Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South
2023
Published by Royal Academy of Arts19 x 25.4 cm144 pagesHardcoverISBN 9781912520954
Published to accompany the Souls Grown Deep exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2023), this catalogue spotlights the works of Black artists from the American South. Their works date from the early 20th century to today and respond to issues ranging from economic inequality, oppression and social marginalisation, to sexuality, the influence of place, and ancestral memory. For generations, these artists have forged unique art traditions, working in near isolation from established practices and oftentimes utilising materials locally available. They have created works that articulate America’s painful past – the inhumane practice of enslavement, the cruel segregationist policies of Jim Crow era, and institutionalised racism.
Among the sculptures, paintings, reliefs and drawings included here are works by Hawkins Bolden, Thornton Dial, Sam Doyle, Bessie Harvey, Lonnie Holley, Ronald Lockett, Joe Minter, Nellie Mae Rowe, Mary T. Smith, Henry and Georgia Speller, Mose Tolliver, Charles Williams and Purvis Young. Also featured are the celebrated quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, among them Mary Lee Bendolph, Marlene Bennett Jones, Loretta Pettway and Martha Jane Pettway.