Click here - The Barbados National Art Gallery
Transcription
Click here - The Barbados National Art Gallery
Acquisitions: 2001-2006 is a publication of the National Art Gallery Committee. Curator: Therese Hadchity. Copyright © 2006 National Art Gallery Committee. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, whether electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the authors or publishers. ISBN: 976-8082-66-6 Layout and design by won ([email protected]) Photography by won, Dan Christaldi ([email protected]), the NAGC & John Tamblyn. Printed in Barbados by COT Caribbean Graphics. 4 INTRODUCTION In late 1999, one year after its initial establishment, the National Art Gallery Committee gave serious consideration to the whole issue of a collection policy and collection strategies. This was against the backdrop of a comprehensive surveying and documentation project on the existing National Collections completed that year. Collections consultant Anne McDonald’s 1999 report on the status of the 800+ National Collection, had revealed some rare jewels in the collection, but had also exposed serious deficiencies. Principal amongst these was the fact that many of these works were not acquired with the intention of forming a cohesive and comprehensive collection. This had resulted by 1999 in what McDonald referred to as “ an ad hoc collection of artworks of diverse media and quality –many of inferior standard”. ( McDonald, 1999) These works were acquired in a variety of ways without any ongoing consideration to the building of a national collection. One of the core concepts embraced by the National Art Gallery Committee was envisioning the National Gallery not simply as a singular building housing a permanent collection but rather as a satellite system of sister institutions which share resources and programmes. The role of the National Gallery will be not simply to document and preserve the visual arts but to promote it and foster a healthy environment for its continued development. This involves the stages of artistic production, public exposure and education, interpretive dialogue and promotion. All of these are mutually dependent. It therefore became critical to know and understand the scope of other existing public art collections. The collection of the Barbados Gallery of Art ( principally representative of pioneer artists from the 1930s to 1960s) also benefited from the assistance of the NAGC and combined with the National Collection and the holdings of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society ( which was strong in antique and historical works prior to 20th century), helped to define the priorities and focus which the Committee gave to the role of acquiring work for a permanent collection. Essentially the NAGC adopted the approach of working cooperatively with sister institutions to share the costs of developing and maintaining these collections . Ensuring coordination amongst the institutions whereby each museum is assigned a specific collections focus, would avoid both duplication and gaps in the broad spectrum of collecting, while at the same time enabling each institution to collect more efficiently and effectively. One of the major actions to be undertaken once the existing National Collection had been documented, was to define an appropriate collections policy and procedures, subsequently approved by Cabinet in 2001, which would provide the basis on which the Collections Committee would begin to build and shape the National Gallery collection, in an intelligent and responsible manner. In developing its acquisition policy during 2000, the Committee took cognizance of the experience of sister agencies both within the region, and beyond, at the same time considering some significant questions: 1. What is the status of the National Collection – its mandate and function in relation to the various government departments and ministries where it is housed? 2. What is its relation to a National Gallery/Visual Arts Institute? 3. What procedures need to be in place to govern the acquisition and management of artworks in the National Collection – including monuments and murals, a collections policy? At the same the Committee adopted the position that “the acquisition of public works of art implies a long term investment of funds and care.” The subject of this catalogue is not the area of 1 INTRODUCTION CONTINUED… conservation of the collections. Indeed that subject deserves its own comprehensive report, but for the present forms a significant part of the NAGC’s annual report. One reality which needs to be appreciated is that for each dollar spent on acquiring artwork, the Committee must invest at least triple these resources in documenting and conserving the work. The responsibility therefore for the development and management of the National Gallery collection, cannot be underestimated and should be appreciated and supported at all levels in the community. The outcome of the actions outlined above was that the Committee concluded that rather than having the luxury of being able to regard the existing National Collection as the starting point, or a solid, cohesive core or foundation on which to build, we were, in fact, the beginning of a highly demanding process, “ really starting from scratch”, while being able to draw on some of the resources identified in the National Collection. Indeed, the Committee has assessed that some 10% of the existing National Collection may be of relevance to the role of the future Barbados National Gallery. The Committee determined that it would therefore be necessary to approach the work of acquiring art from two critical directions: • to document the historical development during the 20th century, to carefully identify the best examples of the work of pioneer and modern artists, and to work conscientiously and prudently towards building up this area. • To actively acquire contemporary work, to ensure the most important examples are in the national collection, and to play an active role in stimulating and encouraging a dynamic contemporary art activity. In addition to these two factors, it was proposed that the scope of the National Gallery Collection focus on the following areas: 2 • Barbadian art – art produced in Barbados and/or by Barbadians • Caribbean art – In addition to its unique position as a public collection of Caribbean art located in the Caribbean, it would provide access to the rich visual cultural heritage of the region and provide an important comparative field in which to judge Barbadian art, and to emphasis that this art was not created in isolation. • Art that is of significance or relevance to Barbadian and Caribbean culture or experience. This is what makes the statements made at last year’s Fifth Annual Exhibition of the National Art Gallery Committees at the Queen’s Park Gallery so disappointing, and the fact that government continues to ignore the policies it had demanded and adopted. Equally disappointing has been the indifference of Barbadian artists to the efforts of the Committee to develop a comprehensive database on Barbadian artists to facilitate both its own work and that of government in the commission and production of new work. To address these points however, the NAGC will in the near future finalize its work on reports in both these areas. We trust that the results of these activities, as well as the results of our proposals for the establishment for an Arts Integration Policy, and this most important annual exhibition ( the 15th exhibition conceptualized by the Committee to provide the public with unprecedented access to the National Collection) will essentially engage the interest and commitment of the Barbadian community and the public in the work or future action of the future National Gallery. Alissandra Cummins Chairperson National Art Gallery Committee April 2006 FOREWORD The Art of Collecting Standing amongst a tightly packed group of teenagers in front of the high altar at St. George’s Parish Church, I recently urged my class of Barbados Community College art students to really ‘look’ at the large and imposing painting hanging there - “The Resurrection” painted in the late 18th century by the British academician Sir Benjamin West. I tried to impress upon them that after months of studying art from slides and books, we were now looking at a ‘real painting.’ I encouraged them to get close to the large canvas, to look at the surface to truly understand the materiality of the work of art. This was no longer just an image, but now was also an object. I quoted, as I often do, Caribbean art collector, Mervyn Awon, who emphasizes the importance of looking at original works - even if it is the same painting - over and over again, as an essential process in acquiring an understanding of art in general. I always enjoy the field trip to St. George’s Church, although we really don’t do it as often as we should. Certainly not as often as Awon’s wise words would warrant. And it reminds me of what it will mean to have a National Art Gallery with a permanent display of work representing the scope of contemporary visual culture within Barbados and the wider Caribbean region. The opportunity to see and study and contemplate the visual heritage of Barbados and the wider Caribbean in the form of a permanent and public collection is a long-awaited and much anticipated event. In preparation, the National Art Gallery Committee (NAGC) has been charged with the task of documenting all those works which are owned by the Government of Barbados and form the National Collection; to make proposals for the building of a distinct collection for the National Gallery itself; and to make acquisitions as part of the process of building such a collection, designated as the National Art Gallery Collection. This collection, which will function in conjunction with those of other institutions such as the Barbados Museum and Historical Society as well as the Barbados Gallery of Art, will focus on work from the 20th and 21st centuries. It will aim to document the artistic activities and developments that have taken place, it will attempt to present the most significant examples of this artistic activity; and through the presentation it will seek to entice us to ‘look’. By look, I do not mean to glance at but rather to engage with. As a consciously and deliberately constructed body of works, the National Art Gallery Collection aims to inspire contemplation and provoke dialogue. One aspect of this documentation has been the compilation of a digitized database recording the details of more than one thousand works which make up the National Collection. The National Art Gallery Collection is a smaller and more deliberately considered body of works which is itself a part of the National Collection. Approximately ten percent (100 works) of the National Collection has been identified to form part of the National Art Gallery Collection. To date, an additional 139 works have been acquired to become part of the National Art Gallery Collection. But the process of building the Collection also functions as a form of documentation. It can be read as a testament to the artistic activity of a number of years as the committee has made a committed effort to examine the work of local group and solo shows and representations in overseas exhibitions. Through its acquisition activities, the committee has also been cognizant of the importance of contributing to and fostering an active and productive arts environment. Indeed the activity of the committee has served as a point of motivation, encouragement or confirmation for artists. This has included young and emerging artists who have been encouraged by this recognition of their work, midcareer artists whose contributions have been acknowledged, and mature artists who are represented by a number of works across the scope and range of a lifetime of artistic development. 