects of man-made and natural sunlight on the environment. Experimentation with pigments, media, imagery and design allowed him to create artworks that fully expressed his intended messages. Referring to works such as Nassau (1968) and Sign of the Times (1966), Jarrell commented: "The colors of the Bahamas influenced my use of color and my approach to my work." With Sign of the Times he shows a street scene, his first attempt at a painting involving social interaction. In 1968, Jarrell became art director at Sander Line Graphics, only to quit shortly thereafter to become self-employed. Aside from creating his art he also started a successful mail-order photo processing business. Soon after Jarrell and Jae decided to open a gallery space below their studio: WJ Studio and Gallery. While the studio and gallery flourished, Jarrell taught part-time art classes at Wadsworth Elementary School and considered moving to New York, seeking refuge in the heart of the art world.
Wall of Respect
In 1964 Chicago experienced two major race riots. Triggered by Civil Rights struggles and angst, more riots followed in subsequent years and the Black PowerBlack Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
movement came into fruition. Artists began to explore ways to express black pride, self-determination and self-reliance leading in 1966 to the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC). Artist Norman Parish asked Jarrell to attend a meeting for OBAC's Artists' Workshop. The meetings would consist of artists bringing their work to be critiqued and reflect on ideas of the black experience in art, leading to the concept behind Wall of Respect. The mural consisted of African American heroes and personalities, each artist deciding who should be depicted in their section. Sylvia Abernathy designed the layout, giving Jarrell a 12 × 14 foot space to share with photographer Bill Abernathy. Jarrell focused on a favorite theme, rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, and featured portrayals of James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, B.B. King, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
and Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
. The Artists' Workshop would sour towards the end of the project: there were controversies stemming from the painting in Norman Parish's section, conflicts regarding copyrights being sold without permission, disagreements on law enforcement involvement, as well as deceit. Nevertheless the Wall was considered a success, triggering the creation of liberation themed murals in Chicago and beyond.
WJ Studio and Gallery
In 1968, Jarrell and his wife opened WJ Studio and Gallery, below their home and studio. The space not only showcased the couple's work and that of other artists but went on to display the talents of Chicago poets and musicians. Jarrell's love for bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
music made it easy for him to access the city's talent and his involvement with OCAC provided him with contacts in the poetry world. Artists such as Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
, John Stubblefield
John Stubblefield
John Stubblefield was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, and oboist.Stubblefield was an adaptable musician; he was stationed with the World Saxophone Quartet , Reggie Workman , McCoy Tyner , Freddie Hubbard , and George Russell .-As leader:* Prelude with Onaje Allan Gumbs, Cecil McBee, Joe...
, Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
, Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
and the Chicago Art Ensemble would perform at the space. The gallery also served as a gathering place for the likes of Jeff Donaldson, Barbara Jones, Gerald Williams and others, who would come to discuss concepts of a relevant black art aesthetic. The group struggled: Jarrell described the search as an attempt to find "a collective concept that would say 'black art' at a glance." Eventually, the group made a breakthrough while listing principles and ideas regarding the concept of black art; the word "coolade colors" was contributed by a fabric designer. The term covered the bright fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
of stylish African American men of the time, which Jarrell described as "loud lime, pimp yellows, hot pinks, high-key color clothing." The final concept for their aesthetic search would be message oriented art, revolving around socially aware content. African design would be included and meaningfulness for black people would be a necessity. This group's formation would be considered one of the best aligned and organized collectives in the Black Arts Movement
Black Arts Movement
The Black Arts Movement or BAM is the artistic branch of the Black Power movement. It was started in Harlem by writer and activist Amiri Baraka...
. This group went on to form COBRA.
