Description
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Chicago witnessed a remarkable flourishing of visual arts associated with the Black Arts Movement. From the painting of murals as a way to reclaim public space and the establishment of independent community art centers to the work of the AFRICOBRA collective and Black filmmakers, artists on Chicago's South and West Sides built a vision of art as service to the people. In Art for People's Sake Rebecca Zorach traces the little-told story of the visual arts of the Black Arts Movement in Chicago, showing how artistic innovations responded to decades of racist urban planning that left Black neighborhoods sites of economic depression, infrastructural decay, and violence. Working with community leaders, children, activists, gang members, and everyday people, artists developed a way of using art to help empower and represent themselves. Showcasing the depth and sophistication of the visual arts in Chicago at this time, Zorach demonstrates the crucial role of aesthetics and artistic practice in the mobilization of Black radical politics during the Black Power era.
About the Author
Rebecca Zorach is Mary Jane Crowe Professor of Art and Art History at Northwestern University and the author and editor of several books, including The Wall of Respect: Public Art and Black Liberation in 1960s Chicago.
Reviews
"Both fresh and refreshing, Zorach's book on the Black Arts Movement (BAM) in Chicago engages from the very first paragraph and fires on all cylinders-looking at the subject not only from inside the BAM but also in terms of how it challenged traditional art history. . . . Highly recommended. All readers." -- K. P. Buick * Choice *
"Using interviews, archival collections, poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks, historic census data, and other documentation, Zorach provides a detailed story of the artists, residents, and educators who worked together to transform Chicago communities struggling with the spatial constraints of systematic racism. . . . This would serve well as a resource on the Black Arts Movement in Chicago, community mural history, and African American art history. It is highly recommended for all libraries." -- Stacy R. Williams * ARLIS/NA Reviews *
"Zorach makes a rich contribution to the field of art history that has largely ignored the Black Arts Movement. . . . rt for People's Sake should be required reading for artists, non-profit organizations, community organizers, and scholars interested in social movements, education, and art history." -- Tracey Johnson * Black Perspectives *
"[A] clearly written, engaging study." -- Miguel de Baca * Art History *
"With Art for People's Sake, Rebecca Zorach makes a valuable intervention in art historical discourse. Zorach emphasizes the importance of the Black Arts Movement for better understanding artistic engagement with site-specificity, social practice, and performance art." -- Benjamin Jones * CAA Reviews *
"Thoughtfully argued and beautifully written and illustrated, this book will be a vital resource for scholars and students of visual culture, art history, urban history, and communication studies interested in the dynamics of race, collaboration, imagination, and politics. Many of its images (of which there are an astonishing number) are vital to understanding Chicago, the Black Arts Movement, and their dynamic relationship to place, politics, and culture." -- Caitlin Frances Bruce * Winterthur Portfolio *
"In this superb addition to scholarship on the Black Arts Movement, Rebecca Zorach captures luminously how black visual artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s strove to situate themselves and their artworks." -- Daniel Matlin * Journal of American Studies *
"Art for People's Sake is an important addition to the new scholarship on radical Black Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s. . . . One gets a vital portrait of Black Arts in arguably the most enduring and influential center of the movement." -- James Smethurst * Journal of African American History *
Book Information
ISBN 9781478001409
Author Rebecca Zorach
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 771g
About the Author
Rebecca Zorach is Mary Jane Crowe Professor of Art and Art History at Northwestern University and the author and editor of several books, including The Wall of Respect: Public Art and Black Liberation in 1960s Chicago.
Reviews
"Both fresh and refreshing, Zorach's book on the Black Arts Movement (BAM) in Chicago engages from the very first paragraph and fires on all cylinders-looking at the subject not only from inside the BAM but also in terms of how it challenged traditional art history. . . . Highly recommended. All readers." -- K. P. Buick * Choice *
"Using interviews, archival collections, poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks, historic census data, and other documentation, Zorach provides a detailed story of the artists, residents, and educators who worked together to transform Chicago communities struggling with the spatial constraints of systematic racism. . . . This would serve well as a resource on the Black Arts Movement in Chicago, community mural history, and African American art history. It is highly recommended for all libraries." -- Stacy R. Williams * ARLIS/NA Reviews *
"Zorach makes a rich contribution to the field of art history that has largely ignored the Black Arts Movement. . . . rt for People's Sake should be required reading for artists, non-profit organizations, community organizers, and scholars interested in social movements, education, and art history." -- Tracey Johnson * Black Perspectives *
"[A] clearly written, engaging study." -- Miguel de Baca * Art History *
"With Art for People's Sake, Rebecca Zorach makes a valuable intervention in art historical discourse. Zorach emphasizes the importance of the Black Arts Movement for better understanding artistic engagement with site-specificity, social practice, and performance art." -- Benjamin Jones * CAA Reviews *
"Thoughtfully argued and beautifully written and illustrated, this book will be a vital resource for scholars and students of visual culture, art history, urban history, and communication studies interested in the dynamics of race, collaboration, imagination, and politics. Many of its images (of which there are an astonishing number) are vital to understanding Chicago, the Black Arts Movement, and their dynamic relationship to place, politics, and culture." -- Caitlin Frances Bruce * Winterthur Portfolio *
"In this superb addition to scholarship on the Black Arts Movement, Rebecca Zorach captures luminously how black visual artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s strove to situate themselves and their artworks." -- Daniel Matlin * Journal of American Studies *
"Art for People's Sake is an important addition to the new scholarship on radical Black Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s. . . . One gets a vital portrait of Black Arts in arguably the most enduring and influential center of the movement." -- James Smethurst * Journal of African American History *
Book Information
ISBN 9781478001409
Author Rebecca Zorach
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 771g