3 FOREWORD CONTINUED… Through a process of strategic collecting following guidelines set out in the Acquisition Policy, the NAGC has built up a modest collection of considerable breadth and depth. While the primary focus is work by Barbadian artists, the inclusion of works from the wider Caribbean region provides a broader context in which to view and understand the work. Acquisitions have ranged from major iconic paintings such as Stanley Greaves’ “There is a Meeting Here Tonight” to small works by artists whose careers have been virtually undocumented. From established artists to emerging artists, from those academically trained to the self-taught or visionary, the collection seeks to represent their diverse and ranging expressions. It has sought to address deficiencies and gaps in the National Collection and has, for example, started to collect contemporary photography. It has been able to secure work imperiled by unforeseen circumstances such as the paintings of Francis Griffith. The committee has generated work through commissions to mark events such as the 375th anniversary of Bridgetown (Bill Grace and Ann Rudder). And acquisitions have resulted from the NAGC’s Artist in Residence programmes (Philip Moore) and individual artists’ projects (Joscelyn Gardner, Bob Kiss) and workshops (Albert Chong). Through the dual objectives of defining the scope of its own activities and making proposals for the mandate and operations of a National Gallery, the committee has emphasized that one of its the core concepts has been to envision the National Gallery, not simply as a singular building housing a permanent collection of artworks; but rather as a satellite system of sister institutions which share a number of common resources and programmes. In this way the National Gallery can be integrated into community experiences in order to foster increased interaction between the visual arts and the Barbadian public. While its activities have been hampered by the lack of a permanent centre, there have been some significant outcomes in the face of such challenging 4 limitations which hopefully will secure this founding principal of community outreach. In addition to the ongoing activity of acquisition, the NAGC has staged fifteen public exhibitions and numerous public workshops, forums, conferences and education programmes in a range of facilities and locations. The success of the National Gallery will ultimately depend on the vibrancy of the artistic community it serves and it therefore must take an active role in contributing to and stimulating this development. Nevertheless what is missing is the ‘permanent exhibition’ of a comprehensive selection of Barbadian and Caribbean art – so that on any given day, the visual arts of the region are made accessible, both physically and intellectually, to a wide and varied public audience. Perhaps a better term is ‘on-going display’ of work, since the intention is not to present a static and authoritative narrative but rather to propose diverse points of views and multiple interpretations. Simultaneously it can facilitate and stimulate the local and regional artistic communities, to provide opportunities and environments through which artists can produce and present their work. One important activity of the NAGC has been the current production of the Statistics Report on the National Collection which provides valuable information on the collecting history and strategies of several institutions including the governmental National Collection as a whole, as well as the National Art Gallery collection, Barbados Museum and the Barbados Gallery of Art. The report confirms that the majority of works in the National Collection are located at sites which are not easily accessible to the public, including Illaro Court, Government House, Parliament and the Central Bank of Barbados. This fact highlights the importance of the NAGC programmes of exhibitions and catalogues which in the past three years have been able to bring more than 300 of the works at these locations to public audiences. FOREWORD CONTINUED… The Statistics Report confirms that there are 306 known artists represented by more than a thousand works in the National Collection. The NAGC has built one of the largest collections within the National Collection (the Parliament holdings marginally exceed it with 144 works) and has been responsible for 37% of the overall growth of the National Collection since the establishment of the NAGC in 1999. As such, the NAGC has brought a significant number of new artists into National Collection. Of the forty artists represented in the NAGC Collection, forty percent were not previously represented within the National Collection. In relation to collection size, the NAGC represents the largest proportion of artists. Very few artists are represented by more than one or two works, and in only a few cases are artists represented by any sort of comprehensive body of their work. Thus there is a clear need for the NAGC to continue its focus on developing adequate selections for artists of major significance. The evolving National Art Gallery collection will experience another act of renewal when it is finally displayed within the eagerly awaited permanent home. Allison Thompson May 2006 During the 1930s, Frankfurt School philosopher Walter Benjamin described the activity of collecting as a process of renewal and noted that the acquisition of an object was its rebirth. While the merits of an individual work are of utmost importance when under consideration for acquisition, its contribution to the strengths and weaknesses of the collection are also paramount. This is what differentiates the National Art Gallery Collection from the National Collection which was assembled in what has been described as an ‘ad hoc’ manner without due consideration to or even comprehension of the collection as a whole. Each acquisition is incorporated into this new context and as such, takes on new meanings and significances, and equally proposes new positions within the ongoing dialogue of the collection. Just as every new viewer has the potential to bring new readings to the works individually and in their collectivity. 5 NOTES FROM THE CURATOR The catalogue consists of two sections, of which the first is an exhibition-catalogue and the last a catalogue raisonné of all NAGC acquisitions from 2001 to the first quarter of 2006. The artists are placed in alphabetical order, and the entries pertaining to each artist are listed with un-dated works first, followed by works in chronological order of their execution. The exhibition features a selection of acquisitions, and each acquired artist is represented with at least one piece. Where works in different media have been acquired from an artist, one piece from each category has been chosen. A few art-works, which are either site-specific, in progress or part of a larger installation, are represented by photographs of excerpts. The installation of the exhibition in the three galleries adheres to four different themes. These are identified by the curator and in no way reflective of the rationale behind the various acquisitions. Catalogue texts have kindly been authored by Janice Whittle (JW), Allison Thompson (AT) and Harclyde Walcott (HW) in addition to my own (TH). Therese Hadchity May 2006 6 EXHIBITION LIST Armstrong, Mary Butcher, Ras Ishi 1) 9) Boss Crab (etching, n.d., 36 x 39 cm) March 02 Diario Secreto Tres (mixed media on canvas, 2003, 163 x 145 cm) April 05 Atkinson, Arthur 2) 3) Untitled (Abstract) (mixed media, c. 1960s, 49.5 x 53 cm) March 02 (donation) Only When it Rains (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 49.5 x 60 cm) November 05 Atkinson, Ewan 4) To: Factory Re: Storage (mixed media, 2002, 122 x 143 cm) Many Boys and Girls Live in Flats (mixed media, 2005, 62.5 x 40.5 cm) March 06 Belgrave, Eric 6) Triptych: Chandler, Chris 10) The Other Side (sculpture, 2004, paint on limestone/concrete, 400 x 1750 cm). Co-sponsored project. June 03 Chapman-Andrews, Alison 11) Falling Leaves 2 (acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 2004, 42.5 x 32.5 cm) January 05 12) Young Palms, Martin’s Bay (drawing, mixed media and inkpastel, charcoal, 1995, 60 x 72 cm) November 02 Chong, Albert 13) Blessing the Throne (photograph, 1992, 38 x 47 cm) December 04 Passage (photograph, 2002, 40.5 x 50.5 cm) November 02 Test (photograph, 2002, 40.5 x 50.5 cm) November 02 Temple (photograph, 2002, 40.5 x 50.5 cm) November 02 Blackett, Keith 7) Rum Shop (oil on canvas, 1997, 39 x 48.5 cm) May 04 Brathwaithe, Hubert 8) Tuk Band at Baxter’s Road (oil on canvas, n.d., 56 x 63 cm) March 06 Clarke, Briggs 14) Maureen (oil on masonite, 1962, 34.5 x 27 cm) November 02 Clarke, Thomas 15) Mahogany Forest 2 (photograph, 2004, 44 x 35.5 cm) July 04 Crichlow, Kenwyn 16) Sea Murmurs of a Dream (oil and 22 carat gold leaf, 2004, 156 x 135 cm) December 04 7 EXHIBITION LIST CONTINUED… Cummins, William Gall, Indrani 17) Rainbow Static 8 (pastel on arches paper, 2003, 52 x 53.5 cm) January 05 25) Oh Civilization III (collograph/woodcut, 1995, 80 x 75 cm) October 03 Daniel, Joyce 26) Target (mixed media assemblage, 2001, 200 x 121 cm) October 03 18) Corselette (mixed media construction, 2003, 76 x 56.5 cm) August 03 Dodson, Ann 19) Expectations (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 37 x 29.5 cm) January 05 Donawa, Wendy 20) Christopher and Wind Chimes (woodcut/ink on paper, 1969, 53 x 30 cm) March 02 (donation) Downey, Justin 21) Connection/Direction (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 53 x 62 cm) January 05 Drakes, Maurice 22) Christmas Night Choraliers (acrylic on linen, 1990, 67 x 55 cm) May 04 Gall, David 23) Mahakal (oil on canvas, 1988, 144 x 93 cm) October 03 24) Postmodernism Well Installed (print on paper, 1998, 15 x 21 cm) October 03 8 Ganthier, Patrick “Killy” 27) Untitled 2 (mixed media, n.d., 91.5 x 61 cm) November 04 Gardner, Joscelyn 28) Black Skin – White Kin (DVD installation, 2003) February 05 Gill, Edmund 29) Revolt and Emancipation (acrylic on canvas, 1996-99, 106.5 x 76 cm) February 06 Grace, Bill 30) Long Time II (clay, glass, coral-stone and white cement mounted on ply, 2004, 132 x 132 cm) (point-to-point). Commission. June 03. Greaves, Stanley 31) Birth of Forms No. 1 (wood sculpture, n.d., 64 x 19 cm) October 02 32) Election Results (acrylic on canvas, 1997, 122 x 95 cm) February 06 EXHIBITION LIST CONTINUED… Griffith, Francis Kirby, Brian 33) A History of Time, a.k.a. King Solomon’s Palace (enamel paint on board, c. 1966, 109 x 107 cm) May 01 41) Providence Methodist Church (mixed media/watercolour, 1972, 48.5 x 32 cm) March 02 (donation) Guru Kiss, Bob 34) Nocturnal Artist (acrylic on canvas, 2002, 50 x 76 cm) March 06 42) Chattel: Bean Plants (platinum-palladium print on 100% cotton paper, 2004, 28 x 36 cm). Commission. March 03 Hatcher, Russell 35) Improvisation (mixed media on wood, 1992, 122 x 162.5 cm) April 05 Ménard-Greenidge, Denyse 43) Untitled Diptych (aluminium sheets, n.d., 88 x 119 cm) April 05 Hussein, Oswald Moore, Philip 36) Kachikabura (Before the Full Moon), (wood sculpture, 2003, 46 x 20 x 20 cm) July 03 44) Reparation (mixed media sculpture/barrel, n.d., 103 x 60) November 03 Izebo 37) Garrison Mural (acrylic on wood polyptych, 2004, 244 x 488 cm) Commissioned for the 2004 AICA World Congress. March 06 45) Women Selling Paint at Courts (Sales), (oil on plywood, 2004, 122 x 142 cm). Executed while in artists-residence in Barbados, 2003. January 03. Nassief-Thiebaud, Gilda Jones, Basil 38) House in the Fields (oil on masonite, n.d., 35.5 x 46 cm) November 02 39) Suttle Street (photograph, n.d., 27 x 38 cm) May 04 46) Butterfly (print, n.d., 17 x 21.5 cm) March 02 (donation) Piggott, Terrence 47) Inner Self No. 1 (in the Monster Series), (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 178 x 91.5 cm) September 05 Kellman, Winston 40) Untitled No. 1 (from the Transformation Series), (charcoal on paper, 2005, 110 x 77 cm) September 05 Pounder-Speede, Gail 48) X-in-Law (acrylic and mixed media, 2002, 50 x 40.5 cm) August 03 9 EXHIBITION LIST CONTINUED… Ramsay, Ras Akyem Talma, Norma 49) Art Animal No. 10 (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 123 x 168 cm) November 04 56) The Wonder of Kites (acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 1969, 124.5 x 53 cm) March 02 (donation) Rudder, Ann Whittle, Alberta 50) The Indian Bridge Town, Barbados, Capital of Cultures 1628-1788 (mixed media, 2006, (in progress), 122 x 244 cm) Commissioned 2003 Sargeant 51) Super Tanker (mixed media on plywood, n.d., 23.5 x 69.5 cm) Donation by the artist, 2004. Sealy, Samuel 52) The Careenage No. 2 (oil on canvas, 2003, 64 x 101 cm) May 04 Skeete, Campbell 53) Village Scene (oil on canvas, 2005, 21 x 37 cm) March 06 Smith, Stephen 54) The Trafalgar Hotel (photograph, 2003, 25 x 38 cm) May 04 Spieler, Goldie 55) Fruit and Leaves (charcoal and watercolour, 1967, 63 x 47.5 cm) March 02 (donation) 10 57) Eve (from the Fiat Lux Series) (watercolor, 2005, 37 x 45 cm) January 06 Whittle, Nick 58) Full Fathoms Five I-VI (mixed media on paper, 1996, 76 x 56 cm each) March 02 WORKS ON EXHIBIT 11 12 01 Mary Armstrong (1925-2005, b: Barbados. Education: self-taught, classes with Karl Broodhagen and Sybil Atteck). Boss Crab (n.d) Etching, n.d., 36 x 39 cm. Acquired March 02 Mary Armstrong is a Barbadian intuitive artist, who exhibited consistently the tiny grains of sand as well as her precise drawing of the crabs. The from the 1960s until she immigrated to New Zealand in 1974. Most of composition is very well considered in this world in microcosm. (JW) her work consisted of imaginary compositions based on memories of Barbadian life and folktales. Nature also was a source of inspiration. She had a wonderful sense of design with her precise drawing and flat colour. The image of the crabs on the sand in Boss Crab becomes abstract shapes recalling Kandinsky. The artist takes a bird’s eye view of the activity on the sand, drawing the attention of the viewer to the pattern created by 13 This early piece by Arthur Atkinson exemplifies the young artist’s stylistic experimentation during the 1960s. The free exploration of shapes, mark-making, different media and the interrelation between control and randomness is reminiscent, both of the surrealists’ notion of “automatic writing” (the artwork as an uncensored expression of the artist’s subconscious) and of the non-figurative, organic nature of abstract expressionism. In this energetic composition Atkinson has achieved a remarkable dynamic between surface and depth, structure and impulse, “positive” and “negative” spaces, light and darkness, readable symbols and accidental marks. The spontaneity of this Untitled piece makes it an interesting predecessor to a painting so much more intentional in its expressiveness as The Ninth Hour (1981), yet a remarkable contrast to the controlled precision of most of Atkinson’s later works, such as Only When it Rains (2004). (TH) Arthur Atkinson (b. 1945, Barbados. Education: selftaught) Untitled (Abstract) (c. 1960s) Mixed media, 49.5 x 53 cm. Acquired March 02 Donation by the late Mary Armstrong. 