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Benny Andrews

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Benny Andrews
Born(1930-11-13)November 13, 1930
Plainview,Georgia,U.S.
DiedNovember 10, 2006(2006-11-10)(aged 75)
Brooklyn,New York,U.S.
EducationSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago
Known forPainting and collage

Benny Andrews(November 13, 1930 – November 10, 2006) was anAfrican-Americanartist, activist and educator.

Born inPlainview, Georgia,Andrews earned a BFA in painting from theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicagoin 1958, and soon after moved to New York. He is known for his expressive, figurative paintings that often incorporated collaged fabric and other material. Andrews helped found theBlack Emergency Cultural Coalition,which agitated for greater representation of African-American artists and curators in New York’s major art museums in the late 1960s and 70s. He also led the group in founding an arts education program in prisons and detention centers.

Andrews taught art atQueens Collegefor three decades, and from 1982 to 1984, served as the Director of the Visual Arts Program for the National Endowment for the Arts.[1]He received many awards, including theJohn Hay WhitneyFellowship (1965–66), theNew York Council on the Artsfellowships (1971–81), and theNational Endowment for the ArtsFellowship (1974–81).[2]

Background

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Benny Andrews was born into a family of ten on November 13, 1930, in the small community ofPlainview, Georgia.His parents,Georgeand Viola (née Perryman), were sharecroppers.[3][4]His mother and father emphasized the importance of education, religion, and freedom of expression. Andrews' father was a self-taught artist whose drawings and paintings led to renown as the "Dot Man" and a retrospective at theMorris Museum of Art.

Despite his parents' stress on education, they could not afford to let Andrews go to school when they needed his help to pick or plant cotton. He attended Plainview Elementary School, a one-and-a-half room log cabin.[5]Education past the seventh grade was discouraged in the sharecropping community, but Andrews parents allowed him and his siblings to attend high school during the winter months.[3][5]Andrews managed to graduate from Burney Street High School inMadison, Georgia,in 1948, making him his family's first high school graduate.

He received a two-year scholarship to go toFort Valley College,a black state college in Georgia, for his work in the local4-Horganization.[6]Unfortunately, Fort Valley College's limited art curriculum made it difficult for him to explore a range of media. He did, however, spend one summer painting murals inAtlantaduring this time.[6]Andrews' grades were poor, so when his scholarship ran out, he left college to join theU.S. Air Force.[4]He trained inTexasbefore serving as astaff sergeantinKorea.[6]While serving in the military, Andrews regularly sent his earnings home to support his mother and younger siblings.[5]Having served from 1950 to July 1954, when he received an honorable discharge, Andrews used theG.I. Billto attend theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago,where he was trained as anabstract expressionistand received hisBFA.[4][5]Prior to beginning his education at the Art Institute of Chicago, Andrews had never set foot in a museum.[5]His professor Boris Margo helped Andrews discover his own personalized art style during this time and encouraged Andrews to experiment with combining painting andcollagetechniques.[5]While earning his BFA, Andrews also worked as an illustrator for record companies and created advertisements for various Chicago theater companies.[6]He also regularly created and sold sketches of Chicago'sjazzscene.[5]

After graduating from the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Andrews moved toNew York Cityin 1958, where he settled on theLower East Side.[6]He began working in the Christmas card division of theMetropolitan Museum of Artin order to generate income for his young family.[5]His work also steadily gained critical attention and was exhibited in several cities, including New York,Philadelphia,Detroit,Provincetown,Massachusetts, where Paul Kessler gave Andrews his first solo show in 1960.[5][6]In 1962 theNew York Timespraised his first New York City solo exhibit at the Forum Gallery.[4]He received theJohn Hay WhitneyFellowship for 1965.[7]This fellowship was renewed in 1966, and Andrews used the money to return to Georgia.[6]While in Georgia, Andrews created hisAutobiographical Seriesof paintings.[6]He then received a CAPS award from theNew York State Council on the Artsin 1971.[7]In the same year, he painted one of his most notable works,No More Games,which highlighted the plight of black artists and became an icon of his emergingsocial justiceactivism in the art world.[8]

In 1966 Andrews began teaching art classes in drawing and painting at theNew School for Social Researchin New York, theJewish Community CenterinBayonne, New Jersey,and an arts initiative in theSouth Bronx.[5]Then, from 1968 to 1997, he taught atQueens College, City University of New Yorkin the SEEK program, which offered academic support for underserved students.[5]

In 1971, Andrews began teaching at theManhattan Detention Complex.[5]His arts program for prisons soon became a national model.[5]Mayor John Lindseyhonors Andrews for his work in 1973, and in 1976 Andrews curated an exhibition of work made by prisoners at theStudio Museum in Harlem.[5]

In 1976, Andrews became the art program director for the Inner City Roundtable of Youths.[5]This organization was composed of gang members who sought to combat youth violence and strengthen New York City's urban communities.[5]

Starting in the 1970s, Andrews regularly spent time atMacDowell.[5]He was elected to the colony's board of directors in 1987.

