The exhibition, Portrait & Text: African American Artists of Dance, Music, & the Written Word, will have an opening reception on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on the 10th floor of the Woodruff Library. Please share this with interested colleagues, and join us if you are able.
Featuring portraits by Harlem arts patron and photographer Carl Van Vechten and MARBL’s exceptional collection of African American primary sources, this exhibition offers a unique perspective on many renowned African American writers, actors, singers, and dancers. Paired with Van Vechten’s portraits are original documents from MARBL’s collections that reveal the artists’ work or life and demonstrate the social, political, and professional networks that existed among these creative individuals. Included are Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Harry Belafonte, Richard Wright, Marian Anderson, Carmen de Lavallade, Pearl Primus, Countee Cullen, Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, and many others.
The exhibition is co-curated by Kelly Erby, Emory University alumnus currently teaching at Georgia State University, and Randall K. Burkett, Curator of African American Collections at Emory.