14 03 Arthur Atkinson (b. 1945, Barbados. Education: self-taught) Only When it Rains (2004) Acrylic on canvas, 49.5 x 60 cm. Acquired November 05 No viewer can resist the enticement of this delightful landscape with it finds relief in the little bit of sky above the tree in the upper right corner. its dappled sun-light amid the greens and browns. The composition of The allure of this landscape is almost beguiling - the gentle curves of the Only when it Rains follows a classical and ingenious landscape-tradition, stream virtually beckons the viewer to follow its flow, while the trees in the where the viewer’s eye discreetly is guided through the picture-plane background bow in acquiescence before closing the curtain behind the from foreground to background. In this case, it is the parallel lines of the adventurous caller. (TH) riverbed, which pulls the spectator’s eye from the estuary in the foreground to the trees further into the distance, and then upwards in both directions, towards the spots of light on the grass and coppice behind the trees, until 15 04 Ewan Atkinson (b. 1975, Barbados. Education: Queen’s College, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA, USA) To: Factory, Re: Storage (2002) Mixed media, 122 x 143 cm. Acquired May 04 “Family” and “socialization” are some of the key issues in Ewan Atkinson’s “innocently” and adopted so unsuspectingly - are reflective of a more work. To: Factory, Re: Storage is one of several works in which he seeks general fear of trespassing social taboos. The origins of many such values in to expose the inherent societal values introduced through play and the early capitalist/industrial era are suggested through Atkinson’s frequent education. Atkinson here engages with the underlying conformity of the use of William Morris wall-papers and other emblematic expressions of way we “connect our own dots”, i.e. become who we are, with little room Victorian canons. (TH) for individuality – if the lines do not connect according to the numbers, the drawing is “wrong”. The dot-to-dot drawings and other early learningmaterial are thus intrinsically connected with established standards of acceptability. Many guidelines, such as the emphasis on teaching children to “follow the numbers and stay within the lines” - passed on so 16 Many Boys and Girls Live in Flats belongs to a new series, in which Ewan Atkinson juxtaposes the soothingly domestic and (intentionally) pleasingly subtle appearance of former works, with something decisively uncomfortable. Each piece is divided into two segments, of which pages from children’s work-books of the 1950s or 60s (with Atkinson’s stenciled and appliquéd additions) occupy the lower half, while the upper half consists of photos of the artist caught in various poses, wearing either a little red dress or a jacket and tie from the same period. The photos are inserted into doll-house environments - complete with vinyl-tiles and floral wallpapers. There is, however, a sense of disproportion between the rooms and the figures - things do not quite fit - and the startled, uncertain or insane facial expressions of the figures suggests a desperation induced, not by the physically small spaces, but by the narrow mental spaces offered by the “house” which is society. In Many Boys and Girls Live in Flats the figure stares with defiant skepticism, as if cornered, towards the two rooms designated respectively for girls (red chair) and boys (blue chair). The issue of sexual identity is ingeniously supplemented in the other works by statements about the corrupting notion of sexuality as depravity and about madness induced by the oppression of natural impulses. (TH) Ewan Atkinson (b. 1975, Barbados. Education: Queen’s College, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA, USA) Many Boys and Girls Live in Flats (2005) Mixed media, 62.5 x 40.5 cm. Acquired March 2006 17 Eric Belgrave (b. 1960, England, arr. Barbados 1998. Education: Art Foundation, Crosskeys College, Gwent, South Wales. University L.C.P London Institute, U.K.). Triptych: Passage/Test/Temple (2002) Photograph, each 40.5 x 50.5 cm. Acquired November 02 Eric Belgrave was born to a Barbadian father and an English Mother in main, from a solid jointed centeredness, optimistic, never static, dynamic, Lyndhurst, The New Forest, in the south of England on May 18, 1960. He lines that carry motion, that carry vitality, that speak of the integrity of grew up in England, Germany, Yemen and Ireland, and came to live in the human spirit. In the swirl and in the mists does one see primordial or Barbados in 1998. This black and white triptych Passage/Temple/Test may apocalyptic? Or both? Life? (HW) seem initially to be essentially concerned with the notion of decay. But is there a bit more at work here and does the titling give one the first hint of it…….life’s journey. Images symbolizing the reality of the cycle(s) of life, the wear of experience, of conflict, of resistance, of decay, of the essential transience of even that which appears permanent. But at the same time they are clearly a celebration of life, reaching to possibilities in the 18 07 Keith Blackett (b. 1930, Barbados. Education: selftaught, classes with Collis Bailey and Robert MacLeod) Rum Shop (1997) Oil on canvas, 39 x 48.5 cm. Acquired May 04 Keith Blackett has been a stalwart on the Executive of the Barbados Arts Barbadian landmark, The John Bull Bar, which no longer exists. It was a Council for many years. He works in a figurative style on still life’s, usually popular Bridgetown bar, like the Pink Star, which has been recorded by of tradition Barbadian objects, and landscapes and cityscapes, such artists. People from all walks of life frequented this bar. In the scene there as Rum Shop. Blackett is one of the painters of Barbadian genre scenes; are foreign sailors as well as a Harbour Policeman and two local men. The Oscar Walkes, Maurice Drakes, Hubert Brathwaite and Neville Crawford Harbour Police force in the uniform as seen in the painting no longer exists. also work in this vein. Blackett, as well as Fielding Babb, taught the young (JW) Wayne Branch to whom he is related. Rum Shop is a record of a historic 19 08 Hubert Brathwaite (b. 1930, Barbados. Education: Bay Street Boys’ School taught by John Rose, classes with Hector Whistler, Karl Broodhagen and Briggs Clarke, Barbados) Tuk Band at Baxters Road (n.d.) Oil on canvas, 56 x 63 cm. Acquired March 2006 20 Like Maurice Drakes, Brathwaite’s work consisted of genre scenes of in their performance, although no real attention is paid to their faces or everyday, urban Barbadian life of which he was a part. This thematic expressions. Their joy is conveyed through their movement. Brathwaite’s interest may also be seen in Barbadian literature in the 1960s when profound spirituality is seen in his genuine love of humanity as expressed in groups such as the Writers’ Workshop emerged. The growing nationalism his joyous paintings. It is a carefully constructed scene with the white square among working class Black Barbadians resulted in this focus of their stone entrance framing the band. There is great attention to detail such creativity. The Tuk Band is performing on Baxters Road,” a street that as the signs, the brickwork and the galvanized roofs. The location is very never sleeps” in Bridgetown. One can sense the enjoyment of the players specific, so that it may be recognized as a record of a familiar event. (JW) The extensive “Secret Diary” Series, executed between 2001 and 2004 and first exhibited in London, U.K., was a landmark in Ras Ishi’s oeuvre. Both in respect of form and content, these meticulously executed and often monumental works can be described as complex dialogues between opposites. The forum for this dialogue is a thickly encrusted black or, as here, white background against which multiple images are carefully arranged. Many of the images refer to the artist’s own earlier paintings as well as to works by classical European masters. A careful negotiation is thus enacted - between this artist and other artists, detail and whole, painting and drawing, black and white, Europe and the Caribbean, history and the present - as if the artist strives to identify his own artistic and historical locus. The grid-like, rhythmic composition, underscored by the furrows near the edges (achieved by removing string, which was imbedded in the wet paint) and the methodical composition can be seen as a “classicistic” tendency, typical of Ras Ishi’s oeuvre. (TH) Ras Ishi Butcher (b. 1960, Barbados. Education: Barbados Community College, Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba) Diario Secreto Tres (2003) Mixed media on canvas, 163 x 145 cm. Acquired April 05 21 Chris Chandler (b. Barbados. Education: self-taught). The Other Side, Mural at Parris Hill, St. Joseph (2004) Relief -carving, paint on limestone/concrete, 400 x 1750 cm. Co-sponsored mural-project June 03 A series of monumental relief carvings emerges from the cut-rock sides of converging roads in the parish of St. Joseph. Chandler’s community art project includes a menagerie of animated images presented in saturated colour which suggest narratives akin to Grimm’s fairytales or traditional parables. The incisive and humorous details which emerge from the heavily cut surfaces provide a rich and immersive experience for the viewer brave enough to wander through this fantasy jungle. (AT) 22 11 Although Alison Chapman-Andrews’ oeuvre largely has been dedicated to the Barbadian landscape, she has, like few others, continued to investigate new aspects of both subject-matter and material throughout her oeuvre. Her motifs have ranged from sweeping panoramic views to almost abstract close-ups, her style from expressionism to punctilious realism, her palette from the iciest to the most blazing. This characteristic alone testifies to what must be Chapman-Andrews’ most distinguishing trait – an unfailing sensitivity towards her subject-matter. Yet, although her initial approach is naturalistic, her motif somehow begins where objective reality ends. In Falling Leaves No. 2, Chapman-Andrews has achieved an astonishing dynamic between upward and downward movement and between foreground and background – all of which affords a wide range of complex and emotive associations: off-set against an infinity blue background, the falling russet leaves, still attached to the trunk, become markers of an arrow, seconding the palm-trunk in its upward aspiration. Flaky puffs of blue quietly descend towards the ground behind the tree, obliquely stressing the cyclical nature of birth, growth, death and re-birth. (TH) Alison Chapman-Andrews (b. 1942, England. Education: Walthamstow School of Art, London, U.K., Royal College of Art, London, U.K.) Falling Leaves No. 2 (2004) Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 42.5 x 32.5 cm. Acquired January 05 23 12 Alison Chapman-Andrews (b. 1942, England. Education: Walthamstow School of Art, London, U.K., Royal College of Art, London, U.K.) Young Palms, Martin’s Bay (1995) Drawing, ink-pastel and charcoal, 60 x 72 cm. Acquired November 02 This exquisite drawing exemplifies not only the virtuosity of Alison Chapman- of line as well as the more intimate study of direct mark-making. The Andrew’s draftsmanship, but more notably, her ability to arrive at a drawings, like Young Palms, Martin’s Bay, therefore, are distinguished by an pleasant and convincing result in spite of her disregard for compositional unembellished sensuality, their drama understated, as it derives exclusively orthodoxies (no art-teacher would encourage a student to place a large, from the effects of fractured or filtered light, the interplay of light and dominating tree at the very centre of the foreground!). While color often shadow, the inflection and accentuation of the line. (TH) tends to become a dominant aspect of Chapman-Andrews’ paintings, and a subject in its own right, the drawings allow for a fuller exploitation 24 13 Albert Chong (b. 1958 Jamaica. Education: School of Visual Arts, New York City, USA, University of California, San Diego, U.S.A.) Blessing the Throne (1992) Photograph, 38 x 47 cm. Acquired December 04 Albert Chong tells the story, of how as a teenage boy in Jamaica, he draw. Albert Chong, the artist, focuses on picture making rather than quite by accident witnessed “a photograph emerging from the developer on picture taking. For him the theatrical in the moment is important, like a miraculous vision”. This experience he would later describe as “an and special attention is given to form, composition, the use of light, and epiphany and at that moment it struck me that whatever I could dream the whole business of the originality in concept. Surrealism, Fabrication, up in my mind I could turn into a photographic image”. And it is just this Construction are all conceptual frames that can be applied to Chong’s that he has been doing for the last three decades. The exploration of the work. (HW) possibilities offered by the magic of the dream, and of memory, represents one of the principle sources upon which much of his artistic manifestations 25 Briggs Clarke is one of Barbados’ pioneer artists. During the period when he was an art student in London, he devoted more time to Portraiture, which was to become significant in his work. Maureen has an air of refinement and restraint, typical of the Black bourgeois women of the period, with her wellcoiffed hair and indirect gaze. Clarke saw the role of art as “a creative, civilizing force”. He is concerned with qualities of light, capturing the varying tones of brown on her face. He has left a legacy of Black portraiture similar to Karl Broodhagen. Clarke was happy to paint anyone who was willing to pose for him. His legacy is also through his connections to later artists. He was the uncle of artist Brenda Daniel. He taught many artists who would later be significant in the development of Barbadian art, both at Harrison College and through his classes at the Barbados Arts Council and the Barbados Museum such as Arthur Atkinson and Basil Jones. (JW) Briggs Clarke 14 (b. Barbados 1905 d. 1987. Education: Art classes with Felix Haynes, worked with Ivan Payne and Robert MacLeod, Barbados; Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting, UK) Maureen (1962) Oil on masonite, 34.5 x 27 cm. Acquired November 02 26 The image, a view of a section of an avenue in the vicinity of St. Nicholas abbey, offers a fine example of the basics of art photography at work. Relying principally on the interplay of compositional techniques like contrast, pattern, rhythm, line, shapes and perspective, the image conjures and conveys a sense of quiet, of solitude and an interesting feeling of timelessness. Mahogany Forest is an image of a tamed, kept, manicured verdant wooded expansive space, which speaks of privilege, and thus of calm of the gentry rather than of the majesty of the forest - here one expects to encounter the serene. The image also offers some insight into notions of wealth and the accumulation of capital given the history of the value of mahogany in the new world. (HW) 15 Thomas Clarke (b. Guyana 1958, arr. Barbados 1967. Education: Harrison’s College, Physics and Computer studies UWI. Self-taught photographer). Mahogany Forest 2 (2004) Photograph, 44 x 35.5 cm. Acquired July 04 27 Kenwyn Crichlow is one of Trinidad’s most wellknown contemporary artists and a painter’s painter. Although his objective neither is more, nor less, than a full-fledged immersion in the technical possibilities and sensuous pleasures of the medium (never the representation of a material reality), his works afford many and wide-ranging, yet ever elusive associations - shadows, flames, fireworks, waves and wispy leaves. Passages of calm lead on to turbulent seas; stunningly lucid colors are interspersed with gloomy areas of darkness; spidery, tentacled creatures morph into dazzling, dancing bodies. Whether we think ourselves faced with some infernal, cavernous melting-pot, the thick undergrowth of a rainforest, the intestines of some gigantic mammal, a cosmic explosion, the outer reaches of human consciousness or something else altogether, Crichlow’s work hardly leaves any imagination unengaged. Indeed, the intensity of their colors and the often considerable scale of the canvases make the viewer’s experience almost physical. To Crichlow himself, however, the world he constructs on each canvas is best likened to a dream-space, a mythical place, a utopia, carefully negotiated, both through scheme and intuition, indulgence and restraint. (TH) Kenwyn Crichlow (b. 1951, Trinidad. Education: Goldsmith College, London, U.K.) Sea Murmurs of a Dream (2004) Oil and 22 carat gold leaf, 156 x 135 cm. Acquired December 04 28 17 William Cummins (b. 1964, Barbados. Education: Harrison’s College, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) Rainbow Static 8 (2003) Pastel on paper, 44 x 52.5 cm. Acquired January 05 With components resembling shiny, interlocking machine-parts, cog-wheels can perhaps be likened to a meditation or a “quest” and the oeuvre’s and levers contributing to perpetual chains of action and reaction; small essential dynamic, therefore, is not one of clashing energies, but of rushing electric particles fizzing, spinning, bouncing into other orbits there is, at a movements halted or compensated for by opposing forces, and thus a first glance, something almost technical about William Cummins’ drawings. dialogue of counter-points and balances: as in a Stravinsky symphony, Cummins’ oeuvre, however, has been an unusually focused and consistent chaos always lingers, but is always held at bay. (TH) one, one of almost compulsive repetitions, of certain shapes and formal constellations frequently revisited, his works have nearly always been restricted to standard formats, limited colour-ranges. These repetitions 29 In her 1990 exhibition ‘Fusions’, Joyce Daniel developed the three dimensional possibilities of silk painting, and fabric painting in general, beyond what anyone in Barbados, and possibly the region, was doing at the time. In this seminal show, we saw the Torsos appear as a three-dimensional relief for the first time. She made sculptures from her silks. Was this Everywoman? Like Venus de Milo, she has no arms and many of the relief sculptures on the Parthenon and the Pergamon altar; she has neither arms, nor head. These works led to the torsos in the paintings, such as ‘Torso I’ and ‘Torso II’, and impressive mixed media works, such as Corselette. Corselette is an evocation of the past: the undergarments worn by the artist’s mother. It is richly decorated with paint, laces, ribbons and other assorted objects. (JW) Joyce Daniel (b. Barbados. Education: 1967-71 Alberta College of Art, Canada. 1978-80 University of Iowa, USA). Corselette (2003) Mixed media construction, 76 x 56.5 cm. Acquired August 03 30 19 Ann Dodson’s oeuvre has mainly consisted of stylized landscapes – fields rendered as patch-works of colour. Over the years, she has developed a number of reoccurring symbols and “visual abbreviations” and, occasionally, Dodson has entered into the nebulous zone between symbolism and surrealism. In such works colour seems removed from its representational function and either has a playfully decorative or a symbolic significance. In a few poignant, socially engaged works - forerunners for Expectations - Dodson has furthermore launched a caustic critique of the aspirations and pretences of the middle-classes. Typical for these works is the suggestion of different realities expressed as separate picture-planes superimposed over one another. Also in Expectations, the “red woman”, who is tied with strings and pegs to the landscape around her, seems intent on pulling her own “background” away, reaching up and out of her haunted, if colourful environment. The configuration of the unknown sphere, she thus makes way for, remains uncertain. (TH) Ann Dodson (b. 1958, Barbados. Education: BFA., Concordia University, Quebec, Canada; Dip. Education, McGill University, Montreal, Canada) Expectations (2004) Acrylic on canvas, 37 x 29.5 cm. Acquired January 05 31 Wendy Donawa is one of the artists/teachers who were influential on the generation of artists who emerged during the 1980s through her innovative teaching style, her own practice and insightful art reviews. She is best remembered for woodcuts, which often included children. This particular piece, Christopher and Wind Chimes, suggests the influence of Japanese prints with its longitudinal format, arabesques and perfectly proportioned areas of pattern. However, there is nothing stylized about the mother holding the child on her shoulder. It is simply that the artist is able to draw to our attention what an interesting composition they create. (JW) Wendy Donawa (b. 1940, Canada; arrived in Barbados: 1963; left Barbados c. 1985; Education: Canada). Christopher and Wind Chimes (1969) Woodcut/ink on paper, 53 x 30 cm. Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02. 32 21 Justin Downey (b. 1976, Barbados. Education: BFA Barbados Community College) Connection/Direction (2004) Acrylic on canvas, 53 x 62 cm. Acquired January 05 Connection/Direction was the last piece Justin Downey executed for the latter looks like a widening gap, luminous like a glowing furnace against 2004 Barbadiana Exhibition. The title, he has explained, hints at the need the paler surroundings and is filled with outstretched hands. Besides this to connect with an inner self before one can find a sense of direction concerted social commentary, the painting also reiterates some of the through life. The image, however, has a somewhat different scope, since concerns Downey has expressed in previous works – especially with Downey at this stage of his oeuvre (in his own words) was expanding into society’s restriction of the individual and with the requirement to conform themes of mobility and constriction, especially as pertains to the migration with various norms – note, for instance, among the four figures on the left, of Caribbean people. The picture-plane is divided into three segments the “odd man out”, who is green, while the others are red. (TH) - two external fields, which hold in check a third and central one. The 33 Maurice Drakes first exhibitions in the 1950s were at the Barbados Museum and the Annual Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition in Queen’s Park. He exhibits regularly with the Barbados Arts Council. His paintings, such as Christmas Night Choraliers, have largely been scenes of local, urban working class life. The people are never individualized; it is the activity which is important. The nighttime street parade by church choirs at Christmas is no longer commonplace. Drakes is one of a number of artists, such as Hubert Brathwaite, who emerged in the 1960s recording such events. (JW) Maurice Drakes (b: Barbados 1934. Education: Drawing, Painting and Design with John Rose at Bay Street Boys’ School, classes with Hector Whistler and Karl Broodhagen, Barbados) Christmas Night Choraliers (1990) Acrylic on linen, 67 x 55 cm. Acquired May 04 34 David Gall has not been a very prolific artist, yet the small body of work he has created to date varies greatly, both in style and choice of media. Most of his works are, however, characterized by their consistent engagement with political and intellectual issues, which often seem to form part of larger discourses to which Gall mainly has contributed as a writer. In Mahakal, Gall characteristically addresses several issues at once. The title-figure, drawn from Indian mythology, is the destroyer of worlds, whose work must precede the creation of a new order. While this vision echoes familiar revolutionary calls for a new and better world-order, the “world” which presently is being toppled, however, looks unmistakably like a carnivalesque Caribbean tourist-destination. The summoning of Mahakal from the tradition of another culture (also a former British colony) suggests a for Gall characteristic invitation to third-world alliances. The painting, therefore, is at once a call for the Caribbean to re-evaluate its identity, and for formerly colonized nations to unite. Mahakal, then, essentially becomes a metaphor, at many levels, for the return of the oppressed. (TH) David Gall (b. 1952, Barbados. Education: Combermere School, Visva Bharati University, India). Mahakal (1988) Oil on canvas, 144 x 93 cm. Acquired October 03 35 24 David Gall (b. 1952, Barbados. Education: Combermere School, Visva Bharati University, India). Postmodernism Well Installed (1998) Lino-print on rice-paper, 15 x 21 cm. Acquired October 03 With its large, smooth surfaces, this print varies somewhat from David Gall’s been the sworn enemy of anyone with a progressive mind. Postmodernism other lino-prints, which tend to be characterized by rich detail and vigorous is here represented by the leisurely sprawling tourist-woman, comfortably mark-making. Postmodernism Well Installed is an allegorical mockery reclining with any “flavor” within reach of her deckchair. Gall thus takes of the self-indulgent, anything-goes eclecticism, which during the 1980s a double stab at tourism (another hedonistic form of consumerism) and and 90s (on the international art-scene) started to displace modernism’s gratuitous aesthetics in one go. (TH) fundamental morality. To Gall and others this laissez-faire attitude was a let-down of art’s utopian horizon, and – in the aesthetic field - an embrace of the behavior and ideals of the consumerist culture, which hitherto had 36 In tune with her perception of the artist’s philosophical accountability, Indrani Gall’s oeuvre has consistently revolved around social and moral issues. Oh, Civilization III is an example of her critique of modern myths – here of the all-too-easy notion of development as something which must be pursued at all costs. In this many-layered “landscape”, several dichotomies are at work. The upward arrows below the upper edge are indicators of “progress” and “future” – concepts intrinsic to the self-perception of the industrialized world. Yet these arrows are also reminiscent of tombstones, and as such mark the end of the (red and green) domain underneath. This domain, which is inhabited by masklike figures, may represent the past and/or spirituality, as well as it may be a reference to regions of the world less receptive to the western notion of progress - thereby establishing a visual duality between “civilisation” and its “opposite”, past and present, industrialism and spirituality. (TH) Indrani Gall (b. 1953, India. Education: MFA (printmaking) Visva Bharati University, India) Oh Civilization III (1995) Collograph/woodcut, 80 x 75 cm. Acquired October 03 37 Target, created specifically for the 4th Biennial of Caribbean Art in 2002, was a ground-breaking piece in Indrani Gall’s oeuvre. Although Gall previously had experimented with mixed media works, she had never attempted anything on this scale. Also in respect of