{"id":8878,"date":"2021-02-09T10:02:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T10:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=8878"},"modified":"2021-02-09T10:03:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T10:03:46","slug":"baia-bits-charles-alstons-mlk-bust-4-years-in-the-oval-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=8878","title":{"rendered":"BAIA BITS: Charles Alston’s MLK Bust 4 Years In The Oval Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAIA BITS: <\/b>Charles Alston’s MLK Bust 4 Years In The Oval Office <\/i><\/h3>\n

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

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Archives of American Art -_Charles Alston<\/p><\/div>\n

When the pioneering and newly-inaugurated president, Barack Obama, entered the Oval Office in January 2009, he brought with him a stunning bust of Martin Luther King Jr. It was the first time an image of an African American had ever graced the president\u2019s inner working quarters. The sculptor of the piece\u2014at that point deceased by over three decades\u2014was the 20<\/span>th<\/span> century African American artist,<\/span> Charles Alston.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like<\/span> the sculpture of King, and<\/span> President Obama, Alston was accustomed to being first. A talented painter and sculptor, he was the first African American supervisor for the Works Progress Administration,<\/span> the<\/span> New Deal agency providing artists and others with public works projects. There, Alston led a staff of 35 artists and assistants while managing the public murals created for Harlem Hospital. In 1969, he became the first African American to teach at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Students League.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Charles Alston, 1907 – 1977, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, \u00a9 Estate of Charles Alston<\/p><\/div>\n

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1907 to a prominent family\u2014and related<\/span> by a familial marriage to renowned artist Romare Bearden\u2014Alston attended Columbia University as an undergraduate before earning a M.F.A. from Columbia University\u2019s Teachers College in 1931. While working at the Harlem Arts Workshop, the civic program outgrew its space, so Alston secured an additional location at 306 W. 141 Street. The new space, dubbed “306,” quickly became a popular location for artists and activists of the Harlem art community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alston\u2019s art was significantly influenced by muralists Diego Rivera, Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros given their consistent promotion of issues of social justice in their works and his personal association with these legendary Mexican artists. During the early 1930s, when the communist Diego Rivera was painting his famous mural at Rockefeller Center\u2014a project subsequently destroyed by the Rockefeller family for its anticapitalistic representations\u2014Alston regularly visited with Rivera to talk since both men happened to speak French.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with receiving numerous awards and acclaim for painting and sculpting throughout his career, Alston\u2019s cartoons and illustrations were published in such popular magazines as Fortune and The New Yorker. He taught at the City University of New York<\/span> from 1970 up until his death in 1977. Alston\u2019s artwork is housed in the permanent collections of several museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.<\/span><\/p>\n

BAIA BITS are produced in part by the generous support of our Patreon members with a special shout out to Zadig & Voltaire.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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\"\"Stephanie Robinson, Esq.<\/strong>\u00a0is 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.\u00a0\u00a0Ms. Robinson hosted her own national radio show,\u00a0Roundtable with Stephanie Robinson<\/em>, a popular weekly 30-minute, talk-radio program focused on culture, politics, and relationships that aired on TSN.\u00a0\u00a0For over half a decade, Ms. Robinson was Political and Social Commentator for the\u00a0Tom Joyner Morning Show<\/em>\u00a0where 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\u00a0Accountable: 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.\u00a0\u00a0She was featured as one of the 30 Young Leaders of the Future in Ebony Magazine and was profiled in the book\u00a0As I Am: Young African American Women in a Critical Age<\/u>, by Julian Okwu.\u00a0\u00a0Robinson is a frequent speaker expressing her views in countless media outlets including the\u00a0Associated Press, The Washington Post, C-Span, Fox News, NewsOne\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0NPR<\/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

Would you buy stock in BAIA if you could? Well we invite you to join us in becoming a monthly supporter, starting at just $3 a month\u00a0YOU<\/b> become a stakeholder and begin to help us transform lives through art. We are growing the BAIA team and will use your contributions to hire more team members for the purpose of creating more educational and marketing resources for schools and universities about african american artists both past and present. Such art initiatives and educational programming like Blacklite with Steve Prince, Relating to Art with Dr. Kelli Morgan, and BAIA BITS would not be possible without the ongoing support of our Patreon members. Please consider becoming a monthly Patreon member today!
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