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September Issue
2008
Sumter County Gallery of Art in Sumter,
SC, Features Works by Romare Bearden and Benny Andrews
The Sumter County Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, will present the exhibition, Romare Bearden: Prints & Benny Andrews: The John Lewis Series, on view from Sept. 4 through Nov. 1, 2008.
Romare Bearden
Recognized as one of the most creative and
original visual artists of the twentieth century, Romare Bearden
(1911-1988) experimented with many different mediums and artistic
styles, but is best known for his richly textured collages.
Bearden was born in Charlotte, NC, and attended Boston University
and completed his studies at New York University (NYU). His work
is included in many important public collections including the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art,
the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
and The Studio Museum in Harlem, among others. Bearden was the
recipient of many awards and honors throughout his lifetime including
the National Medal of Arts, presented by President Ronald Reagan,
in 1987.
Working in conjunction with Jerald Melberg Gallery in Charlotte the exhibition in Sumter comprises 27 original prints of some of Bearden's favorite subjects; biblical scenes, urban and family scenes, and musicians.
Benny Andrews
Benny Andrews (1930-2006), nationally recognized as an artist, activist, and advocate of the arts, grew up in rural Morgan County, GA, one of ten children of sharecroppers. He moved to NY in 1958, but his formative years in Georgia continued to inform his art. Andrews explored African-American life in his collages, fusing memory and imagination.
Andrews received his BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1958. He was the director of visual arts for the National Endowment for the Arts, 1982 to 1984. Andrews was the recipient of numerous awards, including election into the National Academy in 1997. His work is in more than thirty major art museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Detroit Institute of Arts, MI, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
In 1965, Andrews used a Whitney Fellowship to return to Georgia. His Autobiographical Series of paintings was inspired by this trip, and from this point on Andrews worked in series; several works unified by a theme, typically some aspect of African-American life. Subsequent series include Bicentennial, Revival, Music, Langston Hughes, and The Migrants.
The Sumter County Gallery of Art is honored to present the last series Andrews produced before his death, The John Lewis Series, which chronicles the life and career of Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) and his role as a civil rights activist. This series of 20 original collages belongs to The Center for Civil and Human Rights, which is slated to open in Atlanta in 2010. CCHR and Mason Murer Fine Art worked with the Sumter County Gallery of Art to bring this show to Sumter.
In conjunction with the exhibition Benny Andrews: The John Lewis Series, Sumter County Gallery of Art is honored to have Congressman John Lewis as the very special guest speaker. Sumter's congressional delegation, Representatives John Spratt and Jim Clyburn will also be in attendance at the exhibit's opening.
Often called "one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced," Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls "The Beloved Community" in America.
Like Andrews, Lewis was born the son of sharecroppers in 1940 in Troy, AL. As a young boy, he was inspired by the activism surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. It was then he made a decision to become a part of the Civil Rights Movement where he has remained at the vanguard of the human rights struggle in the United States. As a student at Fisk University, Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, TN. In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South.
During the height of the Movement, from 1963 to 1966, Lewis was named Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which he helped form. In 1964, Lewis organized voter registration drives during the Mississippi Freedom Summer. In March 1965, Lewis helped spearhead one of the most seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement; leading over 600 orderly protestors across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL. The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as "Bloody Sunday." This incident helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries (some sustained in South Carolina during his work for civil rights here), Lewis remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. Lewis went on to become the Director of the Voter Education Project (VEP) and worked extensively on this project in South Carolina in the 60s, registering significant numbers of African-American voters in this state.
Lewis was elected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as US Representative of Georgia's Fifth Congressional District since then. That District includes the entire city of Atlanta, GA. He is Senior Chief Deputy Whip for the Democratic Party in leadership in the House and a member of the House Ways & Means Committee.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery
listings, call the gallery at 803/775-0543 or visit (www.sumtergallery.com).
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