Description
Book SynopsisExamines the involvement of African Americans in the New Deal art programs, shifting emphasis from individual artists toward broader issues informed by the uniqueness of Black experience.
Trade Review“A vital resource for scholars in a variety of intersecting fields concerned with American cultural and social history.”
—Madeleine Harrison caa.reviews
“African American Artists and the New Deal Art Programs contributes importantly to the literature on New Deal art and race, exploring the opportunities and limits the art projects created for Black visual artists. Drawing on under-researched records, especially the Black extension galleries in the South, Calo shows how the art projects provided new resources for Black artists while maintaining racial discrimination and segregation.”
—Sharon Musher,author of Democratic Art: The New Deal's Influence on American Culture
“Probing a wide variety of archival sources, Mary Ann Calo has brought to our attention aspects of the ways African American artists and art administrators negotiated New Deal art programs, notably in the Southern states, and made a stand for the centrality of African American art.”
—Patricia Hills,author of Painting Harlem Modern: The Art of Jacob Lawrence