subject-matter, Target was, if not seminal, at least a deviation from the artist’s habitual perspective, according to which social and political issues usually were prioritized over personal ones. In Target, however, Gall seems to speak more philosophically about the risk of jeopardizing something in the process of reaching for it. The red target-mark at the centre of the grid is thus surrounded by repeated images of butterflies, bottles, bat-like creatures and a girl, seen by a window-sill with another “window-opening” above her chest – each an image of something ephemeral, brittle, elusive or fragile, and each containing a substance or essence, which cannot easily be reached - and certainly not by as singular a means-end strategy as suggested by the bow and arrow. Gall’s piece can be read as a metaphor for many different things – among them progress, self or love. (TH) Indrani Gall (b. 1953, India. Education: MFA (printmaking) Visva Bharati University, India) Target (2001) Mixed media assemblage, 200 x 121 cm. Acquired October 03 38 This painting was exhibited in the Crop-Over exhibition as part of a special exhibition of Haitian art to commemorate the bicentenary of the Haitian Revolution. Sculpture by the artist had previously been exhibited in the exhibition ‘Urban Sculpture’ which was part of the International AICA Congress, which took place in Barbados in 2003. He was originally a craftsman, working in metal, who later produced metal sculptures made of found materials. Untitled is a painting reminiscent of the voodoo veve signs, where symbols in chalk are drawn onto the ground and on poles as part of the religious rite. The iconography of the winged figure with feet pointing upwards would doubtless immediately resonate with a Haitian audience. (JW) Patrick “Killy” Ganthier (b. 1966, Haiti; Education: self-taught) Untitled 2 (n.d.) Mixed media, 91.5 x 61 cm. Acquired November 04 39 28 Joscelyn Gardner (b. 1961, Barbados. Education: Queen’s College, B.F.A. (printmaking) and B.A. (film) Queen’s University, Canada, M.F.A. University of Western Ontario, Canada) White Skin, Black Kin: a Creole Conversation Piece (2003) Video/multi-track audio-installation (part of the exhibition titled “White Skin, Black Kin: Speaking the Unspeakable” staged at the Barbados Museum in February-March 2004). Acquired February 05 White Skin, Black Kin: a Creole Conversation Piece was part of what the voice. In simplified terms, Gardner at once strives to give voice to the artist described as an “intervention” at the Barbados Museum. It made “shadows” of history (the servants as well as the white female members of up the pretext for Gardner’s attempt to re-enact and re-assess aspects this patriarchal society), and to suggest that both black and white women of Barbadian history relating to gender and race in the domestic sphere. of this era were “victims” of male dominance, and that they - though One of the statements offered through this intervention was the idea that a in other ways rivals for his attention and protection – were bonded by a more intimate connection than usually assumed existed between the wives shared experience of oppression. At the core of this intervention, it seems, of the white planters and their black servants – connections, which most thus is an endeavour to move the historical burden of guilt from “the white historians have chosen to omit. The video-sequence presents the viewer race” to “the white male”. (TH) with a 19th century plantation-drawing room, while separate sequences of sound allow the various figures, whether mistresses or servants, an individual 40 The Emancipation Series consists of nine panels, which chronicles the history of Barbados, beginning in Africa and ending with the future after Independence. It was painted between 1992- 99. This extremely important series documents the glorious civilizations of Africa; the capture and transportation of the Africans into slavery; plantation life; every major event in Barbados leading to an identification of our origin and heritage. Gill may be described as a Pan-Africanist because of his deep awareness and ongoing research into African history and its impact on the Diaspora. The paintings include quotations from persons such as Kamau Brathwaite and Ali Mazuri. The series might be described as a culmination of socially conscious works which Gill has produced in response to national, regional and international events. His work as a Graphic Designer impacts on the composition of these paintings which also serve to convey information. (JW) Edmund Gill (b. 1935, Barbados. Education: selftaught, 1956-69 Worked in England; 1966-72 Caribbean Artists Movement, UK). Revolt and Emancipation (from the Emancipation Series) (1996-99) Acrylic on canvas, 106.5 x 76 cm. Acquired February 2006 41 30 Long Time II was one of two commissions given by the National Art Gallery Committee to commemorate the 375th anniversary of the city of Bridgetown. In keeping with the philosophy which has informed Grace’s other work, he has, in the subtlest manner, chosen to strike a careful balance between the suggestion of manmade and natural forms and textures. The impression, given by the octagonal outline, of a kite – this Barbadian icon of optimism and festivity – is reinforced by the undulating lines of the central field, flowing like the tail of a kite swaying in the wind. Grace’s combination of glass and clay and the multiple nuances deriving from their different reactions to the fire of the kiln, offer associations of fields and fossils, sand and waves. The piece can, however, also be perceived as a metaphoric representation of the island itself – a landscape of gentle, rhythmic movements - mirroring, contrasting, complementing each other in perfect unison, all encircled by the island’s sandy, white shores. (TH) Bill Grace (b. 1953, Barbados. Education: Arcadia University, Canada, Universidad de Valencia, Spain, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Apprenticeship with John Reeve, California, in the Leach-Kenzan tradition). Long Time II (2004) Ceramic wall-relief in clay, glass, coral-dust and white cement mounted on plywood, 132 x 132 cm. Commissioned 2003 42 No two sculptures by Stanley Greaves are alike, and – unlike his ceramic works and paintings – they do not generally fall into thematic series. The sculptures do, however, make up two distinct categories: assembled (multi media) works and carvings. Birth of Forms No. 1 belongs to the latter group. Its incorporation of both geometric and recognizable forms is typical of Greaves and echoes the compositional approach in some of his early paintings. Even when the emphasis on form is at its strongest, however, what appears to be purely visual elements in Greaves’ work never entirely eschews narrative associations, yet the narrative rarely eschews the ambiguous - like here the odd constellation of the standpipe, the egg, the disc and the ball. Characteristic of Greaves’ sculpture is, likewise, the juxtaposition of solidity and lightness, poise and gravity. (TH) Stanley Greaves (b. 1934, Guyana, arr. Barbados 1987. Education: Working People’s Art Class, Guyana; Dip. Art Ed., Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, U.K., M.F.A., Howard University, Washington, U.S.A.) Birth of Forms No. 1 (n.d.) Wood sculpture, 64 x 19 cm. Acquired October 2002 43 32 Election Results is one of the fourteen paintings, which make up the There is a Meeting Here Tonight Series (executed from 1992-2001) - a commentary on politics in the Caribbean. In this body of work, Greaves’ symbolism is predominantly satirical and the surreal ambience in itself a stab at the political scene (not, as in the artist’s s.c. “metaphysical works”, a general emphasis on the irrational per se). The works are populated by human figures and dogs, each group alternating in significance, interchangeably representing “common people” and “politicians”. Saturated with deliberately ambiguous references to Christianity and Obeah, to the Caribbean and the U.S., to the sugarcane-industry and the media, the series both mimics and critiques the double-entendre of the political scene as well as the relationship between the electorate and the elected. In Election Results an inscrutable figure thus presents an offering of bread and, more elusively, of fish (this paraphrase of the feeding of the thousands, suggests the selfproclaimed equivalence between the political figure and Jesus Christ), yet the promised fish is dangling, like bait, in a cord suspended from the sky and, like any other illusion, may disappear at the pull of invisible, external forces. (TH) Stanley Greaves (b. 1934, Guyana, arr. Barbados 1987. Education: Working People’s Art Class, Guyana; Dip. Art Ed., Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, U.K., M.F.A., Howard University, Washington, U.S.A.) Election Results (1997) Acrylic on canvas, 122 x 95 cm. Acquired February 06 44 33 One of his earliest works, but also his largest and most ambitious painting, A History of Time holds a unique place within Francis Griffith’s oeuvre. This work was painted shortly after his return to a newly independent Barbados, following an absence of more than two decades. During that time he worked as a seaman traveling to over 75 countries. A series of mystical experiences in the Middle East became the subject matter of paintings during the 1960s and 1970s which were signed ‘Son et Luimere’ (sic), a name he translated as ‘Son of the Light’. This painting records a banquet for the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. It is an intricate and complex composition in which biblical events converge with images of the World War II Allies represented at the top of the painting. Rows of banquet halls flank a mandala stage in the center with multiple representations of the King and Queen. Mr. Griffith described it as “A vision of unseen things that you would never believe possible”. (AT) Francis Griffith (1916-2001, Barbados: Education: self-taught) A History of Time (King Solomon’s Palace) (c. 1966) Enamel paint on board 109 x 107 cm. Acquired May 01 45 Guru (b. 1962, Barbados; Masters Diploma in Fine Art, Scranton University by distance studies). Nocturnal Artist (2002) Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 76 cm. Acquired March 2006 Nocturnal Artist was part of Guru’s recent, and first, solo-exhibition, which and self-indulgent abundance of Nocturnal Artist - the capricious dance revealed him to be an artist of unusual vision and aptitude - he is perhaps of the brush-strokes, and the utopian vision of the artist in his moonlit Eden the first Barbadian painter, whose works most fittingly can be described as - certainly reflects the energy of Guru’s work in general. (TH) “gothic”! Characteristic was thus, on the one hand, Guru’s transformation of the motifs into quirky scenarios or nightmarish hallucinations, and, on the other, the flighty, whimsical delicacy of his brushwork. Also marked by a strong romantic flirtation with the grotesque and “the darkest regions of the soul”, Guru’s work – though never imitating either – seems related in spirit to both surrealism and mannerism. If not entirely in tune with the uncanny and sinister character of some of the other works, the overwhelming detail 46 35 Russell Hatcher (b. 1956, Wales, U.K. Education: Poole Art College, UK). Improvisation (1992) Mixed media on wood, 122 x 162.5 cm. Acquired April 05 Improvisation is about surface quality, where numerous, creative protective wings. There are also coin- like circles in the centre. The “X” is techniques are used. The “improvisation” at work here is the physical act of in relief, running off the edge of the work. The “X” is uncompromising, but covering, re-surfacing, re-touching, erasing, scratching, scraping, drawing, it is indeed more subtle than the 8% cut, which was taken out of workers’ revealing hidden layers. The atmosphere of the painting is very cluttered. salaries in Barbados in the early nineties. (JW) There is a wide span of wings which are stretched from one side at the top to the other. The richness of the colours is very striking. Certain shapes are dominant in the painting. There are abstract silhouettes of heads in the wings, which perhaps suggest that people need guidance under the 47 Oswald Hussein is the leading and senior member of the Arawak wood-carvers (also referred to as Lokono-artists) at St. Cuthbert’s Mission station, or Pakuri, in the northeastern region of Guyana. He won the premier national competition for sculpture in Guyana in 1989 and again in 1993. Kachikabura was part of the Moving Circle-exhibition at the Queens Park Gallery in 2003, which featured the works of three Lokono-artists. Curator of the National Gallery of Guyana, Elfrieda Bissember, wrote in the catalogue: Hussein and five other St. Cuthbert’s artists (..) called themselves “Artists of the Environment” (…..). The artists had taken the decision to return to St. Cuthbert’s, to their physical and spiritual, familial and tribal roots in the community, and to use the forms of animal and plant life, the myths and beliefs of childhood memory, and the activities of daily life and larger spiritual existence, as the source of their art. In every sense this reinforced their connection with the natural world, and the character of their work draws on the power of nature in all its manifestations and their intense awareness of and relationship with it”. (TH) Oswald Hussein (b. 1954, Guyana. Education: Self-taught) Kachikabura (Before the Full Moon), 