Getty Research Institute acquires Evangeline J. Montgomery archive
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, October 11, 2024


Getty Research Institute acquires Evangeline J. Montgomery archive
Evangeline J. Montgomery. Photo: Erwin Thamm.



LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Getty Research Institute has acquired the archive of Evangeline J. Montgomery. As a curator, cultural worker, and arts administrator, Montgomery used her positions within and outside the government to advocate for representation of African American artists through national and international exhibitions and institutional programming.

“Montgomery worked tirelessly behind the scenes for a more equitable, and truer, version of American art and art history” says LeRonn P. Brooks, associate curator for modern and contemporary collections. “Montgomery’s archive moves underrecognized histories of African American art exhibitions, organizations, artists, lectures, and meetings to the foreground during an era of their widespread exclusion from the mainstream artworld.”

“Montgomery’s archive is a significant contribution to the GRI’s growing collections of African American art texts and other research materials, specifically within the context of lesser-known and understudied African American art exhibitions, organizations, and cultural events from the late 1960s through the 1980s,” says Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute. “Much of this material, in the form of rare publications, ephemera, and correspondence, has rarely been saved and cannot be found through traditional means.”

Dating from the 1970s, her archive and library reflect her wide-ranging contacts and interests, containing approximately 220 linear feet of valuable documentation. The collection encompasses nearly 600 books, as well as catalogues, correspondence, leaflets, and other forms of ephemera, such as slides, audio recordings, video cassettes, and documentary photography.

Examples include correspondence with organizations such as the Arts and Culture Committee of the Coalition of 100 Black Women of D.C. and the African American Museums Association. The archive contains literature from The Journal of the National Conference of Artists and the American Association for State and Local History, for whom Montgomery created and led arts workshops. The archive also contains rare exhibition pamphlets from important exhibitions such as Romare Bearden’s “Memory and Metaphor: The Art of Romare Bearden, 1940-1987,” and catalogues for renowned African American artists Sargent Johnson, Bob Thompson, Charles White, and Betye Saar.




More personal items are included as well, such as an award for service from the United States Information Agency. Though she was never one to seek the limelight, Montgomery’s archive contains vital documentation of the exhibitions, programs, and organizations—both large and small—that helped define the field of African American art and scholarship during the latter half of the twentieth century: slides, photographs and documentation of her art work and studio practice; images and documentation of prominent Black artists and scholars such as Samella Lewis, Betye Saar, Sam Gilliam, Leslie King Hammond, Richard Powell, and others; documentation of a major event for the national Conference of Artists (NCA), Montgomery's work in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s in connection with San Francisco College, the Oakland Museum, and the California and San Francisco Arts Commissions.

Evangeline J. Montgomery

Montgomery was born in New York, NY. She received her B.F.A. from California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA. She moved to Oakland in 1965, and by 1967 had founded an African American artists' advocacy group called Art West Associated North (AWAN). Like other political organizations concerned with African American visibility and self-definition, the association protested the exclusion of African American artists from local museums and galleries.

Montgomery began curating independently during the late 1960s and would go on to organize over 150 exhibitions over the course of her career. In 1968, she joined the staff of the Oakland Museum as an art consultant under the museum's Cultural and Ethnic Affairs Guild (later responsible for founding the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1974, and in 1976, the first Oakland Black Cowboy Association parade). During this time, she also served as an art consultant for the Rainbow Sign Gallery in Berkeley, California, a progressive Black cultural center active between 1971 and 1978.

Montgomery later became an exhibition specialist for the American Association for State and Local History in Nashville, and also organized national exhibition workshops for the Association of African American Museums. And from 1976 until 1979, Montgomery served as a San Francisco art commissioner. In 1983, she began her career with the United States Department of State as a program development officer for the Arts America Program at the United States Information Agency (USIA), using her position within the government to make sure African American artists were better represented in international exhibitions.

Montgomery was also an active studio artist working in prints, metals, fiber and photography. Her work is in the collections of the Los Angeles Board of Education (Los Angeles, CA), The Oakland Museum (Oakland, CA), and The Museum of the National Center for African American Artists (Boston, MA). Montgomery has also held solo shows in Washington, D.C., Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, and New Orleans. Her professional affiliations include the Galleries National Conference of Artists (former National Coordinator of Regions and National Conference Coordinator), the College Art Association Women's Caucus for the Arts (honorary life member), and the Carl T. Rowan Chapter of Blacks in Government (BIGCTR).










Today's News

October 22, 2022

Paris+ Art Fair opens: More corporate, less French

More art to see in Paris this fall

Billy Al Bengston, painter who channeled California Cool, dies at 88

A prehistoric sculpture inspires a Tokyo gallery

Two stunning special exhibitions kick off 'The Year of Pre-Raphaelites'

Alex Katz: Six ramps of a painter's progress

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco acquire rare work by Canaletto

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston opens first major American survey of Frank Bowling's work in over four decades

The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg to open its first exhibition focused solely on Black artists and artisans

Norman Lewis, Winfred Rembert & more shine in Swann Galleries' Fall 2022 African American Art Sale

Getty Research Institute acquires Evangeline J. Montgomery archive

5 artists to watch at the California Biennial

Top 20th century artists featured in the Estate of Melvin S. Rosenthal

Cy Twombly in Los Angeles: Cheeky, challenging, classical

An artist embodies an approach to music without borders

Review: In 'Topdog/Underdog,' staying alive Is the ultimate hustle

A shrinking town at the center of France's culture wars

wani toaishara wins the 2022 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award

"The Chapel" funeral tomb designed by BERGER+PARKKINEN

From Body to Horizon: An exhibition of paintings by queer artists opens at LGDR

Gordon Parks' Segregation Story Expanded Edition released earlier this month

Simon Foxall: Self Portrait as a Thumb in a Storm now on show at the Alchemy Gallery

Solo exhibition A L E P H at the Fred & Ferry Gallery recently opened in Antwerp

Mettere al Mondo il Mondo, curated by Mark Godfrey, on view at the Thomas Dane Galery




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful