Wilfred Francis – Ethiopia Stretches Forth Her Hands (1968), Collection: Wayne Chen

The National Gallery of Jamaica deeply regrets the passing of self-taught artist Wilfred Francis on August 21, 2013.

Wilfred Francis, who was popularly known as “Jabba”, was born in Spanish Town on August 24, 1924 – he died just three days short of his 89th birthday – and started painting sometime in 1966. His first exhibition on record was the 1967 Festival exhibition, where his work was favourably received, but Francis withdrew from the formal art world shortly after although he continued working, reportedly because of negative experiences with art patrons. Nearly forty years later, he started exhibiting again, encouraged by art dealer and collector Wayne Gallimore, and in 2004 had his first and only solo exhibition at the Mutual Gallery. His unique style and eccentric, visionary imagination were a revelation to many in the Jamaican art world and late in life he acquired a small but enthusiastic following of collectors.

Wilfred Francis at his Kingston home and studio in 2006 (photo: Veerle Poupeye)

It may seem surprising that an artist of the calibre of Wilfred Francis was not included in the National Gallery’s seminal Intuitive Eye exhibition in 1979, even though he was producing work at that time, and he was also not represented in the Gallery’s next major survey of the genre, Fifteen Intuitives in 1987. The Intuitives III exhibition in 2007 was the National Gallery’s only exhibition of Intuitive art in which Francis was featured. It certainly took long for Francis to be included in the Intuitive art canon but he played an active role in his exclusion from the mainstream art world. While there was always some awareness of his work among specialized collectors of Intuitive art, Francis notoriously priced his works much higher than most would have been willing to pay, which may have been a strategy to maintain his personal and artistic independence from the demands and patronage of the formal art world. It is of note that he kept most of his works until late in life to serve, as he put it to Sana Rose in 2004, as “a gallery for myself [to] have my paintings to look at, surround me and give me a sense of comfort.”

Wilfred Francis – Monstrosity in Space (1980), Collection; Wayne Gallimore

The hesitations that surrounded Wilfred Francis’ work in the Jamaican art world, on the other hand, may also have stemmed from his choice of materials: he worked mainly on paper and often used media such as felt pen, which were until recently not recognized as legitimate fine art media and which may have caused collectors to fear that their investments would be subject to rapid deterioration. This unorthodox choice of media was yet another indication of how Francis “marched to his own drummer” but it was also an essential part of his unique aesthetic. His most spectacular works are intricately patterned drawings, in which felt pens was used as the sole medium or in combination with brightly coloured painted patterns.

Wilfred Francis – Martha Cutting the Black Golden Fleece at 21 (1983), Collection: Wayne Gallimore

With these unorthodox media, Wilfred Francis created eclectic, fantastic worlds that drew freely from a multitude of sources, real and imagined, including Sci-Fi, his family, the local environment, girly magazines, and, of course, the Bible. His early work Ethiopia Stretches Forth Her Hands (1968), for instance, is a beautifully delicate invocation of Psalms 68:31, a Bible verse which has been particularly influential in African Diasporal popular culture and reflect his groundedness in that context, but he was equally at ease producing wild outer-space fantasies such as Monstrosity in Space (1980), which a fanciful space station is surrounded by equally fantastic star-ships in what appears to be another universe altogether.

The recognition of Wilfred Francis’ artistic worth may have taken a long time to come, and still needs to be fully established, but the story of his life and art remind of one of Rex Nettleford’s most poignant statements: “If the people of the Caribbean own nothing else, they certainly can own their creative imagination which, viewed in a particular way, is a powerful means of production for much that brings meaning and purpose to human life.” Wilfred Francis’ oeuvre is arguably an expression of the individual freedom that is to be found in artistic expression and the joy and self-actualization that comes with claiming that freedom. It should come as no surprise that Wilfred Francis’ solo exhibition at Mutual Gallery was called Freedom.

The Board and Staff of the National Gallery of Jamaica extend their sincere condolences to the family and friends of Wilfred Francis.

Veerle Poupeye
Executive Director

Michael Parchment – Death of a Don (2010)

The National Gallery of Jamaica deeply regrets the passing of the painter, sculptor and poet Michael Parchment on Tuesday, August 20, 2013.

Michael Parchment was born on August 13, 1957 to a Revival family and he lived in Seaview Gardens in Kingston for most of his adult life. Called by visions, he started painting in 1978 and had his first exhibition in 1983. He was a regular participant in the Festival Fine Arts Exhibition (later the National Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition), where he won many accolades, including Gold medals in 2006 and 2007. He regularly exhibited at Harmony Hall, the Mutual Gallery and the National Gallery of Jamaica in Jamaica, where he won the Tribute to Bob Marley Competition in 2005 with his relief panting No Woman Nuh Cry (2005). He was featured in the National Gallery’s Intuitives III exhibition in 2006. Parchment also exhibited internationally in the USA, Venezuala, England and Switzerland, and Canada and was recently featured in Contemporary Jamaican Art, Circa 1962/Circa 2012, which was staged on the occasion of Jamaica 50 at the Art Gallery of Mississauga near Toronto. He also self-published several volumes of his poetry, which had titles such as I Raged in Chains and The Inna Thoughts and Feelings of the Poet.

