Shaping Black Modernisms: Art, Culture, and Community in California

Topics in this conference address Black artists in the Bay Area—centered on the life and work of Sargent Claude Johnson—and in Southern California, especially the Black artistic community that developed in Pasadena, as well as California’s key position along the Pacific Rim. With talks by academics and artists, performances of music from the archives by Black composers Harold Bruce Forsythe and William Grant Still, and tours of the exhibitions, this two-day conference celebrates Black creativity in California’s past, present, and future.

Conference Schedule

Friday, Feb. 23

8:30 a.m. | Registration and Coffee

9 a.m. | Welcome

• Susan Juster (W.M. Keck Foundation Director of Research, The Huntington)

9:15 a.m. | Remarks

• Robert C. Davidson Jr. (Huntington Board of Governors and Board Chair, Smithsonian American Art Museum)
• Dennis Carr (Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator of American Art, The Huntington)

9:30 a.m. | Keynote

• Bridget R. Cooks (Professor of Art History and African American Studies, UC Irvine), “Sargent Johnson: Black Catalyst”

10:30 a.m. | Panel 1: Sargent Claude Johnson: Art and Life

• Moderator: Dennis Carr (Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator of American Art, The Huntington)
• Jacqueline Francis (California College of the Arts)
• John Bowles (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

Noon | Lunch

1 p.m. | Panel 2: Black Composers in the Archives: William Grant Still and Harold Bruce Forsythe, with a Performance by the Pasadena City College Music Ensemble

• Moderator: Solomon Cross (Dean of Performing and Communication Arts, Pasadena City College)
• Michael Preacely (University of Kentucky), “William Grant Still’s Songs of Separation: The Chamber Ensemble”
• Kenneth Marcus (University of La Verne), “Still and Forsythe: A Creative Collaboration”
• Performance: Pasadena City College Music Ensemble led by Dr. Henry Shin (Director of Orchestras, Pasadena City College)

  • Still, “Mother and Child” from Suite for Violin and Piano
    Ji Young An, violin
    Henry Shin, piano

  • Forsythe, “Comment” from God Beguiled (String Quartet)
    Ji Young An and Daniel Diaz, violins
    Elizabeth Kim, viola
    Natan Long, cello

  • Forsythe, Fantasia for Violin and Piano
    Ji Young An, violin
    Henry Shin, piano

3:30 p.m. | Tour of “Sargent Claude Johnson” exhibition in the Boone Gallery with exhibition curators

Saturday, Feb. 24

9 a.m. | Registration and Coffee

10 a.m. | Panel 3: Black Pasadena: A Creative Ecosystem for African American Artists in California

• Moderator: Lauren Cross (Gail-Oxford Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts, The Huntington)
• Tiffany Barber (UCLA), “Betye Saar, Choreographer”
• James Smalls (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), “IN/CORPOREALITIES: Richmond Barthé’s Sculptural Journey from Harlem to Pasadena”
• Ian White (Charles White Archives), “Charles White’s Altadena”

11:30 a.m. | Film Screening: Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight

Noon | Lunch

1 p.m. | Panel 4: Black Pacific Futures

• Moderator: Jacqueline Francis (Dean, Humanities and Sciences Division, California College of the Arts)
• Adia Millett (Artist), “Conversations Beyond Language”
• Joan Kee (University of Michigan), “Martin Puryear Stands Tall in Tokyo”
• Tobias Wofford (Virginia Commonwealth University), “Misidentifications and Valuable Friendships”

3 p.m. | Closing Remarks

Image: Sargent Claude Johnson, Head of a Boy, ca. 1928, glazed stoneware, 7 1/2 × 4 3/4 × 6 in.