2003 Wood sculpture, 46 x 20 x 20 cm. Acquired July 03 48 Izebo (John Brathwaite, b. 1952, Barbados. Education: self-taught) Garrison Mural (2004) Acrylic on wood polyptych, 244 x 488 cm Commissioned for the 2003 AICA World Congress, March 06 Izebo is an urban street artist who finds employment decorating the walls of panoramic collage of vignettes from the historic Garrison area includes butcher stalls, rum shops and brothels. But he also documents the histories images of the Barbados Museum, Garrison school and the Barbados and experiences of communities in large murals which adorn village Defense Force. The scene is surveyed by the imposing sphinx, symbolic of intersections and liming spots. The Garrison Mural was commissioned for an ancestral empire that inspires the artist’s heroic actions in the face of the exhibition of popular art, “OPEN” at the Barbados Museum in 2003. This daily adversity. (AT) 49 Basil Jones (b. 1930, Barbados. Education: self-taught, classes with Briggs Clarke and Betty Scott, Barbados) House in the Fields (n.d.) Oil on masonite, 35.5 x 46 cm. Acquired November 02 Basil Jones is a Barbadian icon, who has been active in the organization Caribbean. It owes a great deal to nineteenth century French painters, of many activities related to the visual arts and photography in Barbados, particularly Corot. The quality of light and the varying tones of green in such as Barbados’ participation in the Sao Paulo Bienal in 1967 and 1969, an undulating landscape create an atmosphere of perennial calm. The the first CARIFESTA as well as the administration of the Barbados Arts solitary house in the distance and the composition conspire to draw us into Council. As a student of Briggs Clarke, the atmospheric quality in Clarke’s the world of the painting. (JW) work influenced his own. This is particularly true of his landscapes. Basil Jones, in turn, was a teacher of Ras Ishi Butcher. This landscape painting, House in the Fields, could be in Europe as there is nothing to suggest the 50 Basil Jones (b. 1930, Barbados. Education: self-taught, classes with Briggs Clarke and Betty Scott, Barbados) Suttle Street (n.d.) Photograph, 27 x 38 cm. Acquired May 04 In several senses the doyen of the fraternity of photographers in Barbados, motorized vehicles and of the city at the time. Jones’ image proves a rich Basil Jones, with trusted camera dangling from his neck, short strapped resource for the cultural anthropologist and social historian alike. (HW) bag on his right shoulder, is frequently to be seen quietly negotiating the busy streets of Bridgetown. The image Suttle Street very much like the man himself, is quiet and reserved, shy almost, but unmistakably eloquent. Respectful of the reality of inner city urban life in the early half of the century, the image is essentially a document of that reality. Framed by the supports of the over hanging balcony, the image tells us much of the architecture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the absence of 51 40 Since his return to Barbados in 1992, Winston Kellman’s oeuvre has been dedicated, some might say almost obsessively, to the Barbadian landscape. Yet, instead of exhausting this genre’s possibilities, they seem to multiply with each single effort. Panoramic landscapes, details of landscapes, closeups of ploughed fields, foliage, potted plants – each motif revisited at every stage of the annual cycle, in any type of weather, and in any medium: oil, watercolour, or as here charcoal-drawings. Kellman’s work can be likened to a diary of which the theme itself is the passage of time and its visual manifestation in the landscape. The compulsive nature of his work (the transformation-series consists of dozens and dozens of drawings!) may, besides, be understood, almost contradictorily, as a process of documenting, mapping and preserving - yet ultimately also of coming to grips with the land, its beauty and its trauma. Perhaps Kellman’s subjectmatter – transformation, instability and “flux” - is nowhere more convincingly captured than in these rapidly executed, confident charcoal-drawings with their remarkable detail and astonishing drama. (TH) Winston Kellman (b. 1952, Barbados. Edu. B.A. (hons.) Fine Art, Gloucestershire College of Art & Design, Cheltenham, U.K., Post Graduate Diploma, Chelsea College of Art, London, U.K.) Untitled No. 1 (from the Transformation Series) (2005) Charcoal on paper, 110 x 77 cm. Acquired September 2005 52 Brian Kirby came to Barbados in the 1960s to establish an advertising agency. He was a Graphic Designer and Painter, who participated in many exhibitions during the sixties and seventies. Much of his work was non-representational, often with geometricized shapes and a strong linear element. Providence Methodist Church introduces that quality in the grassy area to the right. The overall conception of the painting is to draw attention to the linear elements in the scene: the detailed drawing of the Church; the delineation of the figures; the arc of the road. The approach to the scene is very impersonal and objective, yet the attitudes of the figures and the expressions on their faces are very familiar. (JW) Brian Kirby (b. 1939, England. Education: Hornsey College of Art, University of London, England. Arrived Barbados 1968, Left Barbados 1973) Providence Methodist Church (1972) Mixed media/watercolour, 48.5 x 32 cm. Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02 53 42 Bob Kiss (b. 1951, U.S.A. Education: attended university at RIT from 1969 to 1974 and moved to Barbados permanently in 1993). Chattel: Bean Plants (2004) Platinum-palladium print on 100% cotton paper, 28 x 36 cm. Commissioned March 03 A fine print, that aptly demonstrates the quality results possible from an abandonment. But the “ground in cultivation” emphatically signals that life excellent darkroom technique. Taken from a series that takes the Chattel triumphant still happens here. (HW) house as its focus, this, Chattel: Bean Plants is very strongly characterized by what one in fact does not see - a human presence and a sense of vitality. The photographer’s choice of locating the physical structure in the frame seeks to further amplify this suggestion of artefact, a belonging to the past. The fact that the house is closed in the fashion that it is, almost suggests 54 43 Denyse Ménard-Greenidge (b. 1946, Quebec, Canada. Education: L’Ecole des BeauxArts, Montreal, Concordia University, Canada. Moved to Barbados: 1976) Untitled Diptych (n.d.) Aluminium sheets, 88 x 119 cm. Acquired April 05 Denyse Ménard-Greenidge has been a champion of a more intellectual and non-representational approach to Art in her own work, as well as in her Gallery, Dayrells Art Gallery. The relief Untitled Diptych echoes some of the imagery of her work on canvas, with the torn canvas and buttons (in this case the buttons are replaced by nails). Composition and colour are her strengths. The shadows created by the layering and curving of the aluminium sheets create points of interest. This relief sculpture is unique in the artist’s oeuvre. (JW) 55 Reclaiming the large barrels used by West Indians to import consumer goods from England and the United States, visionary artist Philip Moore adorns its surface with sequin-like dabs of paint. Referring to the paltry compensation handed to slaves at the moment of Emancipation, Moore’s politically charged object critiques the capitalist power structures which have plundered the West Indies for centuries. An interior light source is intended to emanate from the small punctured openings in the surface of the barrel. (AT) Philip Moore (b. 1921 in British Guyana. Education: selftaught) Reparation (n.d.) Paint on cardboard barrel, 103 x 60. Acquired November 03 56 45 Philip Moore (b. 1921 in British Guyana. Education: selftaught) Women Selling Paint at Courts (Sales), (2004) Oil on plywood, 122 x 142 cm. Acquired January 2003 This painting was produced by the Guyanese visionary artist, Philip Moore, a video filmed by photographer Eric Belgrave. The artist’s meticulous during his stay in Barbados as artist in residence in November, 2003. practice of pressing or rolling dots of paint onto the canvas produces Considered one of the most outstanding Caribbean visual artists, Moore’s a rich and glimmering surface. Referring to himself as an ancient soul work fist became known to audiences in Barbados during the hosting in a modern body, the artist approaches his work with a ritualistic and of CARIFESTA in 1981. Two decades later, Moore was honoured as an regulated intensity that seems to evoke his governing philosophy of outstanding artist by Caricom at CARIFESTA in Surinam during August 2003. “Godmanliness” which proposes that God is within Man and Man is within During his residency organized by the National Art Gallery Committee, God and that through Art, all this is manifested. (AT) Moore’s intricate and laborious painting process was documented in 57 Gilda Nassief-Thiebaud is an artist and poet, who worked and exhibited in Barbados during the 1970s and 80s. She exhibited beautiful, sensitive drawings and paintings at the Talma Mill and other galleries. Her lasting legacy is the enamel Stations of the Cross at St Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church in Barbados. Her metaphysical interests eventually led her to Transcendental Meditation. She left Barbados in the 1980s to join her husband, who was also an artist, in Haiti. (JW) Gilda Nassief-Thiebaud (b. Haiti) Butterfly (n.d) Print, 17 x 21.5 cm. Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02 58 Inner Self No. 1 is part of the Monster Series in the artist’s oeuvre. The process of creation for the artist is very immediate without the intervening step of preparatory sketches. The work is technically very skilled with sensitivity in the brush strokes. The artist appears to be on a spiritual journey to confront his inner demons. This rather Francis Bacon-like figure has evolved in other works. The majority of Piggott’s work is large with strong colour and haunting, impactful images. (JW) Terrence Piggott (b. 1967, Barbados. Education: Barbados Community College) Inner Self No. 1, (2004) Acrylic on canvas, 178 x 91.5 cm. Acquired September 2005 59 Gail Pounder-Speede’s work usually takes its departure in the artist’s personal experience. While her approach to subject-matter in many works at once is very abstract and very literal, she has developed an idiosyncratic style – a very painterly form of abstraction combined with a few fixed, personal symbols, including her use of colour. The recurring themes in this oeuvre are love, relationships, yearning, anxiety and despair, and Pounder-Speede uses the canvas as an emotional space, where she can re-enact and perhaps renegotiate various traumatic incidents. X-in-Law is such a space, in which the artist appears to recall a moment of separation and estrangement. The pink and blue figures (male and female), which appear in the upper half of the golden, “sunny” area of the painting, are seen – presumably after the split-up – in pale neutral tones at the bottom, dangerously close to the border between this and the dismally grey realm on the left. (TH) Gail Pounder-Speede (b. Barbados. Education: B.A. Fine Art (hons.), Barbados Community College) X-in-Law (2002) Acrylic and mixed media, 50 x 40.5 cm. Acquired August 03 60 Ras Akyem Ramsay (b. 1953, Barbados. Education: Edna Manley School of Visual Arts, Jamaica; Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba) Art Animal No. 10 (2004) Acrylic on canvas, 123 x 168 cm. Acquired November 04 The plight of the artist has been one of the key themes in Ras Akyem’s oppressed. In Art Animal No. 10 a fundamental duality is established by oeuvre, almost from its inception. Of course the artist is an auto- the division of the canvas into a black and a white segment. Apart from biographical reference, but, more significantly, he is seen as a universal the more obvious racial connotations of this division, the white section figure, who sacrifices himself in the service of a higher cause. Ras Akyem’s thus designates the artist’s present and tangible reality, while the black idea of the creative act as a way of repelling death, and of the artist as section represents the great stream of history, which is intangible, but real a symbolic redeemer transcending otherwise immutable dichotomies, is nonetheless. Through his creative act, the artist thus reaches out of his closely related to his steady engagement with Christian iconography and confinement to the “present” and connects with “eternity”. (TH) his persistent exposure of the eternal opposition between oppressors and 61 Ann Rudder (b. Englewood, New Jersey to Barbadian parents. Arrived: 1989). The Indian Bridge Town, Barbados, Capital of Cultures 1628-1788 (2006, in progress) Mixed media, 122 x 244 cm, Commissioned 2003 The Indian Bridge Town, Barbados, Capital of Cultures 1628-1788, was Lokono and Taino zemis or totems. Finally, a collection of wooden shields one of two commissions issued by the NAGC to commemorate the 375th are incorporated to illustrate the heraldic coats of arms of several English anniversary of Bridgetown. The piece, which is still in process, is conceived personages, such as Governor Francis Lord Willoughby, the Codrington as a grandiose tribute to what the artist sees as the culture and cultural Family, John Swan, Charles Pinfold, William Haggatt, whose financial make-up of Barbados – interweaving symbols of the indigenous Lokono investments