Karamu Artists Inc. : printmaking, race, and community / Britany Salsbury and Erin Benay ; with contributions from Jacqueline Francis, Richard J. Powell, and Curlee Raven Holton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Salsbury, Britany, author.

Benay, Erin E., author.

Contributor:

Griswold, William, writer of foreword.

Francis, Jacqueline, contributor.

Powell, Richard J., 1953- contributor.

Holton, Curlee Raven, contributor.

Cleveland Museum of Art, host institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Karamu House--Exhibitions.

Karamu House.

African American prints--Exhibitions.

African American prints.

African American printmakers--Exhibitions.

African American printmakers.

Prints--Ohio--Cleveland--20th century--Exhibitions.

Prints.

Genre:

exhibition catalogs.

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

176 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 31 cm

Distribution:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press

Place of Publication:

Cleveland, OH : Cleveland Museum of Art [2025]

Summary:

"An exploration of the rich history of printmaking at Cleveland's Karamu House, a center of Black arts, culture, and community since 1915. Karamu House, founded as a settlement house in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1915, is one of the preeminent homes of Black arts, culture, and community in America. Noted for its theater program, Karamu House also hosts a rich legacy in the graphic arts. Printmaking workshops open to artists and community alike launched in the 1930s, allowing a young Langston Hughes - as one notable example - to experiment with print. Linked with printmaking's ethos of accessibility and democracy, a group including Elmer W. Brown, Hughie Lee-Smith, Charles L. Sallée Jr., and William E. Smith - some of the most prominent Black printmakers of the WPA era - founded Karamu Artists, Inc. Reproductions of works by such artists are accompanied by essays situating the prints, the artists, and this locus of Black arts and culture in the histories it shaped. These writings are complemented by an interview with printmaker and Karamu alumnus Curlee Raven Holton"--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Foreword / William M. Griswold and Tony F. Sias

Karamu Artists Inc. and printmaking in the WPA era / Britany Salsbury

Hughie Lee-Smith: breaking the fourth wall / Richard J. Powell

Modernism(s): Karamu Artists Inc. and modernist art / Jacqueline Francis

From prints to power: Karamu House and the Black art market in Cleveland, 1960-1980 / Erin Benay

A conversation with Karamu House alumnus Curlee Raven Holton / Erin Benay

For Russell and Rowena Jelliffe / Langston Hughes

Catalogue raisonné of prints by Karamu Artists Inc., 1930s-1940s / compiled by Jillian Kruse.

Notes:

"Published on the occassion of the exhibition Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community, on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art from March 23 to August 17, 2025"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0300279175

9780300279177

OCLC:

1449674124

Publisher Number:

CIPO000195547