Sherman Beck

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Sherman Beck is an American artist born, raised, and based in Chicago, Illinois, known for his brightly-colored kaleidoscopic paintings as one of the members of the Black arts collective AFRICOBRA in the 1970s, his freelance design-work throughout the 1970s and 1980s, his continued exhibition career, and his lifelong work as an arts educator in Chicago.

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Early life and education

Beck was born to Leonora and Owen Beck in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, the second child of three. [1] Beck was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, attending class at night. In 1976, he graduated with a degree in graphic and plastic arts. [2] He taught art in Chicago public Schools for twenty two years, at his alma mater Dunbar High School. [3] [4]

The AfriCOBRA years

Sherman Beck was one of ten key original members of the AfriCOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) Collective based in Chicago, Illinois. [5] [6] Three of Sherman Beck's paintings were included in 52 works making up the AfriCOBRA I: Ten in Search of a Nation exhibit at the Studio Museum in Harlem, which opened on June 21, 1970. [7] Fellow AfriCOBRA member Barbara Jones-Hogu described Beck as a "magic maker" whose untitled works concerned themselves with the "spiritual essence" of the Black diaspora. [8] Curated by Edward Spriggs, the show introduced one of the group's key aesthetic theories to New York audiences: Cool Ade Colors. "Cool Ade" signified on the brand name Kool-Aid, a sugary drink mix found in American homes of that era that came in bright colors like cherry, grape, lemon, orange, and lime. [9] The colors used by Beck and other AfriCOBRA artists were bright, warm, eye-catching, and intense and, when paired with imagery and themes drawn from Black American life and culture, created a vivid aesthetic of "shine" that stood out from social realist styles of the era. [1] In the exhibition catalog, Beck's personal statement read: "we all extend ourselves through the magic of our medium, and this is my medium." [1] In September 1970, the show traveled to the National Center of Afro-American Arts in Boston and then continued on to Chicago for a 10-day run at the Black Expo in November of that year. All ten members traveled to this opening, including Beck, standing near their work and chatting with attendees. This would mark the first time AfriCOBRA's work was shown in their hometown. [1] Beck left AfriCOBRA shortly after the close of the AfriCOBRA I show, as the group turned to collective printmaking. [10] [8]

Style

Beck's painting features brightly colored geometric patterns, often in combination with free-floating portraits of Black historical figures such as Frederick Douglass, Biddy Mason, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Shirley Chisholm. Beck also incorporates elements of African history and design into his work, particularly masks. [3] One of the main themes of his work involves expanding representations of the Black family, which was a foundational aspect of AfriCOBRA. [11]

Importance of Chicago

Beck was also active in the Southside Community Art Center in Chicago, a catalyzing organization for Black Art in the city. He donated work to an auction to support the center in 1973, alongside Richard Hunt, Geraldine McCullough, and others. [12] Beck was also a board member of the organization. [13]

Freelance design work in the 1970s and 1980s

Beck worked as a freelance designer for the monthly Black lifestyle magazine Ebony throughout the 1970s and 1980s. His satiric, stylized pen-and-ink line drawings were featured in lighter fare such as "What's in a (Nick) Name?" [14] but also accompanies harder-hitting political stories such as "The Empty Pocket Blues" [15] about Black efforts to survive the recession and "Racism and Blacks Who Have 'Made It.'" [16] One of Beck's paintings was displayed behind Ebony Executive Editor Herbert Nipson's desk when the magazine's new corporate offices opened up at 820 South Michigan Avenue in 1972, the first Black-owned and Black-designed building in downtown Chicago's business district, The Loop. [17] Beck's painting was purchased for the Johnson Publishing Company's famed collection of African American Art along with work by Carrie Mae Weems, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Elizabeth Catlett, and others. Beck's work was among the works auctioned from the collection after the closure of the Johnson Publishing Company in January 2020 to repay business debts. [18]

Children's book illustrator

Sherman Beck illustrated the 1971 children's book Colors Around Me by Vivian Church, notable for his renderings of the many shades of African American skintone and it's clear message that "Black is Beautiful." [19] It is featured in the San Francisco Public Library's Effie Lee Morris Historical Collection of children's literature that represents Black children in positive and uplifting ways. [20]