COBRA and the black aesthetic
Like many African American grass rootsGrass Roots
Grass Roots is an Australian television series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 2000 and 2003.The series is set around the fictional Arcadia Waters Council near Sydney, and was primarily a satirical look at the machinations of local government...
organizations, Jarrell's gallery group struggled to carry the torch after the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Jarrell and his fellow Chicago artists took the path of non-violence by way of their artistic talents and a sense of ownership through their contributions at WJ Studio and Gallery. With these ideals backing them and their new aesthetic philosophy, the group took on the name COBRA – Coalition of Black Revolutionary Artists. With the creation of COBRA, Jarrell completed his first work that conceptualized the concept behind the group, Black Family (1969), which utilized the color scheme of the coolade colors such as light blue and orange
Orange (colour)
The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space. It is numerically halfway between red and yellow in a gamma-compressed RGB colour space, the expression of which is the RGB colour wheel. The...
contrasting with white areas, which heightened the bright colors' intensity. This technique allowed Jarrell to create what he described as an "intuitive space," drawing the viewer's attention towards the family on the canvas: a caring mother, protective father and two relaxed children. With a father depicting strength and honesty, and what Robert Douglas describes as a "heroic quality," to the painting, Jarrell expresses important aspects of the COBRA ideal. Writing also appears on the canvas, with the word "blackness" represented by the letter B
B
B is the second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds , most commonly a voiced bilabial plosive.-History:...
. The group decided to go from focusing on themed exhibitions to encouraging artworks that "portray the general problems of black people or attempt to visualize some solutions to them."
AFRICOBRA's beginnings
"AFRICOBRA artists are visual griots of the African American community, an imagery that illuminates the beauty and glory of the Africans' experience in the West. They present to us an iconography bestowed on them by the pressing and always exciting culture of the African American." - Larry NealLarry NealLarry Neal or Lawerence Neal was a scholar of African-American theatre. He is well known for his contributions to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
In 1969 COBRA revised their philosophy and artistic concept to expand their concern for black liberation and civil rights on an international level. Inspired by the words of Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
, "All black people, regardless of their land base, have the same problems, the control of their land and economics by Europeans or Euro-Americans.", they changed their name to AFRI-COBRA: African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists. Jarrell's work had evolved to bring the focus figure to the foreground of his paintings, as seen in Coolade Lester (1970), a portrait of musician Lester Lashley. Letters make another appearance: D (down), B (black), F (fine) and Q (question). The work is described as a "humanistic portrayal of the genius of Africans in the creation of jazz." Other works by Jarrell at the time became politically and socially charged with the aesthetics put forth by AFRICOBRA. Homage to a Giant (1970) is Jarrell's first tribute to Malcolm X. This work is used by Jarrell to speak for the black struggle against oppression and the death of student protestors fighting for that cause. Four images of Malcolm X are painted alongside those of Huey Newton, Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
and Stokley Carmichael. "B" makes its usual appearance representing "blackness" and "badness" as well as a quote from Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
's eulogy at Malcolm's funeral. This piece, along with Coolade Lester, appeared in AFRI-COBRA's first exhibition in 1970 at the Studio Museum in Harlem
Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American contemporary art museum in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, New York. It was founded in 1968 as the first such museum in the U.S. devoted to the art of African-Americans, specializing in 19th and 20th century work as well work of artists of...
: "AFRI-COBRA I: Ten in Search of a Nation." The response to the show was one of misunderstanding by many viewers, with the result that the concepts presented were interpreted as "protest art."
"AFRICOBRA II" was held in 1971 at the Studio Museum in Harlem before it traveled to five other museums and galleries. Jarrell exhibited Revolutionary and Black Prince (both 1971) at the show. These two portraits are described by art historian Robert Douglas as displaying "Jarrell's masterful understanding of portraiture, rendered through a chiaroscuro technique employing a multitude of meticulously painted B's in different sizes and coolade hues." Revolutionary is a homage to Angela Davis
Angela Davis
Angela Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. Davis was most politically active during the late 1960s through the 1970s and was associated with the Communist Party USA, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party...