Michael Parchment – No Woman Nuh Cry (2005), Collection: NGJ

Michael Parchment was originally exclusively a painter, who produced elaborately patterned compositions painted with strong black outlines and bright enamel colours, but he started adding relief elements by layering jig-sawed plywood elements into his paintings sometime in the late 1990s and that quickly became his signature style. While he continued painting throughout his life, his experimentation with layered plywood evolved into three-dimensional assemblages that became increasingly complex and ambitious over time, such as his spectacular Slave Ship (2010).

Michael Parchment – Slave Ship (2010)

Revival religion and the philosophy of Marcus Garvey were two major influences in Michael Parchment’s life and work and his depictions of Biblical subjects, Revival scenes and the history of transatlantic slavery were informed by a strong awareness of his own place in this cultural universe. He was a great admirer of Kapo and paid tribute to him, as an artist and Revival leader, in several of his works. This celebratory quality was also evident in his depictions of other aspects of Jamaican cultural life, such as his tributes to the achievements of Jamaican athletes or Bob Marley, but Parchment was also capable of biting social satire in works that presented tragicomic parables on the culture of “politricks” and donmanship, often using the popular culture personage of the Johncrow as the embodiment of trickery and deceit. Parchment’s preoccupation with social satire through popular culture references is perhaps best illustrated by the assemblage sculpture Death of a Don (2010), which not only referred to actual recent events in Jamaican society but also to a peculiar aspect of Jamaica’s folklore: rumours that have surfaced at various times in Jamaica’s modern history about sightings of a mysterious hearse manned by Johncrows, which usually started circulating at times of great social anxiety.

Michael Parchment – Abraham and Isaac (n.d.)

Tribute or satire, Michael Parchment’s work reflected a robust love of country and deep pride in his cultural heritage. He was an energetic and enthusiastic presence in the Jamaican art world and cut a striking figure at exhibition openings, always nattily dressed in African-style outfits. Mr Parchment had been ill since last year and was 56 years old at the time of his death. The Board and Staff of the National Gallery extend their sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Veerle Poupeye, Executive Director

One of Michael Parchment’s self-published poetry books

Michael Parchment at the opening of the 2011 National Visual Arts Exhibition, National Gallery of Jamaica

The NGJ recently staged an art writing workshop for its curatorial staff, which was presented by Nicole Smythe-Johnson. Here is the first of a series of short reviews that were produced during this workshop, written by Patreece McIntosh – a response to Ikem Smith’s 2063 music animation, which is currently on view in New Roots. Patreece is a Visual Communications graduate of the Edna Manley College and works as the NGJ’s Graphic Designer.

It depicts a blood red sky, absent buildings and not a single tree in sight. Against this post-apocalyptic background a dark figure is running, we don’t yet know why. It is a minute and fifty seconds of panic and confusion, the music becomes more intense and then abruptly there is an impact. He crashes to the ground with force, a firearm flashes across the screen and we now have our answer when we least expect it.

The death of the figure in Ikem Smith’s animated music video entitled 2063, and created fifty years earlier in 2013, is still quite mysterious though it is clearly implied what has happened to him. There are so many questions that can be asked; one can ask who he was, what he was doing before, where he was going to and who he was running from. The fact that the figure is unidentified makes it easy to imagine that it could be any of us and so these questions could be answered with a little imagination.

The animation suggests a future that is polluted and devastated. The iconic clock tower which flashes briefly at the beginning as well as the words of the song “…twelve o’ clock, midnight, Half Way Tree…” gives away the setting. It begins with a dark sky, the background gradually changes to red, revealing an environment which seems to be covered in enough smog to blot out the sun. The air seems polluted and maybe so is everything else. The environment is desolate, it seems that everything has turned to dust, possibly decimated by war or natural disaster. Pollution, corrosion and devastation, it could all be taken at face value; however it could also speak to the current state of our governance, our economy and the direction we are heading in as a country – questions which were particularly acute during Jamaica’s 50^th year of independence, to which the video seems to allude.

The song itself is quite heavy, packing a few more pounds than the video itself: by the time the background fully turns red, the lyrics ring out “…A nuh IMF fault seh wi licky licky, we too wanga gut too wanga belly….”.  It is a pretty provoking statement and this is obviously political. It jabs at a history and a present that is saturated with greed, the radius of this topic however is much too large to be explored here. I would urge a spectator to really consume the lyrics of this song.

This piece provides many different experiences within a very short time frame. It has the power to suspend, it is mysterious, it is disturbing and it definitely has impact. The lyrics of the song provide a sort of back story to the piece and the piece simply isn’t effective without it. This animation however feels somewhat incomplete but complete in its own right; because the truth is there is something real about its incompleteness that resonates with our state of being in this country.

Click here for more on Ikem Smith and his work in New Roots

Camille Chedda – Built-In Obsolescence (2010-2011), Acrylic on Sandwich Bags, 28 parts, each 20 x 16 cm

Here is another in the series of reviews that were produced as part of the NGJ’s recent art writing workshop for its curatorial staff. This comparison between the self-portraits of Henry Daley from our permanent collection and Camille Chedda’s self-portraits in New Roots was written by Monique Barnett-Davidson. Monique is a Painting graduate of the Edna Manley College and is one of our two Curatorial Assistants.

As an art enthusiast, I always enjoy tracking how artists over time have extended long-referenced concepts and subject matters to discuss and explore aspects of culture and social life. As I explored the recently installed contemporary exhibition, New Roots: 10 Emerging Artists, at the NGJ, I was excited to identify parallels between that and works from the NGJ’s permanent display of older modern pieces.

