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Ray Anne Lockard's question about the Dictionary of Art reminds me of a
puzzling discovery I made the other day about that estimable work: the absence
of some major living or recent African-American artists. Romare Bearden isn't
there, Jacob Lawrence isn't, Martin Puryear isn't -- have others noticed
omissions? Certainly they seem regrettable in a work which has aimed at broad
inclusiveness, even if one grants that Americans may have different estimations
of our own artists' importance than the rest of the world.
Bill Lang
Art Department, The Free Library of Philadelphia
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