. She wears a Revolutionary Suit that was designed by Jae Jarrell for the AFRICOBRA II exhibition. Prints were made of the work. However, in the original, the cartridge belt is attached to the canvas, an idea of Jae's. The words "love", "black", "nation", "time", "rest", "full of shit", "revolution", and "beautiful" burst out of her head on the canvas. The message "I have given my life in the struggle. If I have to lose my life, that is the way it will be," travels down her chest and left arm. "B", as usual, represents "blackness" "bad" and in this painting "beautiful". The work epitomizes the goal by AFRICOBRA artists to use all space possible in their creations, described as "jam-packed and jelly tight." Revolutionary was reviewed by Nancy Tobin Willig as "a portrait of a young black woman screaming slogans – with a bandoleer loaded with real bullets slung over her shoulder. Jarrell's painting is an overstatement. It is not art as the weapon. It is the weapon as art." Black Prince is Jarrell's second tribute to Malcolm X. "B" appears in the painting, as well as "P"; "PRINCE" and "BLACK" which travel throughout Malcolm's face and hand. The quote "I believe in anything necessary to correct unjust conditions, political, economic, social, physical. Anything necessary as long as it gets results," is painted across his chest and arm. Their second show, "AFRICOBRA III", opened in 1973. Critics were more aware of the aesthetic and movement at this show; critic Paul Richard commented that the works of Nelson Stevens, Jeff Donaldson and Jarrell "together contradict something I have long believed: that art that is so blatantly political is not art at all."
Out east
Despite the offers for a position he received from Jeff Donaldson, who was running Howard UniversityHoward University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
's art department, Jarrell sought to remain independent and the family moved to New York. Jarrell obtained work as a photographer in Boston, eventually choosing to accept Donaldson's offer, moving the family in time for Jarrell to teach photography classes during the fall semester. During this time "AFRICOBRA II" traveled to Howard and Jarrell exhibited Together We Will Win (1973), showing black "warriors," children, women and workers "offering solutions to African people's problems," and Liberation Soldiers, (1972), depicting the Black Panthers. Both works included the use of aluminum and gold foil
Metal leaf
Metal leaf, also called composition leaf or schlagmetal, is a thin foil used for decoration. Metal leaf can come in many different shades. Some metal leaf may look like gold leaf but not contain any real gold...
glued to the canvas. In 1973 the final AFRICOBRA
AfriCOBRA
-Goals of the AFRICOBRA movement:AfriCOBRA, or the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists, worked to make African-American art something unique in society, and co-founder Gerald Williams explains the dilemma that African American artists faced:...
show, "AFRICOBRA III" was held. However, members still continued to meet and practice the ideals put forward by the group.
African influences
Jarrell's studies of African artAfrican art
African art constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Though many casual observers tend to generalize "traditional" African art, the continent is full of people, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture. The definition also includes the art of the African...
and the Senufo people appeared as a major influence during the mid-1970s. Paintings such as Prophecy, Reorientation and Navaga depict human figures that appear blended with Senufo sculptures. Navaga (1974) shows a seated woodcarver, holding a staff he works on, appearing to be made of wood himself. He wears clothing of and is surrounded by coolade colors. The face is that of Jarrell's father, manipulated into a Senufo sculptural style. In the triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
Prophecy Jarrell shows African women as Senufo figures holding sculptures of the Yoruba deity Shango
Shango
In the Yorùbá religion, Sàngó is perhaps one of the most popular Orisha; also known as the god of fire, lightning and thunder...
, and is described as "jam-packed" with imagery, making it hard to decipher in a short time.
In winter of 1977 Jarrell and Jae visited Lagos, Nigeria as part of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, making this the couple's first international exhibition. Other AFRICOBRA members journeyed there as well. Jarrell was influenced heavily by the bronze
Benin Bronzes
The Benin Bronzes are a collection of more than 3000 brass plaques from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin . They were seized by a British force in the Punitive Expedition of 1897 and given to the British Foreign Office...
lost-wax castings of Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
and the woodcarving and textile arts
Textile arts
Textile arts are those arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects.Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization, and the methods and materials used to make them have expanded enormously, while...
of Oshogbo, which he believed solidified the mission of AFRI-COBRA's symbolic work through "intuitive space." Jarrell also revisited his passion for horse racing, attending the Grand Durbar in Kaduna
Kaduna
Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census...