Take self-portraiture for example. In Jamaican art, approaches to self-portraiture have been largely conventional. There are, however, some Jamaican artists who are exceptional and whose approaches to self-portraiture may be more aligned to figures like Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo. These artists – by consistently referencing themselves in their artistic output – set new standards of openness that move beyond the older heroic depiction of the artist, to the artist as a vulnerable, fallible and questionable human being.

Henry Daley – The Artist (c1943), Oil on Hardboard, 60 x 44 cm, Collection: NGJ

Recently, two Jamaican examples of this approach to self-portraiture have stood out for me. One work is entitled (and aptly named) The Artist (c. 1943), done by early twentieth century painter Henry Daley. The other, entitled Built-In Obsolescence (2010-2011) is executed by young contemporary artist, Camille Chedda. These two works illustrated not only a common interest in subject matter shared by these artists, but offered me a fascinating parallel between two different time periods and generations within Jamaican art and cultural history.

Henry Daley was born in Portland, 1919 and died at age 32 in 1951. Documentation on the artist reveals that there were periods of his life that were characterized by agonizing hardship and tragedy. These events may well have coincided with the painting of The Artist. The oil-on-hardboard painting portrays him as a frustrated creator, sitting glumly in a dimly lit space, with face and paintbrush in hand. The tight cropping of the figure within the space, along with muted tones of dark and light encrusted oil paint, communicates the oppression he appeared to feel.

I realise that the characterization could easily be misunderstood without some insight into the artist’s biography. For instance, the wearing of the hat coincides with accounts of his dedicated maintenance of his ‘Indian hair’. How ironic it is that he maintains certain considerations about his image in the painting, despite the morose exaggeration.

Unabashed too is Chedda’s Built-In Obsolescence, in which twenty-eight tiny self-portraits are each painted on plastic, transparent sandwich bags. Arranged in a long row, they act with the power of one. Each grey-toned face reveals subtle differences in appearance, in painterly expression, and states of erosion. Like Daley, she too exposes herself to your gaze. But her gaze is not introspective. Instead, twenty-eight pairs of her eyes engage you directly.

Camille Chedda Built-in Obsolescence, detail

These paintings were obviously made to be adversely affected by time, as pieces of her dried acrylic image flake away and collect silently inside the equally thin and fragile plastic bag, leaving some portraits only partial in appearance. As I moved my gaze from one version of Chedda to the next and the next, the work seems to subtly animate itself, changing and fluctuating. Akin to the idea of an open book, the bags invite a scrutinizing view into her sense of individuality.

Henry Daley and Camille Chedda have created works that imitate a human desire to invest meaning and purpose into one’s countenance. Just consider the fact that we now live in an age where facial and physical identity can be easily altered, shifted, borrowed or even stolen. Consider too, that both artists were operating in instances where what they produced as artwork contrasted with other artistic output of the time and in so doing, challenged notions of what ‘respectable artwork’ should look like and how it should function. Daley’s dark painting, I am sure, was a standout amongst more marketable idyllic portrayals of black Jamaicans of the 1930’s and 40’s. Chedda’s choice of medium does not offer any pretention of the ideal of the enduring artwork in the twenty-first century.

There are many other examples and parallels a curious mind will find between modern and post-modern explorations in Jamaican art. At the end of the day, the continuities become important for the purpose of strengthening the bridges between generations of artists to form a rhetoric that adds to the story of the Jamaican people. At one time, it was paint-on-canvas. This time it is paint-on-sandwich-bags. One can only anticipate how future voices will speak.

Peter Johnson – Want Freedom (2012), alabaster

The NGJ regrets the passing of the sculptor Peter Ralph Johnson. He was born on April 4, 1960 and most recently lived at 17 James Street, in downtown Kingston, where he operated his sculpture workshop.

Johnson was essentially self-taught as an artist, although he attended some leisure classes at the Edna Manley College. He also worked in the studio of artists such as Fitz Harrack and Judith Salmon. He collaborated with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission for many years, mounting exhibitions and doing set, costume design and restoring antiques. He also worked with Mutual Gallery, Gallery Pegasus and Grosvenor, mainly assisting with the mounting of exhibitions. He was a regular participant in the National Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition and was awarded bronze medals in 1982 1993 and 1996 and he had also exhibited at the NGJ in 2012 National Biennial. Johnson exhibited at various other galleries, including the Grosvenor Gallery and Gallery Pegasus. Most recently he was collaborating with the children’s workshops organized by OAaSIS International in downtown Kingston.

Peter Johnson – The Royal Visit (Chess), 2012

As a sculptor, Peter Johnson worked mainly in stone, especially alabaster, but occasionally also in wood. His sculpted a variety of subjects, including portrait heads and religious figures but the most outstanding examples reflected a droll, fantastic imagination, as could be seen in the gargoyle-like Want Freedom (2012) he exhibited in the 2012 National Biennial and The Royal Visit (2012), a satirical depiction of various royal figures in the form of a chess set, which was shown in the 2012 National Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition.

The NGJ extends sincere condolences to the family and friends of the late Peter Johnson.

