The Robert E. Holmes
Collection: Affirming a Legacy February 6-
March 27, 2005 Opening Reception
David
Hammons, The Couple/Body Print, 1970, Monotype,
collage, More
than 40 works by some of America’s most outstanding modern
masters will be on view for the first-time in Durham, from February
6 through March 27, 2005, at the North Carolina Central University
Art Museum. The Robert E. Holmes Collection:
Affirming a Legacy exhibition provides an opportunity to
examine American, African American and Mexican usage of figurative
work revealing aspects of the African American experience. The
NCCU Art Museum exhibition is presented to initiate dialogue
about how diverse artists have viewed this race of people. Elizabeth Catlett, Charles White,
Bob Thompson, Romare Bearden, Richard Hunt, Jacob Lawrence,
Ernie Barnes, Beauford Delaney and others reveal Robert Holmes’
passion for contemporary art by African Americans. Representation
by Thomas Hart Benton, Larry Rivers, George W. Bellows, Dan
McCleary and the Mexican muralists José Clemente Orozco
and David Alfaro Siqueiros show that his collection is not limited
to work by African American artists, but rather, represent a
theme of oppression. “Robert Holmes purchased
a wide range of works of art and was unrelenting in his pursuit
of work by both American and Mexican artists. After looking
at more than 400 of them in his California home and warehouse,
it was difficult to make selections for our exhibition. Seeing
works of art in that setting was a profoundly personal and intimate
experience. We hope our visitors will have a similar experience,”
says NCCU Art Museum Director Kenneth G. Rodgers. Holmes has sought to acquire
art that he loves and that resonates with the African American
experience. Previously shown only at Sony Pictures Entertainment,
in California, Holmes wanted his collection to be shown on the
east coast. About the exhibition, Holmes
writes: “Since this is meant to be a celebratory exhibition,
I have elected to exhibit works which mostly depict African-Americans
in a positive and joyous manner. But in order to lend some historical
perspective on our depiction, in times and eras in which we
were referred to as peasants, or slaves, or Negroes, or colored
people or black people, I have also included some works in the
show which reflect these times - when life was not only hard,
but oppressively so, when we were sad, or miserable, when we
were more than capable of singing the real blues. Good times
are savored when bad times have also been tasted.” Holmes admires the work of Elizabeth
Catlett, Charles White, Romare Bearden, Dox Thrash, and Bob
Thompson and others who featured the human figure while making
social comment. Their subjects, chosen from real life, appealed
to Holmes. Catlett’s El Pan (1957), featured in the exhibition,
was inspired by her participation in the Taller de Grafica Popular,
a group committed to maintaining the social and political ideals
of the Mexican revolution. It is one of Holmes most esteemed
prints. Beauford Delaney, Self
Portrait as a Crouching Man, c. 1970's, Oil on Canvas,
51" X 37 3/4" A highlight of the exhibition
is Beauford Delaney’s large scale painting Self Portrait
as a Crouching Man (c. 1970s), an incisive probing of Delaney’s
psychology, in which the artist depicts himself in a direct
and unsparing mannerwith active brushwork and color juxtaposition
that evokes an inner turbulence. The NCCU Art Museum’s
show offers a rare opportunity to study this icon of Delaney’s
transatlantic transformation. The exhibition also presents three
serigraphs by Romare Bearden, including the remarkable Homage
to Mary Lou/Piano (1984), a work Holmes considers to be one
of his finest prints. From 1971 to 1977, Holmes was
associate counsel for Motown Records where he structured deals
for many of Motown’s legendary recording artists including
Diana Ross, Michael Jackson & the Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye,
Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight
and the Pips, Jr. Walker and the All Stars, and Ashford &
Simpson, among others. As vice president of business
affairs and publishing for Columbia Pictures and Columbia Pictures
Television, Holmes structured major soundtrack deals for hundreds
of films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Midnight
Express, Tootsie, La Bamba, Philadelphia, Stand by Me and Men
in Black among many others. He also oversaw the vast music publishing
interests of Columbia Pictures and Columbia Pictures Television
throughout the world. Holmes will give a lecture on
the development of his collection as well as discuss the many
business aspects of the music industry on Thursday, February
3, 2005 in the Edwards Music Building Recital Hall at 2:25 p.m.
The North Carolina Central University
Art Museum, located on Lawson Street across from the Farrison-Newton
Communications Building, is open Tuesday through Friday from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
For general information, call (919) 530-6211.
Sunday, February 6, 2005
2:00-4:00 pm
30" X 31"