. On Jarrell's return, AFRI-COBRA formed their next show "AFRI-COBRA/Farafindugu"; farafindugu inferring "black world" in Mandinka
Mandinka language
The Mandinka language is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding branch of Mandé, and is thus fairly...
. The exhibit, at the African American Museum in Philadelphia
African American Museum in Philadelphia
The African American Museum in Philadelphia is notable as the first museum funded and built by a municipality to help preserve, interpret and exhibit the heritage of African Americans...
, featured two works by Jarrell created as a response to his journey to Africa: Mojo Workin and Soweto (both 1977). Mojo Workin featured a contribution from his then six-year old eldest daughter, Jennifer. She created the drawing The Magic Lady and with Jarrell's painting it was believed that mojo was expressed when others encountered the work. This is one of the first times Jarrell uses a stained canvas. Soweto reflects the struggles of African people, specifically those suffering from the apartheid in South Africa. The painting is named after the city of Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
, where a massacre of students occurred in 1976. Continuing to be inspired by his travels to Nigeria, Jarrell completed the work Zulu Sunday which was created to express similarities between African Americans and Nigerians through a celebration of a Sunday afternoon social affair. The painting shows Zulus dressed in ornate traditional dress, socializing on the street, unified by a sunburst
Sunburst
Sunburst is a type of finish for musical instruments such as electric and acoustic guitars and electric basses. At the center of a sunburst-finished surface is an area of lighter color that darkens gradually towards the edges before hitting a dark rim...
.
Georgia
In 1977 the Jarrells moved from Washington, D.C. to Athens, GeorgiaAthens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
. With his children getting older and the couple's toy company struggling to stay afloat, Jarrell became assistant professor at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
. His position at the university assured him studio space. In 1979 he had two solo shows and participated in three AFRICOBRA exhibitions. His work continued to be socially and politically aware with paintings like Festival #1 (1978) showing brilliant Senufo figures, a work supporting South Africans at war. African imagery became more apparent in his paintings with zigzag
Zigzag
A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular....
patterns and lizards appearing, representing "that Africans, as the first people, have the right to speak on their own behalf," as seen in Midnight Poet at 125th Street & Lenox (1979). In 1979 Jarrell received grant money to create a 52 x 31 foot mural at the East Athens Community Center. A team of art students helped Jarrell and Jae to complete the work, titled Ascension, which remains in Athens today.
By the mid-1980s Jarrell was being represented by the Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta. In 1984 the family moved to Atlanta when Jae accepted a teaching position at The Lovett School
The Lovett School
The Lovett School is a coeducational, kindergarten through twelfth grade independent school located in north Atlanta, Georgia.-History:In September 1926, Mrs. Eva Edwards Lovett, an innovative educator who emphasized the development of the whole child, officially began The Lovett School with 20...
. Jarrell continued to commute to Athens to teach. The move to Atlanta provided more income for the family while allowing Jarrell to sell more work and spark relationships with potential customers, galleries and museums in the region. Jarrell became the painting professor for the University's Studies Abroad Program in 1986. For two months he lived in Cortona
Cortona
Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.-History:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
with Jae and his two daughters, while Wadsworth Jr. remained in Atlanta finishing high school. The opportunity allowed him to explore the country, visiting historic sites throughout Italy and the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. Upon his return he was promoted to full professor at the university in February 1987, but he resigned in 1988.