Peter Johnson

Matthew McCarty – I Took the Liberty of Designing One (2013)

We are pleased to present the opening remarks delivered by Petrona at the opening of New Roots: 10 Emerging Artists on July 28, 2013.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to share some observations on what is an exciting and challenging exhibition.  This exhibition is significant in a number of ways. The National Gallery has had a long history of providing opportunities for artists to show work which challenge prevailing ideas and reflect new thinking, as seen in the Young Talent exhibitions. This exhibition, however, is groundbreaking in that it presents bodies of work which do not have the curatorial framing based on chronology, and presents the body of work on its own terms. This is the realisation of the concept of the “project space” which allows artists to present proposals for recent work, and allows us to focus on their ideas in a given space.

Varun Baker – Journey (2012), digital photograph

The exhibition reveals some interesting developments taking place in contemporary Jamaican Art. Taken as a whole, there is a prevailing denial of traditional notions of the “art object”. The space in which we are now located cannot be bought, collected or sold.  The site-specific work of Matthew McCarthy and the New Jamaica collective is defiant in its emphasis on collective engagement, and forces the audience to re-evaluate their ideas about “art” in the museum space.  What we see in this exhibition are investigations with a diverse range of media which challenge the hierarchies of the singular precious “object”, and do not privilege one form or media over another. The site-specific installations, video installation, photo-based work and animation sit beside painting and collage, each presented on its own terms.

Olivia McGilchrist

We also see new collaborative and interactive directions, where “the work” is not a complete entity but an evolving process in which the audience participates.  This participatory aspect  is a significant shift in the Jamaican art context, though it locates itself in major redefinitions of “authorship” and the role of the audience  which have informed contemporary art practice. The work by Matthew was produced by a team , and the collective effort is the product.  This is presented as an open-ended process in which the audience is invited to participate. The performative aspects of Olivia McGilchrist’s work are realised in the bodies which are interacting with us in the space, and Deborah Anzinger invites us to respond to and interact with the work directly.

Deborah Anzinger – detail of installation

The anonymity of “The Girl and the Magpie” presents a challenge to the idea of the artist in Jamaica, and the social hierarchies which are deeply embedded in the Jamaican art-world, dependent on validation and status, in which both artists and audience are complicit.  Her large-scale transformations of material invite us to meditate on the fragility of our ecosystems, and also serve to re-evaluate our concept of “jewellery”.

Ikem Smith – Sudafed (2013), animation still

There is also an interest in social activism which is overtly manifested in the work of Matthew McCarthy, and the New Jamaica project, as well as the work of Ikem Smith.  But this work is not seen through the  idealised lens of specific political ideology which informed the activism of my generation.  This activism is informed by a context in which the contradictions of the society  and the uncertainties of our time have shaped their perspective –  these artists are a product of our time. These artists are “knowing” and are not bound by fixed ideological positions.  The work is reflexive and also hopeful and optimistic.  This activism is also seen  in subtle but no less potent ways in documentary portraits of Nile Saulter and Varun Baker, who through their choice of subject make political statements, and take positions in terms of their own location.

Astro Saulter – Loleta40 (2012)

The work of Deborah Anzinger introduces new considerations.  Her seemingly disparate and random juxtapositions co-opt the audience in the deconstruction of the structures which exist in our realities and force the viewer to interrogate their own perceptions, an internal journey. Throughout this complex installation there is evidence of fragility, of issues of place, location and identity. The work engages in a conceptual language that may be new to this audience, but is very much grounded in and connected to the current times.

Nile Saulter

The works of Camille Chedda, Gisele Gardner, and Astro Saulter are linked by the exploration of interior landscapes, despite diverse approaches and media.  Astro Saulter uses digital imagery to produce dynamic, joyous and whimsical works to communicate his reality. Equally powerful are the disturbing paintings of Gisele Gardner and introspective self-portraits of Camille Chedda, which draw us inwards.  Olivia McGilchrist’s multi-layered video installation is an impressive investigation of race, gender and identity, which also reflects the fragility and displacement evident elsewhere in this exhibition.

Camille Chedda – Built-In bsolescence (2010-2011), Acrylic on Sandwich Bags, 28 parts, each 20 x 16 cm

So how do we support these artists, in this new paradigm, where the majority of the works are not “collectable”?  I believe that we need to first and foremost participate in the discussions around the work, engage the artists in critical dialogue, and be open to the ideas and concepts of art reflected in this exhibition.  I would like to congratulate the National Gallery on this bold initiative of the “project space”, and the work that they have been doing to foster this dialogue and broaden audiences, and hope that they will continue in this direction. There is also need for financial support of non-commercial alternative studio and exhibition spaces, which will provide opportunities for artists to develop their practice and realise ambitious projects.  Support can also come from the provision of project and travel grants, as well as artist-in-residence programmes sponsored by private entities and individuals.

I am very optimistic about the state of Jamaican art as reflected in this exhibition, and urge you to continue to support the artists, in a time of transition and change.

Petrona Morrison

Gisele Gardner

The National Gallery of Jamaica is staging another educational event associated with its New Roots: 10 Emerging Artists exhibition, namely a tour of the exhibition with five of the participating artists, namely Deborah Anzinger, Varun Baker, Camille Chedda, Nile Saulter and Ikem Smith, who will each talk about their work. This event is scheduled for Thursday, October 31, starting at 2:30 pm.

New Roots features work in a variety of new and conventional media by 10 artists under 40 years old, Deborah Anzinger, Varun Baker, Camille Chedda, Gisele Gardner, Matthew McCarthy, Olivia McGilchrist, Astro Saulter, Nile Saulter, Ikem Smith, and The Girl and the Magpie. The exhibition samples some of the most dynamic and innovative directions in the Jamaican art world, by artists who are questioning conventional understandings of art and the artist while presenting a socially engaged perspective on contemporary Jamaican society.

