The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Alabama

Alabama

1960
(American, 1909–1979)
America
Oil on canvas
Overall: 122.6 x 184.5 cm (48 1/4 x 72 5/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2017.1
© Estate of Norman W. Lewis; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Location: 227 Abstract Expressionism

Did You Know?

Norman Lewis was the son of parents who had emigrated to the U.S. from Bermuda.

Description

During the Civil Rights Movement, Lewis sought to align his interest in abstraction with current events. With its black and white palette, Alabama offers a symbolic duality for a time entrenched in racial conflict. Furthermore, the painting's composition has prompted viewers to draw additional associations from its abstract shapes, such as a nighttime Ku Klux Klan gathering.
  • Litt, Steven. "'Alabama:' A Top Acquisition." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), March 26, 2017. Mentioned: p. A6; Reproduced: p. A6
    O'Grady, Megan, "Once Overlooked, Black Abstract Painters Are Finally Given Their Due," New York Times Style Magazine, February 14, 2021.
     Mentioned and Reproduced
    Litt, Steven. "Cleveland Museum of Art Survey's America's Racial History Through Works by Modern, Contemporary Black Artists," Plain Dealer, February 27, 2022. p. D-2.
    Bittencourt, Renata, "Art for Times of Insurrection," in Adriano Pederosa and Rodrigo Moura, eds., Melvin Edwards: Lynch Fragments, exh. cat. (Museu de arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil, 2018). Mentioned p. 16-17; reproduced p. 17.
    Amaki, Amalia K. "The African American Aspect of American Art," in Stephen M. Sessler, ed., American Art: Collecting and Connoisseurship (London: Merrell, 2020). Mention, P. 115.
    Disman, Barry. Norman Lewis: A Retrospective: Catalogue. New York: City University of New York, 1976. Mentioned: p. 11
    Conwill, Kinshasha, and David Craven. Norman Lewis: Black Paintings 1946-1977. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem, 1998. Mentioned: p. 13, 23, 27, 32, 39; Reproduced: fig. 18
    McNally, Owen. "Black Tones, Bright Star." Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT), March 28, 1999. Mentioned www.courant.com
    Damsker, Matt. "Transcending Race, Refining Abstraction." Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT), April 4, 1999. Mentioned
    Zimmer, William. "The Color Black: On the Painter's Canvas and the World." The New York Times (New York, NY), May 30, 1999. Mentioned
    Gibson, Ann Eden. "Diaspora and Ritual: Norman Lewis's Civil Rights Paintings." Third Text 45 (June 2008). Mentioned: 31, 39, 42
    Wood, Sara. ""Pure Eye Music": Norman Lewis, Abstract Expressionism, and Bebop. In The Hearing Eye: Jazz & Blues Influences in African American Visual Art, edited by Graham Lock and David Murray. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Mentioned: p. 101
    Jones, Kellie. EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art. Duke University Press, 2011.
    Tan, Mindy. "Canvas Politics: Norman Lewis and the Art of Abstract Resistance." PhD diss., Purdue University, 2015. Mentioned: p. 30; Reproduced: p. 139
    Welch, John. "Norman Lewis, Artist, Visionary, Humanist." IRAAA, 2015. Mentioned; Reproduced iraaa.museum.hamptonu.edu
    Welch, John. "Discovering the Artistic Genius of Norman Lewis." The Root, December 20, 2015. Reproduced www.theroot.com
    Bradford, Mark. "Social Abstraction.' The International Review of African American Art, vol. 26 no. 1: 41-42. Reproduced; p. 42
    Blood, Anne. "The Indefatigable Curiosity of Norman Lewis." Hyperallergic, March 28, 2016. Mentioned; Reproduced hyperallergic.com
    Vali, Murtaza."Norman Lewis: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts." Artforum 54 (April 2016). Mentioned: p. 240
    Qui, Serena. "Norman Lewis: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts." Art in America 104 (June/July 2016). Mentioned: p. 149; Reproduced: p. 149
    Eisenman, Stephen. "Painting Black and Blue: A Review of Norman Lewis at the Chicago Cultural Center." Newcity Art (Chicago, IL), December 16, 2016. Mentioned: Reproduced art.newcity.com
    Litt, Steven. "Civil Rights Era Masterpiece by Norman Lewis Leads Acquisitions at Cleveland Museum of Art." Cleveland.com (Cleveland, OH), March 21, 2017. Mentioned www.cleveland.com
    Schreiber, Kelley Notaro. "Cleveland Museum of Art Announces New Acquisitions." The Cleveland Museum of Art, March 21, 2017, https://www.clevelandart.org/about/press/media-kit/cleveland-museum-art-announces-new-acquisitions-4. Mentioned; Reproduced
    Litt, Steven. "Museum Director Wants More." Sunday Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), August 6, 2017. Mentioned: p. A14
    Grant, Daniel. "Top Museum Acquisitions: 2017 In Review." Antiques & Fine Art Magazine, Spring 2018. Mentioned: p. 101
    Cole, Mark. “Acquisition Highlights: American Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 58. no. 2 (March/April 2018): 18. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 18.
    Griswold, William M. “Recent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93-104. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 99, no. 12; mentioned: P. 93
    Franke, Anselm. Parapolitics: Cultural Freedom and the Cold War.
    Berlin : Haus der Kulturen der Welt ; Berlin : Sternberg Press 2021. Reproduced: p. 434
  • Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-June 26, 2022).
    Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018).
    Recent Acquisitions 2014-2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 17, 2018-June 6, 2018).
  • {{cite web|title=Alabama|url=false|author=Norman Lewis|year=1960|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.1