Richard J. Powell: Black Art and Culture in the 20th Century (1997)

“The African diaspora—a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade and Western colonialism—has generated a wide array of artistic achievements in our century, from blues to reggae, from the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner to the video installations of Keith Piper. This study of 20th-century black art is the first to concentrate on the art works themselves, and on how these works, created during a major social upheaval and transformation, use black culture both as subject and as context.

From musings on the “the souls of black folk” in early twentieth-century painting, sculpture, and photography to questions of racial and cultural identities in performance, media, and computer-assisted arts in the 1990s, the book draws on the works of hundreds of artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Spike Lee, Archibald Motley, Jr., Faith Ringgold, and Gerard Sekoto; biographies of more than 160 key artists provide a unique and valuable art historical resource.

Richard Powell discusses the philosophical and social forces that have shaped a black diasporal presence in 20th-century art. Placing its emphasis on black cultural themes rather than on black racial identity, this book is an important exploration of the visual representations of black culture throughout the twentieth century.”

Publisher Thames & Hudson, London, 1997
World of Art series
ISBN 0500202958, 9780500202951
256 pages

Reviews: Deborah Kempe (Art Documentation 1997), Steven Nelson (Art Journal 1998), Kymberly N. Pinder (Art Bulletin 1999), Elizabeth Harney (Nka 1999), Donna Seaman (Booklist).

Author (2nd ed.)
Publisher (2nd ed.)
WorldCat

PDF (59 MB, no OCR)

Leslie Martin, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo (eds.): Circle: International Survey of Constructive Art (1937/1971)

This book contains work and writings by virtually all the leading architects and artists of the international constructivism of the 1930s.

First published in London, 1937.
Reprinted by Praeger Publishers, New York, 1971
viii+291 pages
in the Unlimited Edition

Wikipedia
WorldCat

PDF (58 MB, no OCR)

Blaise Cendrars, Sonia Delaunay-Terk: La Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France (1913) [FR, EN]

“La Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France [Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Jehanne of France] is a collaborative artists’ book by Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay-Terk. It features a poem by Cendrars about a journey through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express in 1905, during the first Russian Revolution, interlaced with an almost-abstract pochoir print by Delaunay-Terk. The work, published in 1913, is considered a milestone in the evolution of artist’s books as well as modernist poetry and abstract art.” (Wikipedia)

Interview with Cedrars (Michel Manoll, trans. William Brandon, 1950/1966, EN)

Publisher Éditions des Hommes Nouveaux, 1913
200 x 36 cm; folded to 10 x 18 cm
via Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, MT Marcelo Gutman

View online, Portions in higher resolution (at Beinecke)
Version at British Library
PDF (2 MB)
JPG (2 MB)
MP3 (read by Vicky Messica, c1985, 54 MB, via continuo)

English translations
by Donald Wellman
by Ekaterina Likhtik