During the 1990s Jarrell continued to explore aspects of black life in his paintings. Dudes on the Street (1991) is a depiction of black life in the city; two cartoon-like men and two women stand on the street with an expired parking meter
Parking meter
A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street parking policy, usually related to their traffic and...
next to them. The background features a ribs
Ribs (food)
Ribs of beef, lamb, venison, and pork are a cut of meat. The term ribs usually refers to the less meaty part of the chops, often cooked as a slab .They can be roasted, grilled, baked, braised, or smoked....
restaurant and a record shop
Record shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...
, with coolade colors drenching the entire landscape. Robert Douglas compared the piece to Chicken Shack by Archibald Motley
Archibald Motley
Archibald John Motley, Junior was an African-American painter. He studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the 1910s, graduating in 1918...
, stating "both artists have fulfilled the mission of celebrating black life." Two paintings about boxing were created during this time as well: Stride of a Legend/Tribute to Papa Tall, a tribute to Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
and textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
designer Papa Tall of Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, and The Champion (1991) a portrayal Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield is a professional boxer from the United States. He is a former undisputed world champion in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, earning him the nickname "The Real Deal"...
.
Horse racing revisited
While in Georgia Jarrell revisited his interest in horse racing. He became interested in African American jockeyJockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
s, creating the paintings The Jocks #2 (1981) and Master Tester (1981) and Homage to Isaac Murphy (1981). The Jocks #2 is a group portrait of James "Soup" Perkins, William Walker
William Walker (jockey)
William "Billy" Walker was an African American jockey.Born a slave in near Versailles, Kentucky, Billy Walker was the leading rider at Churchill Downs in the fall racing season of 1875-76 and the spring campaigns of 1876 through 1878...
, Jimmy Winkfield and Isaac Murphy. The figures appear like a Kemetic wall painting with hints of green and light blue. At the center is Isaac Murphy, a legendary jockey of the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
, wearing a glowing crown
Crown (headgear)
A crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art, the crown may be shown being offered to...
. A full tribute to Murphy is seen in Homage to Isaac Murphy, a large polyptych
Polyptych
A polyptych generally refers to a painting which is divided into sections, or panels. The terminology that follows is in relevance to the number of panels integrated into a particular piece of work: "diptych" describes a two-part work of art; "triptych" describes a three-part work; "tetraptych"...
consisting of four canvasses. Cut out leaf motifs are adhered to the canvas and applied with acrylic stains, which make the motif's appear as negative space on the surface of the painting. Zigzags are prominent, a lizard appears to represent speed, a lawn jockey
Lawn jockey
A lawn jockey is a small statue of a man in jockey clothes, intended to be placed in yards. Most today are white jockeys, but historically black jockeys were commonplace...
, and the dates of Murphy's wins, titles and horse names are at the top. The painting is finished with a stylized portrait of Murphy and cowry shells
Cowry
Cowry, also sometimes spelled cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries...
are glued to the canvas representing the money won by Murphy during his career. Master Tester is an abstract of horse trainer Marshall Lilly, riding a horse, wearing a derby hat. In 1993 Jarrell would have a solo show, titled "Edge Cutters," at the Kentucky Derby Museum
Kentucky Derby Museum
The Kentucky Derby Museum is an American Thoroughbred horse racing museum located on the grounds of Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Dedicated to preserving the history of the Kentucky Derby, it first opened its doors to the public in the spring of 1985...
in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
.
The bricklayer's trowel & jazz tributes
In December 1982 Jarrell was commissioned by Westinghouse Electric CompanyWestinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is a nuclear power company, offering a wide range of nuclear products and services to utilities throughout the world, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation and control and advanced nuclear plant designs...
to create a three-hundred-foot mural in their Athens headquarters, to boost the morale
Morale
Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible term used to describe the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others...
of the employees. The mural was the first time he used a bricklayer's trowel
Trowel
A trowel is one of several similar hand tools used for digging, smoothing, or otherwise moving around small amounts of viscous or particulate material.-Hand tools:...
in his work, a tool introduced to him by Adger Cowans. The Apple Birds and The Return of the Apple Birds, from 1983, show his dramatic use of the trowel. The paintings were inspired by a drawing by his daughter, Jennifer, at the age of two. The Apple Birds were drawn by and talked about by Jennifer as having apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
-shaped heads with stems at the top, long arms and short bodies. Zigzags, geometric shapes and layers make up the environment that the Apple Birds live in on the canvas. The trowel is used throughout to create 3-D layers and overlaps.
