With an HBO documentary focused on his influence, a nationally touring exhibition and new catalog, 2021 shapes up as the Year of David Driskell.<\/b>
\nOne of art history\u2019s most amusing anecdotes involves David Driskell. Born in 1931 in tiny Eatonton, Georgia and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, Driskell possessed prodigious intellect and ambition. He would be the rare Black man from the rural South during Jim Crow to attend college. Howard University. Washington, D.C. So he went. He started attending classes. It\u2019s easy to imagine a youthful Driskell on the edge of his seat, soaking up knowledge. One problem. He didn\u2019t realize he had to register for those classes. Someone had to tell him that. The rest is history. After graduating from Howard in 1955, Driskell would go on to become one of the 20th century\u2019s preeminent art historians, educators and curators. A titan in all three fields. He was an exceptional painter as well. \u201cDavid Driskell: Icons of Nature and History,\u201d on view now through May 9 at the High Museum of Atlanta, brings together approximately 60 of his artworks, highlights of a long career. \u201cThere is no question that David\u2019s work as a practitioner was preempted by the enormity of his achievements as a scholar and educator,\u201d Michael Rooks, Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the High Museum in Atlanta told Forbes.com. \u201cThe absolute need for an African-American art history that redressed the yawning void brought about by historically exclusionary practices, and a vision for charting a course forward to consider the influence of African art and that of the diaspora, was much larger than any individual\u2019s own practice.\u201d Putting aside Driskell\u2019s scholarly achievements to focus on his painting is akin to focusing on Hank Aaron as a right fielder, ignoring his ability as a hitter. Painting, however, is the focus at the High. An artist who holds his own with any from the era reveals himself plainly. \u201cOne of his greatest talents as a painter was his constant investigation of syncretic form\u2013whether fusing African and European imagery, investing his images of the natural world with the sacred or metaphysical, or oscillating between the observations of the world around him and pure abstraction,\u201d Rooks explains. Color. Energy. Exuberance. Driskell\u2019s paintings burst with life and spirit. \u201cDriskell\u2019s command of vibrant color and line, and his attentiveness to what he called \u2018the symbolic presence of form,\u2019 endowed his subjects with a kind of frisson, like that of an electrical charge, which made his work esthetically vigorous, bold and spirited,\u201d Rooks said. The influence of Romare Bearden is apparent, most obvious in Homage to Romare. Driskell\u2019s \u201cuse of collage as a painting medium equivalent to the visceral quality of paint,\u201d as Rooks describes it, mirrors Bearden\u2019s approach. Lo\u00efs Mailou Jones\u2019 chunky blocks of bold color are also recognizable. Jones was one of Driskell\u2019s professors at Howard. Driskell never lost his individuality, though. \u201cAmong the many gifts Driskell bequeaths to us is the delight of seeing the world through his eyes, and it is a journey of immeasurable beauty and grace,\u201d exhibition guest curator Julie McGee, associate professor of Africana studies and art history at the University of Delaware, said. \u201cBeauty\u201d and \u201cgrace,\u201d two words perfectly suited for Driskell who died in April of 2020 at age 88 due to complications from COVID-19. The avalanche of deeply reverential obituaries and remembrances following his death are proof of the decency he walked through the world with. \u201cHis spirit as a man and an artist was so generous and egalitarian that it would not surprise me if, by joining the ranks of fellow artists when he walked into his studio every day, he purposefully avoided the privileging of his own work,\u201d Rooks imagines. In January of 2021, HBO debuted an original documentary, \u201cBlack Art: In the Absence of Light;\u201d a film reviewed by Forbes.com. The documentary\u2019s wellspring was the Driskell-curated and organized \u201cTwo Centuries of Black American Art,\u201d exhibition which debuted in 1976. It traveled to the High the following year. The show, utterly revolutionary in its time, posited that Black art and Black artists didn\u2019t merely exist in America, they were equals. \u201cWhat David did was, he said, \u2018this is Black art, it matters, and it\u2019s been going on for 200 years\u2013deal with it,\u201d art historian Maurice Berger says in the documentary. However badly the nation\u2019s art museums lag in acquiring and presenting African-American artworks, were it not for \u201cBlack Art,\u201d the situation would be even worse. \u201cHis role as one of the principal authors of Black art history who significantly reshaped the canon of American art has been nearly singular in its effect on museum culture,\u201d Rooks said. Between the documentary, this exhibition, and a gorgeous 224-page, coffee-table book which doubles as the exhibition catalog,2021 shapes up as the year of David Driskell. (Driskell\u2019s Ghetto Wall #2, above, appears on the cover of the catalog as well as in the exhibition.) \u201cThe recent exposure of David\u2019s influence is the result of the commercial and critical sectors of the industry playing catch up,\u201d Rooks said. \u201cAlthough greater diversity in every arm of the arts and culture sector, and rooting out systemic bias, remain goals that require much work, artists, academics, and (largely) private collectors have been paying attention to David\u2019s pivotal work for many decades.\u201d In addition to his crucial roles as educator, historian, curator and promoter\u2013and painter\u2013he advised private collectors for decades, promoting and helping support hundreds of artists while placing thousands of artworks. The High has a long history of collaboration with Driskell. In addition to exhibiting \u201cBlack Art\u201d in 1977, the museum acquired his paintings through the years. \u201cIcons of Nature and History\u201d includes key works from the High\u2019s collection, including one of Driskell\u2019s self-portraits. In 2005, the Museum established the David C. Driskell Prize, the first national award to honor and celebrate contributions to the field of African-American art, including distinctions for both artists and scholars. Funds raised through the prize\u2019s annual dinner have supported the acquisition of 48 works by African-American artists for the High\u2019s collection. \u201cDavid Driskell: Icons of Nature and History\u201d travels to the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art (June 19-Sept.12,2021), The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. (Oct.6,2021-Jan.9,2022) and Cincinnati Art Museum (Feb.25-May 15,2022) after leaving Atlanta.<\/p>\n