became the mercantile bedrock of Barbados. (TH) culture with tokens of the island’s British and African presence. Historic places of interest are depicted on both sides, alongside African dialogue patterns with inscriptions such as “BIRIBI WO SORO” – an Asante symbol of empowerment meaning “God, there is something in he heavens, let it reach me”. Several handmade red clay adornos illustrate various Karifuna, 62 Sargeant (b. Barbados) Super Tanker (n.d.) Mixed media on plywood, 23.5 x 69.5 cm. Donation by the artist, 2004 Little information is known about this artist whose works began to adorn epaulettes sewn onto the shoulders of his shirt, eventually abandoned the the chain-link fence surrounding a utility substation in Bridgetown. Finely hostile site and has reportedly revived his ephemeral artistic efforts in other detailed drawings of ships on scraps of cardboard and wood were tied corners of Bridgetown. (AT) onto the fence so that eventually its entire surfaces were covered . When officials unceremoniously removed the drawings from their private property, the artist, who in his younger days had worked aboard ships transporting goods along the Atlantic coastline, quietly resumed his quest to reclaim his environment. But Sargeant, so named because of the plastic 63 Careenage No. 2 is part of a series of paintings focusing on the Samuel Sealy transformation of Bridgetown and specifically the Careenage area. This (b. 1948, Barbados. Education: c. 1973 Art workshop area was traditionally a popular subject for artists until the 1980s. The with Hartley Marshall-Alleyne, 1974-76 Erdiston composition is a symphony in blues. It is not a literal view of the Careenage, Teachers’ Training College, 1998- 2002 Barbados but a combination of the boats with the old buildings in the background. Community College The entire area seems very crowded with lots of movement. It seems to be a night or early evening scene. This work is an interesting development from his ‘The Wreck of the George Fergusson’ which was an award winner in the Art Collection Foundation Competition of 1985. (JW) 64 The Careenage No. 2 (2003) Oil on canvas, 64 x 101 cm. Acquired May 04 53 Campbell Skeete (b. 1932, Barbados. Harrison’s College under Briggs Clarke, private tuition with Karl Broodhagen 1956-59. Toronto University (sculpture) 1972-73). Village Scene (n.d.) Oil on canvas, 21 x 37 cm. Acquired March 2006 Campbell Skeete’s Village Scene belongs to a genre in which every imaginary past to an escapist vision of a self-contained tropical paradise. work intends to depict a quintessential Barbadian village - this location is This undoubtedly continues to be the most commercially viable genre in nowhere in particular, yet familiar to every Barbadian. While the curved Barbadian painting. (TH) edges of the picture plane soften the overall impression, and the symmetry of each house façade serves as a metaphor for the orderliness of this place, the connotation of “island” is underscored by the one road linking the houses with the sea, where sailboats gaily plough through the waves. Paintings like this assimilate a view of the island, which, surprisingly, seems to resonate in equal measure with visitors and nationals, though the qualities ascribed to the island by each group may vary from nostalgia for an 65 Stephen Smith (b. 1961, Barbados. Education: selftaught). The Trafalgar Hotel (2003) Photograph, 25 x 38 cm. Acquired May 04 Located on Palmetto Square, The Trafalgar Hotel, from 1907, was housed from the Barbadian landscape. One may find it interesting to note the in this three-storied nineteenth century structure until it was demolished in presence of the lone motorized vehicle, as well as how clear, clean and 1978. Sitting just on the outskirts of the “public buildings” it was discovered uncluttered the square appears. (HW) after the site was cleared and test squares excavated and analyzed, that the site is of some considerable archaeological importance suggesting an extensive occupation by Suazoid Culture Amerindian population. The hand pushed Purity Bread carts, which we see in the image, was the principal vehicle for selling turnovers, rock cakes, heavy sweets, machine loaves and indeed bread in general, throughout the city and in suburban Barbados. Though of more recent vintage, these are never the less now also absent 66 55 If the still-life genre, from its origins in Dutch renaissance-painting, traditionally has been designated meditations over the transitory existence of all things, Goldie Spieler can be said to have taken this concept to the extreme. From the earliest days of her oeuvre, her line has been marked by a distinctive and nervous restlessness. Like practically all her works on paper, Fruits and Leaves is essentially about the perishable nature of living things, and the constant metamorphosis of all substance. Barely ripened, the fruits are already hastening towards decay – their outlines never firm or fixed, but always in-between one state and the next. Even the paintbrush, hurriedly on its way to other motifs, other subject-matters, has only touched the fruits with flighty dabs of colour, leaving the background as wispy lines and sprinkles of charcoal dust – the table, on which the fruit is displayed, is merely suggested. Only the essential is there, and the essential is the impermanence itself. (TH) Goldie Spieler (b. 1931, Canada. Arr. Barbados: 1966. Education: Ontario College of Art) Fruit and Leaves (1967) Charcoal and watercolor, 63 x 47.5 cm. Donation by the late Mary Armstrong March 02 67 Though Norma Talma’s preferred medium during the early years, from which this piece derives, indeed was painting, her usual approach was one of abstract colour-field compositions, which seem obvious forerunners for her present-day collages of handmade paper. The piece at hand, therefore, cannot be considered a very representative example of her work from this era. The Wonder of Kites, however, does testify to the artist’s early fascination with colour (which has recently re-emerged with works such as The Green Flash and In the Beginning) and – most significantly - with paper, which here, in addition to the paint, is applied to the kite itself. This duplication of layers gives the wheel of the kite a “spin”, which in turn tends to give the upper half of the painting a more geometric, semi-abstract character, somewhat contrasting the suggested realism of the lower half. (TH) Norma Talma (b. New York City, U.S.A.; B.A., Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y.; Graduate studies in art education, New York University, U.S.A.) The Wonder of Kites (1969) Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 24.5 x 53 cm. Donation by the late Mary Armstrong March 02 68 57 Myths and stereotypes of race and gender were the key issues in Alberta Whittle’s recent Fiat Luxexhibition, which included a series of portraits of female “archetypes” – among them Judith, Madonna, Pandora and Eve. Whittle’s symbols are drawn liberally from literary, mythological and contemporary popular sources, from Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. While seemingly adhering to the notion of spirituality, she wittily proposes the modern Caribbean woman (of colour) as someone empowered by her embrace of those very characteristics, for which women in the JudeoChristian tradition have been demonized – most notably her sexuality. Whittle’s Eve is thus a slender, young, naked female – half woman, half lioness, tantalizingly reclined with the serpent slithering down the tree and under her legs. The erotic innuendo is almost provocatively obvious with the big red apple placed in the young woman’s lap, exactly above the serpent’s head. (TH) Alberta Whittle (b. 1980, Barbados. Education: BA (hons) Tapestry (Fine Art), Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh) Eve (from the Fiat Lux Series) (2005) Watercolour, 45 x 37 cm. Acquired February 2006 69 58 Nick Whittle (b. 1953, England. Education; B.A. (hons) Fine Arts, University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom. Full Fathoms Five I-VI (1996) Mixed media on paper, 76 x 56 cm each. Acquired March 2002 70 Nick Whittle’s oeuvre is one of multiple layers, complex subject-matter and colonizers’ penetration of other lands) (panel 2). Subsequent to his landing copious references to premises established in earlier works. His themes on this foreign soil, the Englishman becomes an “other”, both to the typically link personal issues with more universal ones relating to race, islanders and to himself (panel 3), finding himself vilified and his embrace gender and the implications of colonialism. The six images, which make up of his new environment amputated (panel 4). Subsequently a remarkable Full Fathoms Five, thus chronicles a metamorphosis of identity as a result of transformation of colour and gender takes place – as the identity of the someone’s geographical and cultural relocation – more specifically the perpetrator (alias male) merges with that of the victim (alias female) experience of a (white) English-man settling in the Caribbean: the narrative and both are dissolved (panel 5). At the end, we find an embryonic, is one of a clear self-image (panel 1), becoming obscured by the colonial androgynous adult – a person of reborn identity, or a Prospero having legacy (Whittle has often used the phallic image as a metaphor for the morphed into a Caliban! (TH) CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ 71 Armstrong, Mary (1925-2005, b: Barbados; self-taught, classes with Karl Broodhagen and Sybil Atteck) Cats Under a Twisted Willow Tree (etching, n.d., 43 x 38 cm) March 02 *Boss Crab (etching, n.d., 36 x 39 cm) March 02 Caterpillar Border (etching, n.d., 40 x 38 cm) March 02 Spiders on Clematis (etching, n.d., 41 x 39 cm) March 02 Tip-toeing In (etching, n.d., 29.5 x 35 cm) March 02 73 Atkinson, Arthur (b. 1945, Barbados. Education: self-taught) Wheels (etching, n.d., 24 x 45 cm) March 02 *Untitled (Abstract) (mixed media, c. 1960s, 49.5 x 53 cm) Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02 Untitled with three figures (oil on hardboard, n.d., 81 x 65 cm) Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02 74 Emergency (oil on canvas, 1969, 67 x 46 cm) Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02 The ninth hour (acrylic/mixed media, 1981, 153 x 279 cm) April 05 *Only When it Rains (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 49.5 x 60 cm) November 05 Time Capsule (installation, 2005, 26 x 32 x 40.5 cm) Donation by the artist, 2005 Going Down College Savannah (acrylic on canvas, 2005, 53.5 x 68.5 cm) November 05 Atkinson, Ewan (b. 1975, Barbados. Education: Queen’s College, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA, USA) Sheep Pen – Glenburnie (acrylic on canvas, 2005, 60 x 77.5 cm) November 05 The Olde Palmetto Royale (mixed media, 2001, 61 x 92 cm) May 04 75 76 *To: Factory Re: Storage (mixed media, 2002, 122 x 143 cm) May 04 Personality Disorder Machine (triptych, mixed media on paper, 2002, 77 x 57 cm each) May 04 Mummy Says We May Have Strawberries for Tea (digital print, 2003, 28 x 37.5 cm) May 04 Hide! (digital print, 2003, 28 x 37.5 cm) May 04 When Bill Had Done His Work He Went Out to Play (mixed media, 2005, 62.5 x 40.5 cm) March 06 This Belongs to Me (mixed media, 2005, 62.5 x 40.5 cm) March 06 Many Boys and Girls Live in Flats (mixed media, 2005, 62.5 x 40.5 cm) March 06 I Heard the Hunter Blow His Horn (mixed media, 2005, 62.5 x 40.5 cm) March 06 Greedy Nan (mixed media, 2005, 62.5 x 40.5 cm) March 06 *Triptych: Passage (photograph, 2002, 40.5 x 50.5 cm) November 02 There Was a Crooked Man (mixed media, 2005, 62.5 x 40.5 cm) March 06 Belgrave, Eric (b. 1960, England. Education: Art Foundation, Crosskeys College, Gwent, South Wales. University L.C.P London Institute, U.K.) Test (photograph, 2002, 40.5 x 50.5 cm) November 02 Temple (photograph, 2002, 40.5 x 50.5 cm) November 02 77 Blackett, Keith (b. 1930, Barbados. Education: self-taught, classes with Collis Bailey and Robert MacLeod) Poison Triptych: 1) Difficult (photograph, 2004, 45.5 x 35.5 cm) January 05 2) Fellow (photograph, 2004, 35.5 x 45.5 cm) January 05 *Rum Shop (oil on canvas, 1997, 39 x 48.5 cm) May 04 3) Reply (photograph, 2004, 35.5 x 45.5 cm) January 05 Brathwaithe, Hubert (b. 1930, Barbados. Education: Bay Street Boys’ School taught by John Rose, classes with Hector Whistler, Karl Broodhagen and Briggs Clarke, Barbados) 78 The Old Bus Stand (oil on canvas, n.d., 80 x 93 cm) November 02 *Tuk Band at Baxter’s Road (oil on canvas, n.d., 56 x 63 cm) March 06 Butcher, Ras Ishi (b. 1960, Barbados. Education: Barbados Community College, Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba) Betrayal (mixed media on canvas, 1996, 153 x 122 cm) March 02 Tribute to a Warrior (mixed media on canvas, 2003, 190 x 190 cm) April 05 *Diario Secreto Tres (mixed media on canvas, 2003, 163 x 145 cm) April 05 Procreation (mixed media on canvas, 1996, 153 x 122 cm) March 02 Chandler, Chris (b. Barbados. Education: self-taught). 