The Art Students League of New York, in partnership with the Romare Bearden Foundation, is honored to present Creating Community. Cinque Gallery Artists on view May 3–July 4, 2021. The exhibition is the first introductory survey to focus on Cinque Gallery, the innovative non-profit artists’ space dedicated to promoting the achievements of Black artists from its founding in 1969 until its closure in 2004. The exhibition celebrates a diverse selection of late twentieth century and contemporary artists who participated in this pioneering collaborative enterprise and highlights the interconnected histories of the artists of Cinque Gallery and The Art Students League.

Founded in 1969 by three master League artists, Romare Bearden (1911 – 1988), Ernest Crichlow (1914 – 2005), and Norman Lewis (1909 – 1979), Cinque Gallery was created to “provide a place where the works of unknown, and neglected artists of talent…” primarily minority artists “would not only be shown but nurtured and developed.” (Excerpts. 1969 Cinque Gallery by-laws) The artist-led, nonprofit space fostered a mutually supportive community of artists young and mature, exhibiting the work of new and established African American artists for nearly four decades.

[excerpt from Art Students League website]

Creating Community. Cinque Gallery Artists is organized by guest curator and arts administrator Susan Stedman, a long-time Cinque Gallery associate and chronicler, alongside artist, educator, and Cinque’s first artist in residence, Nanette Carter. The exhibition features paintings, works on paper, photographs, sculptures, and archival documents drawn from loans and the League’s permanent collection, and is part of Stedman’s ongoing oral history project illuminating the achievements of several generations of artists. This exhibition features works by:

Charles Alston, Emma Amos, Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, Camille Billops, Robert Blackburn. Betty Blayton-Taylor, Frank Bowling, Vivian Browne, Nanette Carter, Elizabeth Catlett-Mora, Edward Clark, Ernest Crichlow, Melvin Edwards, Tom Feelings, Sam Gilliam, Ray Grist. Cynthia Hawkins, Robin Holder, Bill Hutson, Mohammad Omar Khalil, Hughie Lee-Smith, Norman Lewis, Whitfield Lovell, Alvin D. Loving, Richard Mayhew, Howard McCalebb, Norma Morgan, Otto Neals, Ademola Olugebefola, Debra Priestly, Mavis Pusey, Ann Tanksley, Mildred Thompson, Charles White, Ben Wigfall,  Frank Wimberley, Hale Woodruff.

The exhibition is supplemented by a series of online public programs and artist interviews organized by Guest Program Curator, Nanette Carter. The talks are available to view online and feature artists including Ray Grist, Frank Wimberley, Robin Holder, and Otto Neals, among others.

An illustrated exhibition catalog features never-before exhibited archival images and documents with contributions from Cinque Gallery artists.

[excerpt from Art Students League website] https://theartstudentsleague.org/event/cinque-gallery-2021/