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Butler showcases its African-American art

Larry Jones has been going to the Butler Institute of American Art since he was 7 years old.

One of the perks of being interim director for the Austintown native is having access to the works in storage in the basement as well as the masterworks in its galleries.

"There’s 23,000 pieces in the collection," Jones said.

"Many pieces have not been seen in decades. I love art, and it’s a bit like a kid in a candy store walking around in the basement, 'Oh my God, look at that. Look at that..' I just keep giggling every time I think about stuff that I’ve seen down there in the basement."

Some of those works will move upstairs this weekend for the opening of "A Spark of Genius: Legacy & Lineage, African American Art from the Butler."

It was curated by Dr. Dee Banks, who serves on the Butler's board, and it includes some works that haven't been displayed for years.

Jones is most excited about "Mars at Angles," a work by Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) that measures about 20 feet by 15 feet. It was purchased for the museum in 1989 by Director Emeritus Louis A. Zona and is considered one of Gilliam's masterpieces.

Jones described Gilliam as an important African-American artist who lived and worked in Washington, D.C. He was respected in that area and able to support himself by selling his art to collectors there, but he didn't gain greater national and international attention until his work was championed by Los Angeles gallery owner David Kordansky.

"The size of this piece is monumental, and it is a bear to hang up," Jones said. "It's one of his draped pieces, so it does not come on a stretched canvas. It doesn't come on a frame. It’s literally like a drape that is painted and then it is hung, or suspended I should say, from the ceiling / wall in a very specific way."

Other artists selected by Banks include Robert Scott Duncanson (1821-1872), the first African-American artist to achieve international recognition in the fine arts; Richard Hunt, celebrated as one of the most prolific public sculptors in the U.S.; and John Wilson, Elizabeth Catlett, D.Norman Tilllman, Horace Pippin and Romare Bearden.

Artists with local ties include Al Bright, who taught for decades at Youngstown State University and whose work is known nationally, as well as Youngstown's Bill Dotson and Maple Turner III.

While some of the works haven't been on display for years, others are regularly exhibited at the museum, and Jones said the Butler has a long history of displaying African-American art and not segregating it into a single gallery.

"One thing I’ve been very proud of for the Butler, and specifically Lou (Zona), is that in many museums around the United States, especially regional museums, it would be unheard of to have a Norman Rockwell hanging right next to a Jacob Lawrence painting, and yet that’s something that the Butler has been doing for decades," Jones said. "It’s in the same room as a Romare Bearden and a Horace Pippin. I would say most regional American museums don’t even have a Horace Pippin, and it was only recently that the Metropolitan Museum acquired an important Elizabeth Catlett. Up until then, they didn’t have one.

"In many ways, Mr. Butler and Lou Zona kind of set a standard to hang works by white artists and black artists together in the same room for many, many years, way before it became so popular. Now, you can’t even think of not having that kind of mixture in your gallery today, but the Butler was doing it 50 years ago. We should all be very proud in the community about how these works have been cherished and placed on a pedestal for decades."

Banks will deliver a lecture at 2 p.m. Sunday in Zona Auditorium as part of the opening day events, and the Butler commissioned a limited-edition Jacob Lawrence T-shirt in conjunction with the exhibition that will be available in the museum store.

Jones wants to do more exhibitions showcasing the permanent collection as he continues as interim director.

"We’ve been talking a lot internally about mounting some shows, like the 'Spark' show, like 'Treasures from the Vault,' finding things in the basement that haven’t been seen for a long time and bringing them out and putting light on them." he said. "Recontextualizing the concept of the entire collection is something to me that’s really exciting."

If you go …

WHAT: "A Spark of Genius: Legacy and Lineage, African American Art from the Butler"

WHEN: Sunday through June 21 with lecture by curator Dr. Dee Banks at 2 p.m. Sunday. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Admission is free. For more information, go to www.butlerart.com or call 330-743-1107.