Thursday’s artists’ tour of New Roots is free and open to the public. The New Roots: 10 Emerging Artists is closing on November 2, so this event also represents one of the last opportunities to view the exhibition. For more information, see: http://nationalgalleryofjamaica.wordpress.com/tag/new-roots/

Milton Harley – Mayan 1, (c1976), Collection: NGJ

In March 1963, almost a year after Jamaican Independence, the late Rex Nettleford gave the main address at an art exhibition held at the now defunct Hills Gallery in Kingston. This public exhibition was considered to be the first of its kind in Jamaica to feature paintings and drawings that were solely abstract in nature. The works were created by a young Jamaican artist named Milton Harley and it was his first solo exhibition in the island, since graduating from the Pratt Institute in New York the previous year. In response to an expressed concern that the work of Jamaican artists must be relevant to the redefinition of Jamaican cultural identity at that time,, Nettleford was quoted as saying that, “The most we can demand of him is that he works to the pulse of Jamaica and that he allows Jamaican life to act as a catalyst for thought and expression in the arts.” Heavily influenced by the later exploits of the Abstract Expressionist movement, as an art student in New York during the 1960s, Harley remembers: “When I returned to Jamaica from New York I brought back all these ideas of painting from the New York School in particular, where I saw shows of the giants like Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning.”

Milton Harley – Nocture (1962), Collection: NGJ

Milton Harley was born in Kingston 1935, and at a young age migrated with his family to the USA. One of the earliest pioneers of modern abstraction in Jamaican art, Harley’s visual rhetoric seemed to contrast with the cultural aspirations of other prominent Jamaican artists, social theorists and the general populace of the early Independence period. His aesthetic approach introduced the act of painting as directly engaged with its own material and elemental possibilities, without the illusion of objective imagery. As an abstractionist, he identifies and utilizes the elemental essences of the ‘real’ (such as form, texture, colour, etc.) to create an alternative but equally fascinating visual perspective to subject matter. In fact, according to the artist, though his work is abstract, the subject matters he deals with are all based on observations of actual people, places and environments. This may have been the case for one of his earliest paintings Nocturne (1962) which is an abstraction of “three women carrying containers of water on their heads as they are crossing a river at moonlight”.

Harley belongs to a generation of Jamaican artists whose approach to art practice was largely shaped by their international experience and education. Harley, like contemporaries Karl Parboosingh and Eugene Hyde, broadened his understanding of modern art through international fellowships, exhibitions and educational opportunities. Mayan 1 (c1976) from his Mayan series, for instance, was inspired by his time spent in Mexico during the late 1960s to the early 1970s. During this time, he was able to visit the site of Teotihuacan, a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city renowned for its exceptionally well-preserved architecture, sculpture and painted murals. For a viewer, the presence of red, white and green in the painting may be reminiscent of the Mexican national flag. However, considering the convolution of gestural marks and shapes at the centre of the painting, one may ponder upon Harley’s response to the ancient Mayan culture, given that Jamaica’s own pre-Columbian history is characterised by the presence of another Amerindian civilisation, the Taino.

Milton Harley – Untitled (Face 1, n.d.), acrylic on paper, Collection: NGJ, Guy McIntosh Donation

Milton Harley’s artistic philosophy, along with that of his contemporaries, challenged the conservative Jamaican visual art culture and aided in initiating a significant evolutionary development. There was now the option of pure or semi-abstract expressionism as a tool for intellectual engagement. This is evidenced in the work of later artists including David Boxer, Hope Brooks, George Rodney, Milton George, Laura Facey, Margaret Chen, Omari Ra, Stanford Watson, Khalfani Ra and several others. Additionally, it heralded the adoption of other post-modern approaches like assemblage, installation art and digital art which now form the basis for contemporary artistic approaches in twenty-first century Jamaica. Additionally, as an educator of art history, methodology and practice, Milton Harley has contributed to the development of future generations of artists, art theorists and art educators in many institutions locally and internationally. Some of these include the Jamaica School of Art and the Moneague Teacher’s Training College in Jamaica as well as the Royal Grammar School in the UK and the University of Victoria in Canada. Milton Harley currently lives and works in Kingston, Jamaica.

Sources

• Milton Harley, Artistfile Education Department, National Gallery of Jamaica
• Hucke, Claudia, Picturing the Postcolonial Nation, (Inter)Nationalism in the Art of Jamaica 1962 – 1975, Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston 2013

Earlier this year the National Gallery launched a new exhibition series, Explorations, with the Natural Histories exhibition. The  series explores major themes in Jamaican art, and in the National Gallery collection, and aims to allow our curators and our visitors to engage in new and more thoughtful ways with the artistic and cultural history of Jamaica. The series also serves as a platform for our curators to rethink how we exhibit our permanent collections, as we will soon be reinstalling our permanent modern Jamaican art exhibition and intend to do so along thematic lines. We are now presenting the second in the series, Explorations II: Religion and Spirituality, which will open on December 22, and several other editions are in planning for future showings.

