WPI Webinar Series – Race Matters: Cultural Politics in the 1960s
Next four Thursdays, starting September 7. 1:00 – 200 pm (EDT) – Virtual on Zoom
Brought to you by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute (WPI) publishes of the Romare Bearden Digital Catalogue Raisonné.
The 1960s was a tumultuous moment in American history as racial equality movements propelled sweeping changes to the body politic. This critical juncture in the nation’s race relations captured the public’s attention as the media delivered the unfolding drama to their doorsteps. The turbulent racial climate spurred the artist’s Romare Bearden’s pivotal turn to collage and return to Black figuration.
This webinar series presents new insights into the work of Bearden and his contemporaries. His fellow artists, who came from diverse racial backgrounds, joined Bearden in responding to the tenor of the times and tackling Black subject matter and/or racial themes in their work. The series will expand our understanding of how racial concerns were articulated during this watershed decade.
For more information and to register for all four series: Use this link: wpi art
Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 1:00 pm ET
Tomorrow I May Be Far Away — with Bridget R. Cooks
In this talk, art historian Bridget R. Cooks addresses Romare Bearden’s ability to engage the Black and mainstream art worlds during the 1960s and ’70s. During this time, his art was revered as exemplary of American art and Black art in different institutional contexts delineated by race. Cooks discusses how Bearden navigated his presence in both worlds through his art and exhibitions.
Bridget R. Cooks is a scholar and curator of American art. She serves as Chancellor’s Fellow and Professor of African American Studies and Art History at the University of California, Irvine. She is most well-known as the author of the book, Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum (2011).
For more information and to register for all four series: Use this link: wpi art