Whose Abstract Art? by Carla Blank In The New York Times (April
7, 2006) art critic Holland Cotter began a Weekend Arts review
of “Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction
1964-1980” at the Studio Museum in Harlem stating, “Histories
get lost. That’s how life is. Then, when the time is right, they
get found.” He then calls abstraction “one of the most radical
forms of 20th century art….” This statement ignores the fact
that examples of abstract art can be found prior to the 20th
century and appears to imply that white artists invented
abstract art when Mr. Cotter continues, “Also, abstraction
raised authenticity issues. It was widely seen as white art,
academic art. Whites viewed black practitioners as copycats;
blacks dismissed them as sellouts.” While this statement may
contain some truth, it neglects to mention that copious
documentation exists to prove that those late 19th and 20th
century visual artists, living in Europe and the United States,
who were looking for new ways to express their i