Artphile

Though grouped as outstanding African-American art, a collection on tour from the Smithsonian can simply be considered great American art.

It seems a shame that world master painters such as William Johnson and Horace Pippin should come to us under the rubric of "African-American Masters," the title of the traveling exhibition at the temporary home of the Delaware Art Museum on the Wilmington riverfront. Still that is more a concern for the political side of the art world and, in the end, of little consequence.

The show is one of five exhibitions sent out across the country by the Smithsonian American Art Museum while it undergoes renovations. Museum rebuilding is one of the unforeseen boons to this area, as many of the treasures would never be released otherwise, given the high costs of insurance and warehousing.

The exhibition in question comprises Smithsonian "highlights" of works done by African Americans — an unfortunate choice, as many of these works will have to go on the road again when the museum decides to send out its very best.

Pippin, a West Chester native, already had achieved local fame when he was asked by an early electronics manufacturer to paint a representation that could be used to advertise the power of music. He chose Stephen Foster’s Old Black Joe, a powerful work that transcends the racial overtones.

Thus, Pippin evokes the humanity of the old man, the children and the watchful parents to such a degree that its only competitor is the wonder of nature — in this case, a flock of puffy clouds, some of the most delightful ever painted in the United States.

Pippin is seen to very good effect in Philadelphia, but it is still stirring to see an unfamiliar work. This particular work first appeared in an advertisement in Life magazine.

Johnson, who died in 1971, was a native of South Carolina who spent years abroad studying and painting. He could have and, in fact, did demonstrate that he could have been a highly competent second-rate painter. Fortunately, though, his artistic inspiration needed its own vocabulary and he deceptively painted "folk art" that is clearly his own choice and completely original and sophisticated.

There are, of course, other artists in the exhibition whose work is worthy of study and display. There is much to be said for the section on photography, with fine selections from the well-known Gordon Parks, the sophisticated P.H. Polk, the streetwise Jules Allen and the brilliant work of James Vanderzee.

The exhibition also has examples of the more famous artists who happen to be African-American, such as Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden. They are not shown with their best, and there is hardly any wonder given the dazzling work by Pippin and the several works by Johnson.

The Smithsonian tracks its own history with African-American artists as seriously beginning in the 1960s. Philadelphia has a much richer and deeper tradition with artworks by black Americans.

Two other artists closely associated with this area, Faith Ringgold and Henry Ossawa Tanner, are nicely represented in the Delaware show. Tanner’s work is an exceptional maritime piece — far different from the biblical scenes usually associated with this 19th-century student from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Two final notes, the first a disclosure: The show is dedicated to a Delaware civic leader, James H. Gilliam Jr., who died last year, and, who, during the 1990s, was well-known to this writer. Secondly, without putting too fine a point on it, isn’t about time we started looking at the color of the art? Wasn’t that James Joyce a great Irish writer?

African-American Masters
Through Sept. 5
Delaware Art Museum
Bank One Center
Wilmington, Del.
302-571-9590
www.delart.org