Building on a visionary educator’s dream

In 1962, a Philadelphia artist named Paul Keene completed a large abstract painting that he called “The Barrier.” On the surface, the painting closely resembled other works of the then-fashionable New York school of Abstract Expressionism: nonrepresentational imagery painted in a muscular, “all-over” style that emphasized the physical act of putting pigments on canvas.

But Keene was an African American painter, and almost hidden within his seemingly abstract design was another powerful image: that of black protesters being pummeled by water cannons at the height of the civil rights struggle in Birmingham, Ala.

When James E. Lewis, then chairman of the art department at Morgan State University, saw the work later that year, he immediately recognized its significance as an example of both advanced American painting and of politically engaged African American art. Despite limited funds, Lewis decided to purchase the work as a teaching tool for his students.

“The Barrier” thus became part of a collection that eventually would grow to more than 4,000 objects by artists from all over the world. Now it is on display again in a new museum named after Lewis. Located in the university’s Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center, which was completed last year, the James E. Lewis Museum’s first show presents more than 200 artworks from the 16th century to the present, including European and American painting, African sculpture, installation, prints, drawing and photography.

The museum and the collection it houses are a tribute to Lewis’ vision as a pioneering arts educator among the nation’s historically black colleges and universities. The artworks Lewis collected for the school, almost all of the purchases made possible by gifts from individuals and institutions, have helped educate generations of Morgan fine arts graduates.

“The mission of the museum from the beginning has been to provide for the cultural enrichment of our students,” said Gabriel S. Tenabe, director of the museum and head of the fine arts department. “This was Lewis’ dream, and over the years we have been very successful in building on what he started.”

The museum’s holdings range from 17th century Dutch genre scenes to works by Romantic, Impressionist and Modern masters. They include works by Thomas Cole, John Constable, Jean Corot, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent and Salvador Dali as well as examples of such Harlem Renaissance artists as Hale Woodruff, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden and Elizabeth Catlett.

“Lewis had embarked on a lifelong endeavor to put together a collection from a multicultural perspective,” curator A.M. Weaver said. “So the show is really held together by his pluralist aesthetic.”

The inaugural show, titled “Convergence,” highlights the close relationship between European Modernism and a politically engaged group of African American artists during the first half of the 20th century who set out to redefine the terms of black identity in America. Many of these artists had studied in Europe and returned to the U.S. determined to apply what they had learned to the depiction of African American life.

The influence of African sculpture on Modernism also prompted efforts to collect African art for its unique aesthetic qualities. The Lewis museum houses an extensive collection of African masks, sculpture and ceremonial objects that occupy pride of place in the show.

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Glenn McNatt is art critic at the Baltimore Sun, a Tribune company.