Jarrell created many jazz tributes starting in the 1980s. Cookin' n Smokin (1986) is a tribute to jazz musician Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
, who is shown playing piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
with a sunburst design around his head. To the left of Peterson is bass player Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)
Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist.-Biography:Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one...
. Both figures have large heads, their faces have exaggerated features similar to African masks, and are described as being "midpoint between naturalism and abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal concepts, first principles, or other methods....
" by Robert Douglas. The trowel is used throughout to blend color. Jazz Giants (1987), another jazz tribute, shows Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Harry Carney
Harry Carney
Harry Howell Carney was an American swing baritone saxophonist, clarinetist, and bass clarinetist mainly known for his 45-year tenure in Duke Ellington's Orchestra. Carney started off as an alto player with Ellington, but soon switched to the baritone. His strong, steady saxophone often served as...
, Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
and Cootie Williams
Cootie Williams
Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter.-Biography:...
performing. Leaf patterns and circles common in Jarrell's work are seen throughout. The trowel is used to create recognizable portraits of the musicians, with the paint on a white background appearing as if a woodcut
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
. Priestess (1988) depicts another jazz icon, Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
, who appears twice - playing piano and singing solo, backed by a band. 1979's I Remember Bill is a memorial to Jarrell's friend guitarist Bill Harris, originally of The Clovers
The Clovers
-History:The group formed in 1946 at Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C., with members Harold Lucas, Billy Shelton, and Thomas Woods. John "Buddy" Bailey was added soon after, and they began calling themselves the "Four Clovers", with Bailey on lead...
. Jarrell occasionally traveled with Harris, hanging his paintings behind Harris as he performed. The painting is a large mixed-media polyptych of shaped canvas, and a painted six-stringed guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
sits on the top of the work. The painting features glued on photographs of Harris and two painted portraits of the musician, surrounded by Jarrell's signature symbols, designs and patterns.
Other works include: Corners of Jazz (1988), a large mural featuring Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
, and Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Shon'nuf (1989), featuring Ray Charles, At the Three Deuces (1991) with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
and Sam Potter, Basie at the Apollo (1992) with Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
's orchestra, The Empress (1992) for Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
, and Lady & Prez #2, showing Holiday and Young performing together.
Sculpture
Inspired by his trip to Italy, Jarrell created the sculpture Tribute to Ovambo Bellows, a conical-shaped painted tribute to the Ovambo people, which would be the basis for a new shift in his work, towards sculpture. The new works would be categorized by their heavy spiritual nature, reflective of African culture and heritage. Hausa Space - a Village (1993) represents the villages Jarrell visited in Nigeria. The houses that he saw were decorated with icons and symbols of spiritual and ritual meaning, painted in bright colors. These decorations are used to fight evil spirits, while Jarrell's pieces speak for peace. Many of the sculptures blend elements of African art and design; Sorcerer (1993) and Messenger of Information (1993) show his earlier influences from Senufo art and other inspirations related to the design, spirituality and people of Africa. TotemTotem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
–like sculptures began to be created in 1995. The three sculputures making up the Ensemble series (1995) each stand over five feet tall and are painted with brilliant colors, topped off with a small animal. For the first time, in Days of the Kings (1995), horse racing appears in Jarrell's sculptures. Sixteen totems serve as tributes to African Americans in horse racing, reminiscent of the designs of the Bijogo and Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
. Epiphany (1996) memorializes the Million Man March
Million Man March
The Million Man March was a gathering of social activists, en masse, held on and around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1995...
, held in Washington, D.C. the previous year, an event that Jarrell described as one of the most important of that century. This piece, and other works, were later exhibited at the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
.