Explorations II: Religion and Spirituality examines the themes of religion and spirituality in Jamaican art and will consist entirely of works from our collection. That we can mount such an exhibition without resorting to loans is in itself testimony to the pervasive role of religion and spirituality in almost all aspects of Jamaican history and life and, consequently, in Jamaican art. While predominantly Christian, Jamaica is also the birthplace of Rastafari and earlier African-derived forms – Revival and Kumina being two of the most well-known.  Other world religions are also represented in Jamaica, namely Judaism, Hinduism and the Islam, albeit in small but at times influential minorities, who further add to the complex landscape of beliefs and religious practices found in the island. In these various incarnations, religious and spiritual practices and beliefs have played multiple social and cultural roles, as instruments of control and oppression in some instances and as tools for liberation and self-assertion in many others. Visual artistic forms have been an integral component of almost all religious practices on the island and many artists have been drawn to the subjects of religion and spirituality in their search for iconic Jamaica subject matter or, sometimes, as a target for critical or satirical commentary.

As was done in the Natural Histories exhibition, the thematic explorations offered in Religion and Spirituality will be organized around several broad themes, including: “In Our Own Image”, “Spiritual Warriors”, “A Chapter a Day” and “Praise Songs”. “In Our Own Image” will explore how the colonial representation of Christian (and to some extent Judaic) religion as white religions has been implicitly and expressly challenged in local religious and artistic practice and we will pay special attention to the representation of the Black Christ. “Spiritual Warriors” will examine the role of militancy in religion, for instance in public preaching, as well as the role of religion in resistance and liberation movements, especially during the colonial period. “A Chapter a Day” will explore the central role of the Bible in Jamaican life and will include various works that illustrate biblical scenes. “Praise Songs” consists of works of art that illustrate the role of religion and spirituality in local song and dance practice and the performative elements in religious and spiritual practices. The exhibition will also include work that uses traditional religious iconography to address other issues, whether personal or social, which has been fairly common in modern and contemporary Jamaican art.

The artists to be represented in Religion and Spirituality include Carl Abrahams, Mallica “Kapo” Reynolds, Osmond Watson, Renee Cox, Edna Manley, Ebony G. Patterson, Gloria Escoffery, Eugene Hyde and Everald and Clinton Brown. While the exhibition will consist entirely of work from the 20th and 21st century, it will also make reference to our pre-twentieth century galleries, which include several historical works relevant to religion and spirituality, ranging from Taino sculpture, which was predominantly religious in nature, to works of art related to the Abolitionist campaigns.

The Natural Histories exhibition included various natural history artefacts, publications and illustrations that are not normally regarded as “art” and thereby also explored that the art/artefact dynamic in the context of art galleries and museums. The Religions and Spirituality exhibition is less actively concerned with this issue, because doing so in a manner comparable to Natural Histories would require us to include active sacred objects, constructions and images, which poses various practical and ethical problems. Several of the works in the exhibition – for instance, Everald Brown’s musical instruments or ritual staff – however represent transitional area between sacred object and “museumized” work of art and in a number of other works – such as Kapo’s Rising Table, which represents a Revival table – sacred objects, constructions and images appear as part of the subject matter.

Explorations II: Religion and Spirituality will run until April 27 and will be accompanied by several special events and educational programmes, some of them attached to our Last Sundays programme. Look out for further news on this exciting exhibition.

Carl Abrahams – Thirteen Israelites (1975), A.D. Scott Collection, NGJ

Carl Myrie Abrahams was born in St Andrew, Jamaica, in 1911. He was educated at Calabar High School where he received basic art training and, encouraged by his headmaster Reverend Ernest Price, began to study the work of old masters such as Frans Hals and Sir Frederick Leighton.

On leaving school in 1928, Abrahams started his career as a cartoonist, under the tutelage of Cliff Tyrell, one of the pioneering cartoonists in Jamaica. Abrahams soon contributed regularly to local publications such as the Gleaner, the West Indian Review and WISCO magazine. The English painter August John, who visited Jamaica in 1937, encouraged him to take up painting. After three years of service in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Abrahams returned to Jamaica and started painting professionally while also continuing as a cartoonist and illustrator.

Carl Abrahams – Birthday Drive (1972), Collection: NGJ

Like John Dunkley, the Jamaican artist whom he most admired and who was an influence, Abrahams was an an individualist who opted not to participate in the art classes that were offered at Institute of Jamaica and, subsequently, the Jamaica School of Art and Craft and kept himself at a remove from the formal and informal artists’ groups that emerged in mid 20^th century Jamaica. He essentially taught himself to paint, with the assistance of correspondence courses from England, and charted his own artistic course. It took a while before he found his painterly voice but when he did, he quickly emerged as one of Jamaica’s most original artists who produced ironic transformations of the great mythological and religious themes of the past, surreal commentaries on historical and contemporary events, and bizarre personal fantasies, in varying cartoonesque styles that defy art-historical classification and eccentrically challenge conventional rules of composition and representation.

Carl Abrahams – The Ascension (c1978), AD Scott Collection, NGJ

Carl Abrahams is most acclaimed as a religious painter who somehow managed to combine genuine and deeply felt religious sentiments with irreverent satire, as can be seen in his versions of The Last Supper, Thirteen Israelites, The Ascension (1976), Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah and Backyard Preacher (c1975). He was also fascinated with the dramatic events that shaped Jamaican history – such as the ascent of Marcus Garvey and Rastafari and, most of all, the destruction of Port Royal, as the richest and wickedest city in the world – all lovingly depicted but seen through the lens of his uproarious satirical imagination.