Later exhibitions

Beck has continued to make work and exhibit it, including two exhibits at the University of Illinois in the early 2000s. [21] His painting Contemplation, was featured in the Southside Community Art Center's 2012 retrospective Maleness to Manhood: Reclamation of the Young Black Man. [22] In 2018-2019, the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami mounted the exhibition AfriCOBRA: Messages to the People, curated by Jeffreen Hayes, that combined works exhibited in the first AfriCOBRA show in 1970 with the artists' more recent work. Beck had five paintings in the show: Portrait of Frederick Douglass (2010), Untitled (Male Face) (1970), Untitled (Female in Red) (1970), Ancestors (2005), and Portrait of Biddy Mason (2010). [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jarrell, Wadsworth (2020). AFRICOBRA: experimental art toward a school of thought. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 134. ISBN   978-1-4780-0042-6.
  2. ↑ Zorach, Rebecca; Baker, Melissa H.; David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, eds. (2018). The time is now! art worlds of Chicago's South Side, 1960-1980. Chicago, Illinois: Smart Museum of Art. ISBN   978-0-935573-58-9.
  3. 1 2 3 Hayes, Jeffreen M. (2020). AfriCOBRA: Messages to the People. Gregory R. Miller and Co. pp. 86–91. ISBN   978-1-941366-30-1.
  4. ↑ Zorach, Rebecca; Baker, Melissa H.; David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, eds. (2018). The time is now! art worlds of Chicago's South Side, 1960-1980. Chicago, Illinois: Smart Museum of Art. p. 247. ISBN   978-0-935573-58-9.
  5. ↑ "AFRICOBRA". Grove Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t2085585 . Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  6. ↑ Donaldson, Jeff R. (2012). "Africobra Manifesto?: "Ten in Search of a Nation"". Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. 30 (1): 76–83. ISSN   2152-7792.
  7. ↑ Institution, Smithsonian. "Flyer for AFRICOBRA I: Ten in Search of a Nation at the Studio Museum in Harlem". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  8. 1 2 Hogu, Barbara Jones (2012). "Inaugurating AfriCOBRA History, Philosophy, and Aesthetics". Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. 30 (1): 90–97. ISSN   2152-7792.
  9. ↑ Wafaa, Kada (2020). "AfriCOBRA: African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists". Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora (46): 1 – via JSTOR.
  10. ↑ "Interview with Jae Jarrell, 2010, from the Interviews of AfriCOBRA founders, 2010 | Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". www.aaa.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  11. ↑ Godfrey, Mark; Whitley, Zoé; Tate Modern (Gallery); Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Brooklyn Museum, eds. (2017). Soul of a nation: art in the age of black power. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. pp. 234–235. ISBN   978-1-942884-17-0.
  12. ↑ "At Southside Community Art Center Auction". Chicago Defender. May 17, 1973. p. 20.
  13. ↑ Hooks, Theresa Fambro (Nov 29, 1975). "TEESEE'S TOWN". Chicago Defender. p. 10.
  14. ↑ Rhoden, Bill (May 1976). ""What's in a (Nick) Name?"". Ebony. pp. 70–72, 74, 76.
  15. ↑ Robinson, Louie (August 1980). ""Empty Pocket Blues"". Ebony. pp. 150–152, 154, 156.
  16. ↑ Lyons, Douglas C. (October 1989). "Racism and the Blacks Who've 'Made It'". Ebony. pp. 112, 114, 116.
  17. ↑ ""Ebony Magazine's New Home"". Ebony. September 1972. p. 90.
  18. ↑ Dafoe, Taylor (2020-01-03). "The Historic Artworks That Once Adorned the Offices of 'Jet' and 'Ebony' Are Heading to Auction This Month". Artnet News. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  19. ↑ Church, Vivian (1971). Colors Around Me. Afri-Am Publishing Company.
  20. ↑ "Celebrating Children's Literature - African American Heritage". San Francisco Public Library. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  21. ↑ Togba, Edna M. (2012). "Barbara Jones Hogu in Conversation with Edna M. Togba". Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. 30 (1): 138–144. ISSN   2152-7792.
  22. ↑ Isaacs, Deanna (2013-09-16). "On the south side, art tackles a problem". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2024-04-05.


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