The Cinque Gallery (1969–2004) was co-founded by artists
Romare Bearden,
Ernest Crichlow, and
Norman Lewis as an outgrowth of the
Black power movement to "provide a place where the works of unknown, and neglected artists of talent …" — primarily Black artists — "would not only be shown but nurtured and developed".
"Relying on a series of volunteers, Cinque hosted solo, group, and touring exhibitions," and sponsored an artist-in-residence program, which was inaugurated with
collagist Nanette Carter.
Over its 35-year history, the gallery showcased both
figurative and
abstract art by some 450 artists of color, and was praised for its range.
Many of the artists who exhibited there are among the most celebrated and significant Black artists in the United States. They include figurative painter
Jacob Lawrence,painter
Michael S Kendall, abstract painter
Frank Bowling OBE RA,
Caldecott-winning illustrator
Tom Feelings, animator
Edward H. Love, sculptor
Valerie Maynard, muralist
Hale Woodruff,
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
winner
Jack Whitten, and master
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...
Robert Blackburn, among others.
[https://theartstudentsleague.org/event/cinque-gallery-2021/]
An
artist-run space
An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...
, the Cinque played a significant role in the
Black Arts Movement, but was also known for exhibiting marginalized artists of all kinds, including Asian and Hispanic artists.
History
The gallery's foundation was propelled by New York City's
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
's "infamous 1969 show ''Harlem on My Mind,'' which consisted of 'documentary photographs,'" but failed to include any Black
fine artists.
Its name was inspired by Sengbe Pieh, aka
Joseph Cinqué, the leader of the 1839 rebellion on the Spanish slave ship ''
La Amistad''.
But the gallery was also an "outgrowth of the Spiral group, which met regularly from 1963 to 1965 to explore the question, "What is Black art?"
That group, which mounted a single exhibition and then disbanded, included two of Cinque's co-founders (Bearden and Lewis), as well as artists
Hale Woodruff,
Charles Alston,
Felrath Hines, and
Richard Mayhew.
The late '60s were characterized by a push for cultural and economic autonomy throughout New York City's arts in that era, several "New York institutions and collectives, such as the Brooklyn Museum Community Gallery and the
Studio Museum in Harlem ... and the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition" emerged within a few years of each other.
By the 1980s, however, Administrative Director Karen Hatcher and co-founder Ernest Crichlow emphasized the practicality of their mission: "
e unsung purpose of the gallery
asto provide administrative, political, and social knowledge to young Blacks who wished to work in the arts."
The gallery closed in 2004.
In 2019, the gallery's 50th anniversary was organized by the Romare Beardon Foundation, and celebrated at the
Harlem School of the Arts.
In 2021, the
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists.
Although artists may study f ...
celebrated the gallery's legacy at the League, with the exhibition ''Creating Community: Cinque Gallery Artists'', featuring dozens of artists with exhibition histories at the Cinque.
Susan Stedman, the exhibition's guest curator, has been working on an oral history of the gallery since 2017, building on the records held by the Smithsonian's
Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...
.
Artists
(Key figures are listed below, but the list is not comprehensive.)
*
Michael S Kendall (painter)
*
Charles Alston
*
Emma Amos
*
Benny Andrews
*
Romare Bearden
*
Dawoud Bey
*
Camille Billops
*
Robert Blackburn
*
Betty Blayton
*
Frank Bowling
*
Vivian Browne
*
Nanette Carter
*
Elizabeth Catlett
*
Ed Clark
Edward E. Clark (born May 4, 1930) is an American lawyer and politician who ran for governor of California in 1978, and for president of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1980 presidential election.
Background
C ...
*
Ernest Crichlow
*
Melvin Edwards
*
Tom Feelings
*
Sam Gilliam
*
Ray Grist
*
Cynthia Hawkins
*
Robin Holder
*
Richard Hunt
*
Bill Hutson
*
Mohammad Omer Khalil
*
Hughie Lee-Smith
*
Norman Lewis
*
Daniel LaRue Johnson
*
Robert Kelly
*
Wifredo Lam
Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla (; December 8, 1902 – September 11, 1982), better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. Inspired by ...
*
Jacob Lawrence
*
Hughie Lee-Smith
*
Ed Love
*
Whitfield Lovell
*
Alvin D. Loving
*
Valerie Maynard
*
Richard Mayhew
*
Howard McCalebb
Howard McCalebb (born May 13, 1947, in Indianola, Mississippi, Indianola, Mississippi) is an American abstract art, abstract sculptor.
Early life and education
He received his M.F.A. in sculpture from Cornell University in 1972, and his B.A. in ...
* Algernon Miller
*
Norma Morgan
*
Otto Neals
*
Ademola Olugebefola
*
Debra Priestly
*
Mavis Pusey
*
Faith Ringgold
*
Chris Shelton
*
Ann Tanksley
*
Mildred Thompson
*
Charles W. White
*
Jack White (sculptor)
*
Jack Whitten
*
Benjamin Leroy Wigfall
*
Frank Wimberley
*
Hale Woodruff
See also
*
African-American art
*
Black Arts Movement
*
Harlem Renaissance
*
List of American artists before 1900
This is a list by date of birth of historically recognized American fine artists known for the creation of artworks that are primarily Visual arts, visual in nature, including traditional media such as painting, sculpture, photography, and printm ...
*
List of American artists 1900 and after
*
List of African-American visual artists
*
The Quilts of Gees Bend
The quilts of Gee's Bend are quilts created by a group of women and their ancestors who live or have lived in the isolated African-American hamlet of Gee's Bend, Alabama along the Alabama River.
The quilting tradition can be dated back to the ni ...
*
Studio Museum of Harlem
References
External links
* The Art Students Leagu
2021 Cinque interview seriesis on YouTube
The Romare Beardon FoundationCinque-related talks and interviewsfrom the Romare Beardon Foundation and the Harlem Cultural Collaborative can also be found on YouTube
Related books
* Cahan, S. E. (2016). ''Mounting Frustration: The Art Museum in the Age of Black Power''. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 360 pages.
{{Authority control
1969 establishments in New York City
2004 disestablishments in New York (state)
Art museums and galleries established in 1969
Art museums and galleries disestablished in 2004
Defunct art museums and galleries in New York City
Art museums and galleries in the United States
Artist-run centres
African-American art
African-American artists
20th-century American artists
20th-century African-American artists
21st-century American artists
21st-century African-American artists
American art dealers
African-American art dealers
African-American arts organizations