Carl Abrahams – The Destruction of Port Royal (c1975), AD Scott Collection, NGJ

While mainly known as a painter, cartoonist and illustrator, Carl Abrahams occasionally also sculpted and produced his own picture frames, whimsically designed and constructed to match the aesthetic of his paintings, although few of these have survived the ravages of time and termite infestation. Abrahams also painted the back-drop for the first Jamaican Pantomime, Jack and the Bean Stalk (1969) and executed several murals, the main example of which is a large, two part mural on Jamaican history he painted for the Norman Manley Airport in 1985. His final decades saw few new developments in his work, however, and he replicated many of his earlier paintings in copies and variations.

Carl Abrahams at work on the airport mural, photographed by Deryck Roberts, c1985

Carl Abrahams was the recipient of several national honours including the Order of Distinction and the Gold Musgrave Medal. His work is well represented in the collections of the NGJ and he was the first artist to be granted a full retrospective by the NGJ in 1978. His master work, Woman, I Must be About My Father’s Business, was loaned to the City of Edinburgh’s Light of the World exhibition commemorating the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, while two of his religious works, were featured on Jamaican stamps marking the advent of the new millennium. The NGJ also staged a special tribute exhibition after Carl Abrahams passed away in 2005 and he will be prominently featured in the upcoming Explorations II: Religion and Spirituality exhibition.

 (Collated from the Carl Abrahams file in the NGJ Education Department)

The National Gallery of Jamaica is pleased to report that a exhibition of Jamaican art, Jamaican Art from the 1960s and 1970s, is presently on view at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands in Grand Cayman. The exhibition, which opened on Friday, March 21 to an enthusiastic capacity audience and continues until May 15, is the second Jamaican exhibition in the Cayman Islands that was brokered between the two country’s national galleries – the first one, an exhibition of contemporary Jamaican art, was held in 2004.

The present exhibition examines Jamaican art from around Jamaica’s Independence in 1962 to the politically eventful 1970s – one of the most culturally dynamic periods in Jamaican history – and consists of thirty works from the National Gallery of Jamaica Collection and two works from Cayman-based collections of Jamaican art. It includes later works by artists who were already established at that time, such as Edna Manley, Alvin Marriott, Albert Huie, David Pottinger and Carl Abrahams, and younger artists who emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Barrington Watson, Eugene Hyde, Karl Parboosingh, Osmond Watson, Judy Ann MacMillan, Mallica “Kapo” Reynolds, Everald Brown, Gaston Tabois, Hope Brooks, George Rodney and Winston Patrick. The works were selected by NGJ Executive Director Veerle Poupeye and Acting Senior Curator O’Neil Lawrence.

“The National Gallery of the Cayman Islands is delighted host Jamaica Art: 1960s & 1970s from the collection of the National Gallery of Jamaica,” says National Gallery of the Cayman Islands Director Natalie Urquhart. “This exhibition marks an important international collaboration between NGCI and NGJ, and it is an opportunity to reflect and celebrate the long-standing social, cultural and economic relationships between our two countries.” The exhibition, which is one of several planned exchanges between the two national galleries, also reflects the NGJ’s present thrust towards greater regional engagement and visibility.

Here is the sixth of our short posts on the artists in the Young Talent 2015 exhibition, which opens on August 30:

Domanie Hong (née Denniston) was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1989. She graduated from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts with a BFA in Printmaking in 2015. She currently teaches at Hillel Academy High School.

Artist’s Statement

This body of work comprises of three concepts, journaling my personal life experiences and predictions of the future. The first concept, titled The Water Series, signifies the start of my journey. During pregnancy, the womb is filled with water enabling the creation of human life.

The second concept, The Red Series, depicts the psychosomatic nature of human emotions. The bright attractive colour sends mixed signals to the neurons in the hippocampus, which plays a role in emotions.

The third concept, The Desert and Textured Series, represents the end of a journey and expresses the notion of returning to dust.

This body of work represents a visual discussion of my struggles with self-worth and self-acceptance. These concepts are the unwanted realities of my life and represent a visual conversation with its cycles.

Here is the seventh of our short posts on the artists in the Young Talent 2015 exhibition, which opens on August 30:

Howard Myrie was born in 1982 in Cambridge, St James, Jamaica.  He is a recent graduate of The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts where he received his BFA in Painting. He currently resides in St James, Jamaica.

Artist’s statement

In Jamaican culture, the issue of homosexuality is a volatile and controversial topic, with persons on both side of the debate having fiery passions and each side being sure that their perspective is the correct one. My work seeks to engage in the discussion through a variety of media such as video installation that is text based, wood carving with graffiti elements, and text on glass.  These media are used as a way of participating in the discourse, pointing to social ills and asking important questions that are worthy of attention, while allowing space for contemplation and reflection on personal attitudes.  The Instrumentalist theory of art states that art should do more than being decorative or beautiful; art should be able to facilitate change and make society and the world we live in a better place.

Richard Nattoo – Oblivion (2015)

Here is another of our short posts on the artists in the Young Talent 2015 exhibition, which opens on Sunday, August 30:

Richard Nattoo was born 1993, in St Catherine, Jamaica. Nattoo currently attends the University of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica, where he is pursuing the Bachelors of Arts in Architectural Studies.

