Louisville’s Black Avant-Garde: Robert L. Douglas

JUNE 30, 2023 – OCTOBER 1, 2023

2nd floor, Chellgren Gallery

Professor Emeritus, Robert L. Douglas (1934 – 2023), a prolific visual artist, was a longtime resident of Louisville’s West End, a former community organizer, and a teacher and mentor to generations of artists and thinkers. Douglas’ work is at once rife with visual references drawn from art history and uniquely his own. A scholar and multidisciplinary artist Professor Douglas explores many themes in his work, including (but not limited to): Defining Black art and aesthetics; connections between Africa and African America; standards of beauty and femininity; art and everyday life; and improvisation and abstraction in the creative and artistic process.

Featuring more than 30 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures, Louisville’s Black Avant-Garde: Robert L. Douglas presents rarely seen work from throughout the artist’s career, demonstrating the breadth of his practices and the continued relevance of his work in examining and reflecting the Black community in Louisville. Douglas was a founding member of the Louisville Art Workshop, alongside Fred and Anna Bond who converted a West End Louisville storefront, creating both a home for their family as well as an exhibition space for participating artists. Other prominent artists, such as G.C. Coxe, Ed Hamilton, and Kenneth Victor Young also helped to establish the Workshop and publicly debut the December 1966 exhibition, Designs in Space. The show and the subsequent exhibitions attracted the attention of other local artists, who joined and went on to organize workshops for a diverse array of subjects including sculpture, photography, poetry, creative writing, music, and theater. The Louisville Art Workshop was a creative hub in the city with a variety of educational workshops, artistic critiques for artists to hone their craft, and group shows for emerging talents to display their work. Through their community-centered approach, the group fostered a dynamic and forward-thinking atmosphere that challenged artistic and cultural norms, and was notably one of the only integrated artistic groups at the time. Despite his talents and experience as an artist, Douglas was denied work in the arts early in his career due to discriminatory hiring practices, and he turned to serving the community through social work and political organizing. Douglas brought this perspective to his work with the Louisville Art Workshop, helping to establish a social mission for the organization whose ultimate goal was to support and uplift the community instead of measuring success based on commercial interests. Inspired by revolutionary art theory and the ongoing Civil Rights movement, Douglas and his contemporaries embraced the concept of artists using their artistic creations to liberate oppressed people, while acknowledging that the mainstream art industry would deny them resources and platforms to showcase their work.

“The spirit of the Louisville Art Workshop is alive in Professor Douglas, and we rightly honor his legacy as a leader in the arts and champion for those underrepresented in our industry. While in the past, the Speed has omitted the rich cultural tapestry that the Louisville Art Workshop wove, we now have the unique opportunity as the state’s museum to recognize the historic contributions and modern-day impact of the Workshop,” Speed Curator of Academic Engagement and Special Projects fari nzinga said. “Professor Douglas himself influenced countless students through his own work, in community workshops, and in the University of Louisville classrooms, so it is truly exciting to trace his impact on Louisville’s contemporary art scene. We look forward to continuing this series with exhibitions honoring other noteworthy leaders of the movement.”

“This is indeed a great honor and opportunity, having visited the Speed Museum since my thirteenth birthday (my present to myself). Having my life and purpose as I have come to understand it shared with my community through my paintings and sculptures will give visualization to my life, also as a scholar and educator,” Robert L. Douglas said. “It is also fitting that I join my colleagues, Bob Thompson, Sam Gilliam, and Ken Young as a Speed Museum ‘fellow.’”

Louisville’s Black Avant-Garde is intended as a four-part annual series spotlighting leading artists of the Louisville Art Workshop. Louisville’s Black Avant-Garde: Robert L. Douglas is organized by the Speed Art Museum and curated by Dr. fari nzinga, Curator of Academic Engagement and Special Projects at the Speed, with support from Sarah Battle, Coordinator of Academic Programs and Publications, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, whose oral history research project, Painting a Legacy: the Black Artistic Community in Louisville, 1950s-1970s, provided a scholarly foundation for the exhibition.

IN THE NEWS

Interview with Robert Douglas, November 12, 2015 – UofL Oral History 

Interview with Robert Douglas, September 10, 1999 – UofL Oral History

Robert L Douglas Obituary (1943 – 2023)

Speed Art Museum offering free admission for Robert L. Douglas exhibit – WDRB News 6.21.23

GDL: Speed Museum will have a new “Louisville Black Avant Garde: Robert L. Douglas” exhibit – WHAS 11 News – 6.26.23

Exhibition Press Release

RELATED PROGRAMMING

Thursday, September 7, Costume Figure Drawing, 5:30 – 7:30 pm 

Enjoy costumed figure drawing inspired by Professor Douglas’ figural work. This monthly series provides teen and adult visitors the opportunity to draw from a live model dressed in costumes inspired by artworks currently on display at The Speed! Available spots are first-come, first-serve. Drawing materials, folding stools, and a limited number of easels are provided, though visitors are welcome to bring their own supplies (dry media only).   

Thursday, September 7, Conversational Talk on Louisville Avant-Garde: Robert L Douglas

Moderator: Jabani Bennett, EdD, MAT Speakers: David Anderson, Associate Professor of English, UofL, and Michael Brandon McCormack, Ph.D., Director, Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, UofL

Saturday, September 2, Adult Workshop, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm  

The Speed’s adult workshop series provides opportunities for participants 16 years and older to explore their creative side and learn new art-making skills. All materials are provided, and all experience levels are welcome.  

This is a pre-registered workshop for up to 15 teen/adult participants at $20 per participant ($10 for members).  

Saturday, September 9, Memories at the Museum, 1:30 pm – 3 pm 

This is a special program designed in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association for those living with early- and middle-stage memory loss and their care partners. Memories at the Museum combines a tour of a gallery or special exhibition with a hands-on artmaking activity.   

Friday, September 15, After Hours at the Speed: Art-making, 5 pm – 8 pm  

As part of the program offerings of After Hours, an artmaking activity is facilitated in a drop-in open studio format, designed to be fun for all ages. Inspired by the Speed’s collection and special exhibitions, activities encourage visitors to find inspiration in the art on view and explore more deeply the process through which it was made.  

Chat Spots and Guided Tours 

Will be scheduled throughout the exhibition based on docent availability and tour requests.  

EXHIBITION PRESENTED BY

Eleanor Bingham Miller
Through a generous donation from Eleanor Bingham Miller, general admission to the Speed Art Museum will be free from June 30 through October 1, 2023.

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY

The Louisville Chapter of The Girl Friends