The Michael Rosenfeld Gallery has announced a memorial service for the late Eldzier Cortor.
Eldzier Cortor was a prominent artist and notable recipient of a Rosenwald Grant.
The service will be held on Monday, December 21st at 3:30 PM at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel. The Chapel is located at 1076 Madison Ave (between 81st and 82nd Streets) in New York City.
Eldzier Cortor
Scheduled speakers include:
Ms. Teresa A. Carbone
Ms. Diane Dinkins Carr, SCAC Board Member
Prof. David C. Driskell
Ms. Corrine Jennings
Dr. and Mrs. Harmon and Harriet Kelley
Mr. Mark Pasquale
Mr. Michael Rosenfeld
The Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is located at
100 ELEVENTH AVENUE @ 19th
New York, New York 10011.
Visit them online at http://www.michaelrosenfeldart.com/
Painter and printmaker Eldzier Cortor passed away in his son’s home on Long Island last Thursday, November 26, at the age of 99. Born in Richmond, VA and graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago, Cortor was a very accomplished artist. His paintings depicting scenes from the lives of African-Americans came at a time when other such works were buried in fringe obscurity, and broke the expectations of mainstream art. Cortor was also the recipient of a Rosenwald grant. His artwork can be seen in museums around the country- including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Cortor was also mentioned in an article featured on the front page of the New York Times that details the recent acquisitions of art from many prominent black artists who were not appreciated, or even acknowledged, in their life times, by many of the country’s museums. The article tells how the new trend is not only intended to over compensate for the vast amount of neglected black artists that helped shape the history of the United States, but also to broaden the narrow view of history painted by museums that depict a male dominated, Eurocentric development of modernism. Among the other black artists mentioned in the article was Jacob Lawrence, who was also the recipient of a Rosenwald grant.
Historians in Buffalo, NY have a new exhibit to add to their lists! Burchfield Penney Art Center now has a public display that is “the most comprehensive look at John Brent’s life and legacy to date”. John Brent, the first black architect from Buffalo, is responsible for many famous structures including two entrance gates to the Buffalo Zoo (both found on the National Register of Historic Places), designing the construction plans for the Michigan Avenue YMCA, and a YMCA camp in Wales.
A new art gallery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan will be opening this week, giving art lovers everywhere a chance to check out some fresh works. This gallery is no average institution, however: it’s funded by a donation left by Jacob Lawrence and his wife Gwendolyn, before Jacob’s untimely death in 2000.
Equity Gallery is founded by the New York Artists Equity Association, or Artists Equity for short. Mr. Lawrence was a long-time member of Artists Equity and even served as its president. He and his wife were avid supporters.
The gallery is located at 245 Broome Street and will be open starting Wednesday. The opening show is titled 2015:1947 and will feature paintings, sculptures and videos by eight different artists.
Jacob Lawrence’s Great Migration paintings and backstory can be found featured prominently in the Rosenwald film.
Julius Rosenwald awarded a fellowship to my father, Charles R. Drew, M.D., in 1932 when he was on the verge of dropping out of McGill Medical School. His father had been laid off as a carpet layer in Virginia due to the depression. In his letter of thanks for the fellowship my father said “It is my constant hope that I shall be able at some time to add some new thought, discover some new process or create something which will prevent or cure disease, alleviate suffering or give men a chance to live and thereby (I can) in part repay the debt which I am happy to acknowledge.” Spencie Love, One Blood, University of North Carolina Press, 1996, p. 116. Later, based on a thesis titled “Banked Blood” written for a Doctorate at Columbia, he was chosen as Medical Director of Blood for Britain, an emergency project to send liquid plasma to British soldiers on battlefields in France during World War II. . Based on that performance, the Red Cross called upon him to set up their first stored plasma Red Cross Blood Bank, a New York City program that became the model for blood collection all over the country. Spencie Love,16. Julius Rosenwald made prescient philanthropic investments in the education of African Americans to the lasting betterment of our nation, and in my father’s case, saving lives, still, across the world.
-Sylvia Drew Ivie, daughter of Dr. Charles R. Drew
Charles Drew
To hear more about Dr. Charles R. Drew’s story, don’t forget to see Rosenwald, in theaters now. Click here to find a screening near you!
Next Friday at 2:30pm, The Phillips Collection will be hosting a panel discussion titled, “Jacob Lawrence’s Struggle”. Moderated by UVA Professor of Modern Art and former Phillips senior curator Elizabeth Hutton Turner, this panel will further critique and analyze his Struggle Series, created between 1954 and 1956. It will feature guest panelists from George Mason University, University of Maryland, and the National Museum of African American History. David Driskell, who will be featured in The Rosenwald Schools, is one of those panelists.
Conveniently held during the 39th Black History Month, they will discuss the art’s contribution to social awareness during the Civil Rights Movement. As a Rosenwald grant recipient, Lawrence was given the opportunity to travel to the segregated Jim Crow south and use his experiences as inspiration to create great and memorable that is still observed today.
Recent Comments