Reception
Dr. Stacy Morgan, association professor in the department of American StudiesAmerican studies
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It traditionally incorporates the study of history, literature, and critical theory, but also includes fields as diverse as law, art, the media, film, religious studies, urban...
at the University of Alabama describes Jarrell's work as "a remarkable body of vibrant, stylistically innovative and politically engaged art."
Notable awards
- First prize, 1988, Atlanta Life Invitational ExhibitionAtlanta LifeThe Atlanta Life Financial Group was founded by Alonzo Herndon, who was born a slave, but became Atlanta's richest African American. The demolished public housing project Herndon Homes was named for Herndon....
, Southeastern Center for Contemporary ArtSoutheastern Center for Contemporary ArtThe Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art , located at 750 Marguerite Drive in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a gallery designed to involve audiences in the art of our time... - Cover, 1985, Art PapersArt papersFileART PAPERS is a non-profit bimonthly magazine about contemporary art. Established in 1977 as the Atlanta Art Workers Coalition Ltd. Newsletter, it is the only critical arts magazine published in the Southeastern United States...
- Excellence in painting award, 1985, Southern Home Shows Exposition
- Award, 1974, District of Columbia Commission on the Arts
- Artist-in-Residence, 1974, District of Columbia Public SchoolsDistrict of Columbia Public SchoolsDistrict of Columbia Public Schools is the traditional public school system of Washington, D.C. in the United States.- Composition and enrollment :...
Solo exhibitions
- Edge Cutters. 1993, Kentucky Derby MuseumKentucky Derby MuseumThe Kentucky Derby Museum is an American Thoroughbred horse racing museum located on the grounds of Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Dedicated to preserving the history of the Kentucky Derby, it first opened its doors to the public in the spring of 1985...
. - Large Format. 1987, Southwest Atlanta Hospital.
- Paintings and Sculptures, Wadsworth Jarrell. 1987, Albany Museum of ArtAlbany Museum of ArtThe Albany Museum of Art is located in Albany, Georgia, U.S. The museum is a non-profit organization governed by a 28 member elected board of directors.-History:...
. - The Power and the Glory. 1979, University of GeorgiaUniversity of GeorgiaThe University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
. - Going Home., 1976, Howard UniversityHoward UniversityHoward University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
.
Group exhibitions
- AFRI-COBRA: No Middle Ground. 1992, Museum of Science and IndustryMuseum of Science and Industry (Chicago)The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
, Chicago, Illinois. - Twelfth Annual Atlanta Life Invitational Exhibition. 1992, Herndon Plaza, Atlanta.
- Vital Signs. 1991, Atlanta Contemporary Art CenterAtlanta Contemporary Art CenterThe Atlanta Contemporary Art Center is a non-collecting contemporary art museum located in the West Midtown district of Atlanta. The center presents 8-10 art exhibitions per year that are free to the public every Thursday. The Contemporary also commissions artwork and organizes approximately 50...
. - AFRI-COBRA: The First Twenty Years. 1990, Florida A&M UniversityFlorida A&M UniversityFlorida Agricultural and Mechanical University, commonly known as Florida A&M or FAMU, is a historically black university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States, the state capital, and is one of eleven member institutions of the State University System of Florida...
. - Horse Flesh. 1990, Kentucky Derby MuseumKentucky Derby MuseumThe Kentucky Derby Museum is an American Thoroughbred horse racing museum located on the grounds of Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Dedicated to preserving the history of the Kentucky Derby, it first opened its doors to the public in the spring of 1985...
. - Beaches Annual Exhibition. 1989, Museum of Contemporary Art JacksonvilleMuseum of Contemporary Art JacksonvilleThe Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, also known as MOCA Jacksonville, is a contemporary art museum in Jacksonville, Florida, funded and operated as a "cultural resource" of the University of North Florida...
. - Artists in Georgia 1988., 1988 Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.
