In 2018, the Morgan acquired eleven drawings from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting Black Southern artists and their communities. The artists represented in the acquisition are Thornton Dial, Nellie Mae Rowe, Henry Speller, Luster Willis, and Purvis Young. Artists only one or two generations removed from slavery, and subjected to the abuses of Jim Crow, developed ingenious formal techniques using found materials and skills learned outside the classroom and studio. The focus of this exhibition is the medium of drawing. Like assemblage, drawing is an art of “making do.” Its accessibility and directness have always appealed to both artists and their audiences.
Another Tradition: Drawings by Black Artists from the American South was on view at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City from September 24, 2021 through January 16, 2022.
