The changing narrative

The history of art resembles a puzzle that can never be solved. Every time the makers of this narrative think the work is complete, another piece is revealed to be missing. For a long time, the narrative of artistic creation was centered around a handful of European countries, then almost exclusively on the United States, or solely on the work of men. As such, Black artists were undeniably sidelined in what was called the “grand narrative” of 20th-century avant-gardes.

Bob Thompson

Alicia Knock

At the Centre Pompidou, curator Alicia Knock has embarked on a monumental undertaking to reconstruct the story of artists of African descent who lived in Paris from the 1950s to 2000. She is the creative force behind “Paris Noir,” an exhibition running through June 30, showcasing 350 works by 150 of these artists. There is no doubt that this exhibition will be a milestone, as it is already fostering a new understanding of the subject in France. You had only to see the long lines the day of the opening to understand the public’s hunger for an examination of this theme. (It is also the penultimate exhibition at the Centre Pompidou before its five-year closure for renovation.)

Vast encyclopedia

Paul Keene

However, meandering through the galleries is like exploring a vast encyclopedia of art from the African diaspora in Paris, mixing stunning masterpieces with other, less accomplished works. Alicia Knock, however, rejects the idea of filtering this artistic production:“I have worked on an archaeology of Pan-African Paris, of Black solidarity. It’s a transcontinental journey that involved retrieving works from the Caribbean, the United States and Africa too. Here, I am unpacking 50 years of a decolonial narrative. It’s a mapping: a program designed to push museums and universities to engage with the subject.”

Edouard Glissant

Agustin Cardenas

A key figure in this approach is the Martinican writer Édouard Glissant (1928-2011), to whom a dedicated space is reserved. One regrets, however, that his collection, which crystallizes his connections with artists like Agustín Cárdenas (1) and Roberto Matta—now part of the public museum Memorial ACTe in Guadeloupe—remains inaccessible in the French overseas department (See here a report about Edouard Glissant in Martinique).

Equal footing

Robert Radford

The principle of this Parisian blockbuster is to place all these painters and sculptors on equal footing. Paradoxically, this results in downplaying the significance—understandably, perhaps—of certain artists who have already secured their place in history. Such is the case of Cuban-Chinese artist Wifredo Lam (1902-1982), a close associate of the French Surrealists, of whom only a single painting is displayed—a 1950 composition of totems inspired by Vodou.

Roland Dorcely

Roland Dorcely

More than anything, “Paris Noir” is a cornucopia of captivating yet lesser-known artists. Take, for instance, the Haitian Roland Dorcély (1930-2017), who, in the 1960s, invented a pictorial universe of undulating forms in vivid colors and outlined in black—a fusion of Fernand Léger, late Matisse and tropical exuberance (2) (See here a report speaking about Roland Dorcely).

Roland Dorcely

Beauford Delaney

Even though two plaques in the neighborhood of Montparnasse commemorate the presence of Beauford Delaney (1901-1979), the American painter who died in Paris, he remains underappreciated here.

Beauford Delaney

While a new fever for abstraction was emerging across the Atlantic by the likes of Pollock, Delaney, who was Black and gay, found in France the freedom to transition from figuration to thickly textured, neon-hued abstractions. His masterpiece is a portrait of his friend, the writer James Baldwin, featuring multicolored vanishing lines.

Michael Rosenfeld

“His art powerfully attests to his experience living in France,” says New York art dealer Michael Rosenfeld, one of the exhibition’s major lenders (See here an other interview of Michael Rosenfeld).

Beauford Delaney

Bob Thompson

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) also embodies this postwar, transatlantic movement. Moving to Paris in 1961, he reinterpreted classical art like Poussin with astonishing brio by creating complex compositions in which intertwined figures are both multicolored and faceless.

Bob Thompson

Frank Bowling

It’s interesting to note that not all Black artists felt the same way about their opportunities in the United States. Around the same time, Frank Bowling, originally from Guyana and based in London—he would come to know both Bob Thompson and Beauford Delaney—chose to set up a second studio in New York in 1966, rather than in Paris. He’s currently the subject of an exhibition at the Hauser & Wirth gallery in Paris. His son Benjamin explains: “The fact that he was seen as British—he had arrived in London in 1953—certainly gave him a different status in 1960s America.”

Jay Ramier

Jay Ramier

The artist Jay Ramier (born in 1967 in Guadeloupe) has created an installation specially for the exhibit, featuring archival family images and videos: “to reconstruct my personal history, one rooted in the Caribbean, infused with hip-hop, and tinged with Latin influences. I am deeply moved by this exhibition. So many of these artists, in their time, struggled to show their work.”

 Through June 30 www.centrepompidou.fr/en/

Diagne Chanel

(1) See also: “Agustín Cárdenas,” Galerie Mitterrand, April 2-May 29. https://mitterrand.com/

(2) “Roland Dorcély,” Galerie Loeve & Co. Through April 26. www.loeveandco.com/