- The Art in Atlanta. 1988, Southeastern Center for Contemporary ArtSoutheastern Center for Contemporary ArtThe Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art , located at 750 Marguerite Drive in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a gallery designed to involve audiences in the art of our time...
. - Birmingham Biennial. 1987, Birmingham Museum of ArtBirmingham Museum of ArtFounded in 1951, the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama today has one of the finest collections in the Southeast US, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing a numerous diverse cultures, including Asian, European, American,...
. - AFRICOBRA USA.' 1987, Sermac Gallery, Fort-de-FranceFort-de-FranceFort-de-France is the capital of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.-Geography:...
, MartiniqueMartiniqueMartinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
. - Ot Och In. 1986, Malmö konstmuseum.
- Artists in Georgia. 1985, Georgia Museum of ArtGeorgia Museum of ArtThe Georgia Museum of Art is an art museum in Athens, Georgia, associated with the University of Georgia.The museum is also, since 1982, the official state museum of art. Located on the East Campus of UGA, in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex, it opened in 1948...
. - Atlanta in France. 1985, Chapelle de la Sorbonne.
- U.S.A. Volta Del Sud. 1985, Palazzo VeneziaPalazzo VeneziaThe Palazzo di Venezia is a palazzo in central Rome, Italy, just north of the Capitoline Hill. The original structure of this great architectural complex consisted of a modest medieval house intended as the residence of the cardinals appointed to the Church of San Marco...
. - Commemoration to Soweto. AFRI-COBRA, 1980, United Nations HeadquartersUnited Nations headquartersThe headquarters of the United Nations is a complex in New York City. The complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1952. It is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, on spacious grounds overlooking the East River...
. - Directions and Dimensions. 1980, Mississippi Museum of Natural ScienceMississippi Museum of Natural ScienceThe Mississippi Museum of Natural Science is located in Jackson and is the largest museum in state of Mississippi.-History:The museum was founded in 1933 by Francis A. Cook as a part of the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission. Francis 'Fannie' Cook led a drive to found the Game and Fish Commission...
. - Artists in Georgia. 1980, High Museum of ArtHigh Museum of ArtThe High Museum of Art , located in Atlanta, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States and one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district, the High is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center.-History:The Museum was...
. - Artists in Schools. 1976, Delaware Art MuseumDelaware Art MuseumThe Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 works. The museum, was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the artist Howard Pyle and is now celebrating its centennial...
. - Directions in Afro-American Art. 1974, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of ArtHerbert F. Johnson Museum of ArtThe Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is an art museum located on the northwest corner of the Arts Quad on the main campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is most well known for its distinctive concrete facade, its collection which includes two windows from Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin...
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Notable collections
- High Museum of ArtHigh Museum of ArtThe High Museum of Art , located in Atlanta, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States and one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district, the High is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center.-History:The Museum was...
- Museum of Contemporary Art of GeorgiaMuseum of Contemporary Art of GeorgiaThe Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia is a contemporary art museum located in Atlanta. The museum collects and archives hundreds of contemporary works by Georgia artists...
- National Museum of African American History and CultureNational Museum of African American History and CultureThe National Museum of African American History and Culture is a Smithsonian Institution museum established in 2003. It will be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. In 2006, the Smithsonian's Board of Regents selected a site near the grounds of the Washington Monument and the...
- NortelNortelNortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...
- The Studio Museum in Harlem
- University of DelawareUniversity of DelawareThe university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
Further reading
- Dyke, Kristina Van. "Wadsworth Jarrell: City Gallery East, Atlanta; exhibit." Art Papers 20 (November/December 1996): 31-32.
- Harris, Juliette. "AFRICOBRA NOW!" The International Review of African American Art. 21 (2) (2007): 2-11. Hampton University Museum.
External links
- Interviews of AfriCOBRA founders, 2010 from the Smithsonian Archives of American ArtArchives of American ArtThe Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 16 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washington, D.C...
- Wadsworth Jarrell image gallery from africobra.com