Men of Change: Power, Triumph, Truth
By Alec Clayton
Published in the Weekly Volcano, Jan. 23, 2020
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| “Monumental” (Ta-Nehisi Coates) by Robert Pruitt, courtesy of the artist and Koplin De Rio, Seattle / Adam Reich Photography |
Iconic African-American men are saluted in
this traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian.
“We are honored and thrilled to feature Men of Change: Power, Triumph, Truth. As of now, we’re one of only two museums on the West Coast that will host this phenomenal exhibition (from the Smithsonian). We encourage everyone to come see it and to learn about these change-makers,” says Washington State Historical Society Director Jennifer Kilmer.
“We are honored and thrilled to feature Men of Change: Power, Triumph, Truth. As of now, we’re one of only two museums on the West Coast that will host this phenomenal exhibition (from the Smithsonian). We encourage everyone to come see it and to learn about these change-makers,” says Washington State Historical Society Director Jennifer Kilmer.
“These are some hard truths,” says Mary Mikel
Stump from the Historical Society.
Featured in the exhibition are portraits,
biographies and little-known stories about many of the most important Black men
in America’s history. These iconic figures are pictured with written words,
photographs and 29 original works of art made especially for this exhibition.
Included are boxer and activist Muhammad Ali, writer James Baldwin, writer
Ta-Nehisi Coats, political powerhouse W.E.B. Du Boise. The lives and works of famous
and the little-known men alike are highlighted. Such as historian Carter G.
Woodson and Black Panther writer and director Ryan Coogler; basketball star and
activist Lebron James; artist Romare Bearden and jazz greats Louis Armstrong
and Miles Davis; civil rights leader Andrew Young and comedian/activist Dick
Gregory; and one of America’s greatest playwrights, August Wilson, who made his
home in Seattle.
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| "Lost and Found (August Wilson) by Radcliffee Bailey, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York |
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| "Romare Bearden" by Patrick Earl Hammie, courtesy of the artist |
Visitors will be inspired and awed by these
towering men of history and will be enlightened by many little-known stories.
For instance, who knew that Bearden, admired for his daring art, was once a
baseball player? Before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball,
Bearden was given a chance to play in the majors — but with one stipulation:
being light skinned, he was asked to pass as white. He turned down that opportunity.
There is a wonderful painting of Bearden by
Patrick Earl Hammie, who breaks Bearden’s face into prismatic sections.
Basketballer Lebron James is depicted by
artist Shaun Leonardo by larger-than-life-size hands, not handling a basketball
but during a speech at the opening of his school.
Painter Robert Pruitt depicts Ta-Nehisi
Coates with a painting called “Monumental” which pictures not Coates but an
unidentified woman with a colorful map covering and hiding her head. Her dress
is antebellum, and the map outlines redlining for discriminatory housing
practices. “I have attempted to emulate Coates'
spirit of clarity through my approach and references to ideas of home, property
and architecture," Pruitt writes.
A museum
statement summarizes: “The exhibition weaves a collective tapestry of what it
is to be an African American man and the shared experience of African American
men across generations.”
Men of Change: Power, Triumph, Truth, 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. third Thursday, through March 15, $14,
$11 seniors, students, military, free to Washington State Historical Society
members and children younger than 5, Washington State History Museum, 1911
Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, www.WashingtonHistory.org
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