79 Chapman-Andrews, Alison (b. 1942, England. Education: Walthamstow School of Art, London, U.K., Royal College of Art, London, U.K.) *Young Palms, Martin’s Bay (drawing, mixed media and ink-pastel, charcoal, 1995, 60 x 72 cm) November 02 *The Other Side (sculpture, paint on limestone/concrete, 2004, 400 x 1750 cm). Co-sponsored mural project, June 03 African Trees (collage and acrylic on canvas, 2001, 91 x 119 cm) October 02 80 Golden Apple (acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 2004, 42.5 x 32.5 cm) January 05 *Falling Leaves 2 (acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 2004, 42.5 x 32.5 cm) January 05 Chong, Albert (b. 1958 Jamaica. Education: School of Visual Arts, New York City, USA, University of California, San Diego, U.S.A.) Pink Leaf and Croton (acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 2004, 42.5 x 32.5 cm) January 05 *Blessing the Throne (photograph, 1992, 38 x 47 cm) December 04 Time-capsule (installation, 2005, 26 x 32 x 40.5 cm) Donation by the artist, 2005. Self-portrait with Garvey’s Prison Docket (photograph, 1995, 38 x 47 cm) December 04 Clarke, Briggs (b. Barbados 1905, d. Barbados 1987. Education: Art classes with Felix Haynes, worked with Ivan Payne and Robert MacLeod (Barbados); Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting (UK) 81 Clarke, Thomas (b. Guyana 1958, arr. Barbados 1967. Education: Harrison College, Physics and Computer studies UWI. Self-taught photographer). 82 Crane Beach (oil on hardboard, n.d., 43 x 54 cm) November 02 *Maureen (oil on masonite, 1962, 34.5 x 27 cm) November 02 Japanese Moon (photograph, 2003, 44 x 35.5 cm) July 04 *Mahogany Forest 2 (photograph, 2004, 44 x 35.5 cm) July 04 Crichlow, Kenwyn (b. 1951, Trinidad. Education: Goldsmith College, London, U.K.) *Sea Murmurs of a Dream (oil and 22 carat gold leaf, 2004, 156 x 135 cm) December 04 Cummins, William (b. 1964, Barbados. Education: Harrison College, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) Colour for the Adoration of New Life (oil and 22 carat gold leaf, 2004, 125 x 115 cm) February 05 Fire in Meh Belly No. 2 (oil and 22 carat gold leaf, 2004, 104 x 94 cm) December 04 *Rainbow Static 8 (pastel on arches paper, 2003, 52 x 53.5 cm) January 05 Rainbow Static 9 (pastel on arches paper, 2003, 52 x 53.5 cm) January 05 83 Daniel, Joyce (b. Barbados. Education: Alberta College of Art, University of Iowa) Inner Riot (pastel on arches paper, 2005, 106.5 x 57 cm) April 2005. *Corselette (mixed media construction, 2003, 76 x 56.5 cm) August 03 84 Survival (mixed media assemblage, 1989, 179 x 115 cm) March 05 Dodson, Ann (b. 1958, Barbados. Education: BFA., Concordia University, Quebec, Canada; Dip. Education, McGill University, Montreal, Canada) Birds Looking At Something (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 41 x 51 cm) January 05 Donawa, Wendy (b. 1940, Canada; arrived in Barbados: 1963; Education: Canada; left Barbados c. 1985) *Expectations (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 37 x 29.5 cm) January 05 Downey, Justin (b. 1976, Barbados. Education: BFA Barbados Community College) *Christopher and Wind Chimes (woodcut/ink on paper, 1969, 53 x 30 cm) Donation by Mary Armstrong. March 02. *Connection/Direction (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 53 x 62 cm) January 05 Drakes, Maurice (b. 1934, Barbados. Education: Drawing, Painting and Design with John Rose at Bay Street Boys’ School, classes with Hector Whistler and Karl Broodhagen (Barbados) 85 Croton Plants (acrylic on hardboard, 1979, 50 x 56 cm) March 03 Kadooment (watercolor, n.d., 24 x 35 cm) March 06 86 Independence Celebration (watercolor on card, n.d., 36 x 30 cm) May 04 Gall, David (b. 1952, Barbados. Education: Combermere School, Visva Bharati University, India). *Christmas Night Choraliers (acrylic on linen, 1990, 67 x 55 cm) May 04 *Mahakal (oil on canvas, 1988, 144 x 93 cm) October 03 Reserved (linocut on mulberry, 1998, 20 x 25.5 cm) October 03 *Postmodernism Well Installed (print on paper, 1998, 15 x 21 cm) October 03 Stiltman and Blackbirds (linocut on gazenchi etchizen, 1998, 29.5 x 17.5 cm) October 03 Gall, Indrani ( b. 1953, India. Education: MFA (printmaking) Visva Bharati University, India) Kadooment Creature (linocut on nepchi, 1998, 23 x 19.5 cm) October 03 Feast (lithograph on paper, 1993, 31 x 27 cm) October 03 87 88 Once (paper and ink/intaglio, 1994, 24.5 x 20 cm) October 03 Ugh Primitive! (intaglio on paper, 1995, 35 x 49 cm) October 03 *Oh Civilization III (collograph/woodcut, 1995, 80 x 75 cm) October 03 Barbie and Pithora (intaglio on paper, 1995, 48.5 x 30.5 cm) October 03 Oh Civilization I (intaglio on paper, 1995, 34.5 x 30.5 cm) October 03 Magic Touch (linocut on rice paper, 1998, 20.5 x 28.5 cm) October 03 Ball Games (linocut on gazenchi etchizen, 1998, 28 x 20 cm) October 03 Ganthier, Patrick “Killy” (b. 1966, Haiti. Education: self-taught) Red Ball (lino on rice paper, 2001, 26 x 20.5 cm) October 03 *Untitled 2 (mixed media, n.d., 91.5 x 61 cm) November 04 *Target (mixed media assemblage, 2001, 200 x 121 cm) October 03 Gardner, Joscelyn (b. 1961, Barbados. Education: Queen’s College, B.F.A. (printmaking) and B.A. (film) Queen’s University, Canada, M.F.A. University of Western Ontario, Canada) 89 Gill, Edmund (b. 1935, Barbados. Education: self-taught, 195669 Worked in England; 1966-72 Caribbean Artists Movement (UK) Emancipation series: acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 1996-1999, 106.5 x 76 cm each. The series has been acquired jointly by the NAGC, the NCF and the Commission for Pan African Affairs, February 2006 *Black Skin – White Kin (DVD installation, part of intervention at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, 2003) February 05 Capture 90 Ancestral Images Middle Passage Auction Plantation. NAGC acquisition Independence *Revolt and Emancipation. NAGC acquisition Re-assertion Riots and Reforms Grace, Bill (b. 1953, Barbados. Education: Arcadia University, Canada, Universidad de Valencia, Spain, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Apprenticeship with John Reeves, California, in the Leach-Kenzan tradition). 91 Greaves, Stanley (b. 1934, Guyana, arr. Barbados 1987. Edu. Working People’s Art Class, Guyana; Dip. Art Ed., Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, U.K., M.F.A., Howard University, Washington, U.S.A.) *Long Time II (Ceramic wall-relief: clay, glass, coral-stone and white cement mounted on ply, 2004, 132 x 132 cm (point-to-point). *Birth of Forms (wood sculpture, n.d., 64 x 19 cm) October 02 92 Persistence and Perseverance (sculpture: cast stone/ceramic/coral, 2005, 104 x 25.9 cm) January 06 Plantation Worker (acrylic, 2000, 111 x 85 cm) March 02 Party Political Broadcast (acrylic on canvas, 1997, 115 x 95 cm) February 06 Griffith, Francis: (1916-2001, Barbados. Education: self-taught) Ballot Boxes (acrylic on canvas, 1997, 122 x 95 cm) February 06 *Election Results (acrylic on canvas, 1997, 122 x 95 cm) February 06 Portrait of the Artist’s Wife (oil on canvas mounted on wood, n.d., 40 x 46.5 cm) May 01 Text Painting (oil, 1963, 59 x 74 cm) May 01 Untitled (Snow Scene) (enamel paint on hardboard, n.d., 64 x 79 cm) March 02 93 94 Gypsy Moth (enamel paint glued to fabric, n.d., 59 x 60.5 cm) May 01 Lady Douglas (enamel paint on plywood, n.d., 61 x 56 cm) May 01 Mother (enamel paint on cotton, n.d., 55.5 x 70 cm) May 01 Gypsy Moth 2 (enamel on plywood, n.d., 54 x 70 cm) May 01 *A History of Time, a.k.a. King Solomon’s Palace (enamel paint, 109 x 107 cm) May 01 Egypt (oil on board, c. 1960, 68.8 x 69.8 cm). Donation by Government Headquarters. May 01 Star and Moon 1 (oil paint on wood, 1968, 45.5 x 50 cm) May 01 Guru (b. 1962, Barbados; Masters Diploma in Fine Art, Scranton University) Star and Moon 2 (oil paint on wood, 1968, 42 x 44.5 cm) May 01 Star and Moon 3 (oil paint on wood, 1968, 45 x 51,2 cm) May 01 *Nocturnal Artist (acrylic on canvas, 2002, 50 x 76 cm) March 06 Nostalgia (mixed media on canvas, 2002, 91 x 122 cm) March 06 95 Hatcher, Russell (b. 1956 Wales; U.K. Education: Poole Art College, UK) Still Life (acrylic on canvas, 2005, 61 x 61 cm) March 06 *Improvisation (mixed media on wood, 1992, 122 x 162.5 cm) April 05 96 Ancestral Guardian (acrylic on canvas, 2005, 76 x 50 cm) March 06 Hussein, Oswald (b. 1954, Guyana. Education: Self-taught) *Kachikabura (Before the Full Moon), (wood sculpture, 2003, 20 x 46 cm) July 03 “Izebo” Brathwaithe, John (b. Barbados, education: self-taught) Jones, Basil (b. 1930, Barbados. Education: self-taught, classes with Briggs Clarke and Betty Scott (Barbados) *Garrison Mural (acrylic on wood polyptych, 2004, 244 x 488 cm) Commissioned for the 2003 AICA World Congress March 06 *House in the Fields (oil on masonite, n.d., 35.5 x 46 cm) November 02 *Suttle Street (photograph, n.d., 27 x 38 cm) May 04 Kellman, Winston (b. 1952, Barbados. Edu. B.A. (hons.) Fine Art, Gloucestershire College of Art & Design, Cheltenham, U.K., Post Graduate Diploma, Chelsea College of Art, London, U.K.) 97 *Untitled No. 1 (from the Transformation Series), (charcoal on paper, 2005, 110 x 77 cm) September 05 Kirby, Brian (c. 1939, England. Education: Hornsey College of Art, University of London, England. Arrived Barbados 1968, Left Barbados 1973). 98 Untitled No. 2 (from the Transformation Series), (charcoal on paper, 2005, 105 x 74 cm) September 05 *Providence Methodist Church (mixed media/watercolour, 1972, 48.5 x 32 cm). Donation by Mary Armstrong. March 02 Star of Bethlehem (from the Transformation Series), (charcoal on paper, 2005, 75 x 98 cm) September 05 Kiss, Bob (b. 1951, U.S.A. Education: attended university at RIT from 1969 to 1974 and moved to Barbados permanently in 1993). Ménard-Greenidge, Denyse (b. 1946, Quebec, Canada. Edu. Education: L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal, Concordia University, Canada; Moved to Barbados: 1976) *Chattel: Bean Plants (platinum-palladium print on 100% cotton paper, 2004, 28 x 36 cm) Commissioned March 03. Moore, Philip (b. 1921 in British Guyana. Education: self-taught) *Untitled Diptych (aluminum sheets, n.d., 88 x 119 cm) April 05 One Man Band Obeah Drum No. 2 (mixed media sculpture, 1992). November 03 *Reparation (mixed media sculpture/barrel, n.d., 103 x 60). November 03 99 Gilda Nassief-Thiebaud (b: Haiti) Untitled (oil on plywood, 2003, 102 x 122 cm) Commenced during the artist’s invitational residency in Barbados. January 03 *Butterfly (print, n.d., 17 x 21.5 cm) Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02 100 *Women Selling Paint at Courts (Sales), (oil on plywood, 2004, 122 x 142 cm) Executed for the NAGC during the artist’s invitational residency in Barbados. January 03 Piggott, Terrence (b. 1967, Barbados. Education: Barbados Community College) *Inner Self No. 1 (in the Monster Series), (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 178 x 91.5 cm) September 05 Pounder-Speede, Gail (b. 1973. Education: B.A. Fine Art (hons.), Barbados Community College) Ramsay, Ras Akyem (b. 1953, Barbados. Education: Edna Manley School of Visual Arts, Jamaica; Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba) In-Law (acrylic and mixed media, 2002, 50 x 40.5 cm) August 03 *X-in-Law (acrylic and mixed media, 2002, 50 x 40.5 cm) August 03 Golgotha (acrylic on canvas, 1989, 122 x 72 cm) March 02 Ghostships (mixed media on canvas, 1995, 152 x 121 cm) March 02 101 Rudder, Ann (b. New Jersey, U.S.A. Education: self-taught) *Art Animal No. 10 (acrylic on canvas, 2004, 123 x 168 cm) November 04 *The Indian Bridge Town, Barbados, Capital of Cultures 1628-1788 (mixed media, in progress 2006, 122 x 244 cm) Commissioned 2003. 102 Horsemen and Chariots, diptych, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 2004, 168 x 184 cm) November 04 Sargeant (b. Barbados) *Super Tanker (mixed media on plywood, n.d., 23.5 x 69.5 cm) Donation by the artist, 2003. Sealy, Samuel (b. 1948, Barbados. Education: c. 1973 Art workshop with Hartley Marshall-Alleyne, 1974-76 Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, 1998- 2002 Barbados Community College) Shell Tank (mixed media on plywood, n.d. 23.5 x 62 cm) Donation by the artist, 2003. Skeete, Campbell (b. 1932, Barbados. Harrison College under Briggs Clarke, private tuition with Karl Broodhagen 1956-59. Toronto University (sculpture) 1972-73). *The Careenage No. 2 (oil on canvas, 2003, 64 x 101 cm) May 04 *Village Scene (oil on canvas, 2005, 21 x 37 cm) March 06 Stephen Smith (b. 1961, Barbados. Education: self-taught). 103 Spieler, Goldie (b. 1931, Canada. Arr. Barbados: 1966. Education: Ontario College of Art) *The Trafalgar Hotel (photograph, 2003, 25 x 38 cm) May 04 NOT AVAILABLE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY Series of ink drawings of Barbadian Churches executed during the 1960s-70s. Awaiting restoration. Donation by the artist, March 06 104 *Fruit and Leaves (charcoal and watercolor, 1967, 63 x 47.5 cm) Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02 Norma Talma (b. New York City, U.S.A.; B.A., Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y.; Graduate studies in art education, New York University, U.S.A.) Mirror Dinghies (acrylic on board, 1966, 50 x 75 cm) Donation by Mrs. Babs Talma, February 06. *The Wonder of Kites (acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 1969, 124.5 x 53 cm) Donation by Mary Armstrong, March 02. Alberta Whittle (b. 1980, Barbados. Education: BA (hons) Tapestry (Fine Art), Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh) In the Beginning (handmade paper assemblage, 2003, 25 x 34 cm) May 04 The Green Flash (handmade paper assemblage, 2003, 30 x 23 cm) May 04 *Eve (from the Fiat Lux Series) (watercolor, 2005, 45 x 37 cm) January 06 Pandora (from the Fiat Lux Series) (watercolor, 2005, 45 x 37 cm) January 06 105 Whittle, Nick (b. 1953, England. Education; B.A. (hons) Fine Arts, University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom. *Full Fathoms Five I-VI (mixed media on paper, 1996, 76 x 56 cm each) March 02 106