TINWOOD BOOKS - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Souls Grown Deep:
African American Vernacular Art
Volume Two
by William Arnett and Paul Arnett
"I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world
and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers."
excerpt from a poem by Langston Hughes (1926)
On October 25, 2001, Tinwood Books is publishing the companion volume to the
critically acclaimed first volume of Souls Grown Deep: African American
Vernacular Art, which brings the study of this art into the twenty-first century.
Of the first volume the Village Voice wrote "Souls Grown Deep rescues the
vernacular visual tradition of the black South from obscurity
the way W.C. Handy saved the blues."
Published in 2000, the first volume explored the diverse historical roots of the
genre and introduced artists whose work recalled the South of the pre-Civil Rights
Era. Souls Grown Deep Volume Two explores the more contemporary tradition (1980s
- 1990s) as developed by artists who came of age during and after the crucible of
the civil rights struggle and the following social change. While grounded in
African American folk life, these artists have produced increasingly complex and
ambitious art intimately engaged with the problems and issues of modern American
society. With unprecedented thoroughness and scope, volume two takes readers
inside these creators' worlds. The volume includes lavishly illustrated full color
chapters on thirty artists featuring many artworks never before published.
Biographies of each artist as well as first person accounts bring their work and
stories to life. The book features over 1,000 photographs and full color
illustrations.
Authors William and Paul Arnett have been researching and documenting African
American art for over thirty years. Among the noted figures who have lent their
voices to this definitive work are Lowery Stokes Sims, director of the Studio
Museum of Harlem in New York City, and author Jane Livingston of Washington, DC.
This landmark volume challenges long held assumptions about art and the art
establishment. These non-academic creators shame the contemporary art scene with
their deeply felt, powerful works. They break away from the stereotypes that
identify folk art with rural, isolated, and agrarian ways of life - these pages
unveil an art that embodies social change.
Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art, Volume Two is an indispensable
resource for general readers and those interested in folk art and contemporary art,
the South, or African American culture. This volume is a revelation in art and
cultural history and will astonish you.
Over 1,000 illustrations
Index, Appendix
608 pages, 10 1/2" x 12 1/2"
Price: $100.00 Hardcover
ISBN: 0-9653766-3-x
Publication Date: November 2001
To request a review copy or for further information please contact:
Jane Lahr - Director of Publicity, Special Sales, and Special Markets
phone: 212 722 7778
fax: 212 828 2089
email: [log in to unmask]
Tinwood Books are distributed by Publishers Group West
For orders please call 800-788-3123
Tinwood Books
209 College Street
Suite 302
Burlington, VT 05401
phone: 802-951-9504
fax: 802-951-5731
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