BIB_ID
431326
Accession number
MA 23386
Creator
Munro, Thomas, 1897-1974.
Display Date
Cleveland, Ohio, 1955 December 16.
Credit line
Purchased for The Dannie and Hettie Heineman Collection as the gift of the Heineman Foundation, 2018.
Description
1 item (1 page) ; 27.8 x 21.6 cm + envelope
Notes
Envelope with Cleveland Museum of Art letterhead and postmarks: "Miss Esther Krasny / 250 Randolph St. / Danville, Va." The address "Department of Art / The Women's College / University of North Carolina / Greensboro, North Carolina" has been crossed out.
On the stationery of the Cleveland Musem of Art.
Esther Krasny was a student at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina. In the fall of 1955, she wrote to a number of artists, educators, and art historians, asking for their opinions on "the influence of the Negro artist on painting today." Three of the responses she received, from Hale Woodruff, Edward N. Wilson, Jr., and Thomas Munro, are in the Morgan's collection. The letters are housed and cataloged separately as MA 22733, MA 23385, and MA 23386.
On the stationery of the Cleveland Musem of Art.
Esther Krasny was a student at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina. In the fall of 1955, she wrote to a number of artists, educators, and art historians, asking for their opinions on "the influence of the Negro artist on painting today." Three of the responses she received, from Hale Woodruff, Edward N. Wilson, Jr., and Thomas Munro, are in the Morgan's collection. The letters are housed and cataloged separately as MA 22733, MA 23385, and MA 23386.
Provenance
Purchased from Swann Auction Galleries, Sale 2470, March 22, 2018.
Summary
Apologizing for not responding to her inquiry on the "influence of the Negro artist on painting" more promptly; writing that there has been "a considerable influence of primitive Negro art, especially African sculpture, on modern painting and sculpture: Beginning about 1906, this influence is still strong. However, very few American artists of Negro ancestry have shown much interest in African art or emphasized its influence in their work;" discussing the implications of this statement further; writing "Among the hundreds of American artists whose work I see in exhibitions, I have no idea which ones may be of Negro descent, except in the case of the small number whom I have met personally;" concluding "If there are any distinguishing characteristics of American Negro artists today, or any distinctive influence by Negro artists on modern painting, I am not aware of them. There are, of course, interesting local groups such as the one in Haiti, which would probably come under that heading."
Catalog link
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