{"id":12315,"date":"2022-05-13T14:33:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T14:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=12315"},"modified":"2022-05-22T02:47:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T02:47:44","slug":"baia-bits-allan-rohan-crite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=12315","title":{"rendered":"BAIA BITS: Allan Rohan Crite"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAIA BITS<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Little Moments Where Knowledge Meets Art<\/em><\/p>\n\n

\u201cMy intention in the neighborhood paintings and some drawings was to show aspects of life in the city with special reference to the use of the terminology \u201cblack\u201d people and to present them in an ordinary light, persons enjoying the usual pleasures of life with its mixtures of both sorrow and joys\u2026 I was an artist-reporter, recording what I saw.\u201d<\/em> –Allan Crite, <\/strong>The Artist Craftsman\u2019s Work on the Church, Commentary on the 1950s, Smithsonian Institution<\/p>\n

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Allan Rohan Crite, Sunlight and Shadow, 1941, oil on board, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1977.45<\/p><\/div>\n

\u200bOn Columbus Avenue in Boston, at the intersection of West Canton and Appleton Streets, there is a location known as Crite Square that honors acclaimed artist and South End resident, Allan Rohan Crite. The talented Crite was a prominent artist well-known for his depictions of his local African American community during the 1930s.<\/p>\n

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey but raised in Boston, Crite\u2019s poet mother and physician father\u2014his dad was also one of the first Black people to earn an engineering license\u2014encouraged their son to draw. After displaying substantial talent as a child, Crite later attended Boston University, the Massachusetts School of Art, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, later earning a\u00a0Bachelor of Arts degree at the Harvard University Extension School.<\/p>\n

During the 1930s, the devout Episcopalian focused his art on modern interpretations of religious themes, mostly in pen and ink and lithography. Upon increasing acclaim, Crite\u2019s work was first shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1936. He began a series of drawings in 1937 depicting three spirituals, ultimately published by Harvard University in 1948 and entitled Three Spirituals From Earth to Heaven<\/em>. Along with religious themes, Crite spent the\u00a01930s and 40s creating a\u00a0series of\u00a0\u200b\u201cneighborhood paintings\u201d inspired by the nearby African American Roxbury district. While exhibiting works of art aimed at authentically depicting his community\u2014contrary to the mostly jazz or sharecropping imagery projected by the mainstream or dominant narrative\u2014Crite worked as an illustrator in the Planning Department of the Boston Naval Shipyards through the Federal Arts Project, a position he would hold for over three decades.<\/p>\n

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Allan Rohan Crite, School’s Out, 1936, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.18<\/p><\/div>\n

In the 1950s, Crite lectured regularly on liturgical art and published several theological books aimed at centralizing the Black figure. \u201cI\u2019ve only done one piece of work in my whole life and I am still at it,\u201d he once offered. \u201cI wanted to paint people of color as normal humans. I tell the story of man through the black figure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in life, Crite employed a \u201cmagical-realism\u2019 in his paintings, using bright colors and religious themes to offer messages of optimism and redemption.<\/p>\n

Allan Rohan Crite met his maker on September 6, 2007 at the age of 97 in his beloved Boston. He left behind a prolific body of work that remains in such prominent locations as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Boston Athenaeum, the latter touting the largest public collection of his paintings and watercolors.<\/p>\n

BAIA BITS are produced in part by the generous support of our Patreon members with a special shout out to Zadig & Voltaire.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"Stephanie Robinson, Esq.<\/strong> is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, a national media figure, author, former Chief Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and former President and CEO of The Jamestown Project, a national think tank focusing on democracy. Ms. Robinson hosted her own national radio show, Roundtable with Stephanie Robinson<\/em>, a popular weekly 30-minute, talk-radio program focused on culture, politics, and relationships that aired on TSN. For over half a decade, Ms. Robinson was Political and Social Commentator for the Tom Joyner Morning Show<\/em> where she spoke to between 9 and 10 million people weekly, offering her perspective on the day\u2019s most pressing social and political issues.<\/p>\n

Robinson is co-author of Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise<\/u>, (Atria Books, 2009). She is a nationally recognized expert on issues relating to social policy, women, race, family, and electoral politics. She was featured as one of the 30 Young Leaders of the Future in Ebony Magazine and was profiled in the book As I Am: Young African American Women in a Critical Age<\/u>, by Julian Okwu. Robinson is a frequent speaker expressing her views in countless media outlets including the Associated Press, The Washington Post, C-Span, Fox News, NewsOne <\/em>and NPR<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Stephanie was a Member of President Clinton\u2019s first Mission to Africa regarding children orphaned by AIDS. Robinson, a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maryland and the Harvard Law School, is a native of Steubenville, Ohio. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.<\/p>\n

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