Social justice work

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In 1969, Andrews co-founded the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC), an organization that protested theHarlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968exhibit at theMetropolitan Museum of Art.No African-Americans had been involved in organizing the show, and it contained no art—only photo reproductions and copies of newspaper articles about Harlem.

The BECC then persuaded theWhitney Museumto launch a similar exhibition of African American artists, but later felt compelled to boycott the Whitney show for similar reasons.[9]

From 1982 to 1984, Andrews served as the director of visual arts for theNational Endowment for the Arts.In this position, he had the chance to advocate for fellowships and grants to go to talented black artists who may otherwise have escaped notice.

Andrews traveled in 2006 to theGulf Coastto work on an art project with children displaced byHurricane Katrina.[10]

Art

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Flag Day(1966) at theArt Institute of Chicago,in 2023

Benny Andrews was afigural painterin theexpressioniststyle who painted a diverse range of themes of suffering and injustice, including theHolocaust,Native American forced migrations,andHurricane Katrina.In the 1960s he began to find his own style of painting, which developed parallel to the flourishingcollagemoment.[7]Other influences on his work includesurrealismand Southernfolk art.His work hangs in theMetropolitan Museum of Artin New York City; theArt Institute of Chicago;theStudio MuseuminHarlem(New York City); theHigh Museum of ArtinAtlanta, Georgia;theHirshhorn Museumin Washington, DC; theNational Gallery of Art[11]in Washington, DC;The Phillips Collectionin Washington, DC; and theOgden Museum of Southern ArtinNew Orleans, Louisiana.

During the 1970s, he participated in a community art space called Communications Village operated by printmakerBenjamin Leroy Wigfallin Kingston, NY. Andrews made prints with the help of printer assistants who had been taught printmaking by Wigfall, and he exhibited there.[12][13]

Reflecting hisminimaliststyle, Andrews said he was not interested in how much he could paint, but how little. He incorporated his sparing use of geometrical forms to convey broader messages about his subjects. Gabriel Tenabe describes his drawing as "delicate, subtle, and intimate... draw(ing) from his past private life in Georgia and his social life in New York."Christian imageryis juxtaposed with sensibilities ofhumanismto call out false religion, false democracy,sexism,andmilitarismand their roles in creating a failed society.[7]

Using various media, Andrews depicted diverse American scenes and people in a figurative style that he felt both reflected the dignity of those he portrayed and served his commitment to social change.

Family life

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Benny Andrews married Mary Ellen Jones Smith, a photographer, in 1957.[6]The couple had three children, Christopher, Thomas, and Julia, before separating in 1976.[6]The couple officially divorced in 1986.[5]

Andrews then married artistNene Humphreyin 1986.[6]The couple met at MacDowell.[5]

Andrews died of cancer on November 10, 2006, at the age of 75.

Honors and awards

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Selected Collections

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References

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  1. ^"Benny Andrews, CV and Chronology".Benny Andrews Estate.RetrievedMarch 17,2021.
  2. ^"Andrews, Benny, 1930-".Contemporary Black Biography. Encyclopedia.2005.RetrievedMarch 10,2018.
  3. ^ab"Benny Andrews facts, information, pictures".Encyclopedia.Retrieved2018-03-07.
  4. ^abcdGenocchio, Benjamin (2006-11-12)."Benny Andrews, 75, Dies; Painted Life in the South".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2018-03-07.
  5. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrs"Biography".Benny Andrews Estate.Retrieved2019-02-20.
  6. ^abcdefghijkAndrews, Benny (2007-01-09)."Benny Andrews papers, 1940-2006".findingaids.library.emory.edu.Retrieved2019-02-20.
  7. ^abcdCullen, Deborah."Benny Andrews".Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.Oxford University Press.Retrieved28 January2017.
  8. ^Tenabe, Gabriel (1997)."Benny Andrews," St. James Guide to Black Artists, Thomas Riggs, ed.Detroit: St. James Press. p. 16.ISBN1558622209.
  9. ^Benny Andrews: Biography and Much More from Answers
  10. ^Andrews, 75, Dies; Painted Life in the South[permanent dead link]
  11. ^Andrews, Benny (1990),Guitar Picker,retrieved2023-02-09
  12. ^"Community Datebook: Art Exhibits".Daily Freeman, Kingston, NY.via newspapers. 1977-01-02.Retrieved2023-05-17.
  13. ^Fendrich, Laurie (2022-10-20)."When an artist becomes a community: The life and work of Benjamin Wigfall".Two Coats of Paint.Retrieved2023-05-17.
  14. ^Klacsmann, Karen Towers (August 17, 2017)."Benny Andrews (1930-2006)".New Georgia Encyclopedia.
  15. ^abcdefg"CV".Benny Andrews Estate.Retrieved2019-02-20.
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