Richard Nattoo – Athena’s Oculus (2015)

Artist’s Statement

Exploration has always been a constant in my life, and an integral part of my art and artistic processes. I create in an attempt to capture and deconstruct the common feelings and emotions of everyday life, so that I can examine their inner workings. At its core, my work attempts to capture the feelings and emotions I experience and to translate them into the surreal spaces that we all inhabit within ourselves. The goal is to explore feelings and emotions on murky cerebral levels and to construct the tumultuous and beautiful inner world that resides within all of us. I call this inner world the Silent Echo and my exhibitions have been about exploring this rich and textured place. A variety of mediums such as pen and ink, watercolour and most recently glass have been employed. Each exhibition is a chapter of the journey deconstructed.

Richard Nattoo – Silent Intuition (2015)

Avagay Osborne – Untitled (2015)

Here is another of our short posts on the artists in the Young Talent 2015 exhibition, which opens tomorrow, Sunday, August 30:

Avagay Osborne was born in 1990 in Manchester, Jamaica. She is a recent graduate of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, where she attained a BFA in Painting. She lives in Manchester, Jamaica.

Avagay Osborne – “Sorry” (2015)

Artist’s Statement

Self-recovery is the term applied to the process of healing, from general disturbances and trauma. Reflections on past experiences have provided a thematic substance to my work thus far. My work is a direct reflection, response and act of self-recovery from a series of personal events and near-traumatic experiences. I believe that though these experiences are personal they are also no doubt a part of overall human condition. My adolescent years were troubled and traumatic and at age 23, I went through another traumatic experience, I have endured some level of physical and emotional abuse during these periods and these traumatic experiences have influenced my works.

Avagay Osborne – Untitled (2015)

Cosmo Whyte – YOU Know WE Can’t Swim Right? (2015)

Here is the last of our short posts on the artists in the Young Talent 2015 exhibition, which opens today, Sunday, August 30. Doors will be open from 11 am to 4 pm. The function starts at 1:30 pm, and will feature a short documentary on the participating artists and a musical performance by Jah9. The exhibition continues until November 14.

Cosmo Whyte was born in St Andrew, Jamaica in 1982. He attended Bennington College in Vermont where he obtained his BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art for a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate and he graduated first in his class from the University of Michigan for his MFA. Cosmo Whyte is currently a professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Cosmo Whyte – Town Crier (2015)

Artist’s Statement

“Terra Incognita…The New World is the third term—the primal scene—where the fateful/fatal encounter was staged between Africa and the West…. stands for the endless ways which Caribbean people have been destined to migrate.” (Stuart Hall, Cultural Identity and Diaspora, 1994)

My current body of work explores postcolonial identity through the lens of tourism, diaspora, globalization and migration. Through the process of installations of drawings, photographs and sculpture, I argue for the re-examination of identity as not fixed, but liquid and in a constant state of flux. Taken in its entirety, my work is interested in probing the following question: How has identity, sense of placelessness, or presence been altered by dislocation?

Cosmo Whyte – The Ginal

The work in Young Talent 2015 argues that the modern condition is migratory and as vast numbers of people continue to cross borders (sometimes at great loss) the question of citizenship and home becomes increasingly complicated. I have approached this show as a testing ground to explore parallels that exist between the mass migration of West and East African through the Mediterranean into Europe and Haitians being forced to leave Dominican Republic. None of the work on display is didactic but it rather looks on the black body as it is situated in a specific historical context when it comes to borders, migration, death by water, and survival.

Cosmo Whyte – Punch Drunk Love (2015)

Interviews with the ten artists in Young Talent 2015 (August 30-November 14, 2015), National Gallery of Jamaica. Videography and director: Leevan Rainford; producer: Stephanie Channer.

Rhoda Jackson -Washing by the River – (1945, Collection: NGJ)

The Jamaican painter and designer Rhoda Jackson is usually mentioned in accounts of Jamaican art history, but has not received the more comprehensive attention her work warrants – her story is one of a number of untold stories in Jamaican art. While filling this gap requires a longer term research project, we are now presenting this short, initial feature on her work. We invite members of the public who have information about her life and work, and photographs of her extant work in painting and design, to contact us, so that we can expand and update this feature.

Rhoda Jackson (1913 – 1971) was a Jamaican artist and designer who was active from the mid 1930s to the 1960s. She was born in Gilmock Hall, St Elizabeth and was based in Mandeville for most of her life.  She attended the Hampton High School in Malvern, St Elizabeth in Jamaica and subsequently trained in art at the Reading University Arts School in England, and the Art Student League in New York City. Her uncle Cyril G. Jackson was a watercolourist of some note and was also based in Mandeville.

Rhoda Jackson – souvenir tea towel (Jamaica)

Rhoda Jackson is best known for the murals and designs she did mainly for the tourism industry, for instance at the Tower Isle Hotel, where she also had regular exhibitions. She also did designs for embroidery, including for the Allsides workshop, and other textiles and designed advertisements, postcards and book covers. She was one of the first professional designers on record in Jamaica – the art deco furniture designer Burnett Webster being another.

Richmond Barthe – portrait of Rhoda Jackson (c1960, Collection: NGJ)

There are many things about Rhoda Jackson’s life that warrant further research: during her student years in England, for instance, she was friendly with the famous Scottish photojournalist George Rodger, one of the founders of the Magnum photographic cooperative. Rodger visited her in Jamaica in 1950 and made several noteworthy photographs of the island during his visit. The African-American sculptor Richmond Barthé, who owned a house in St Ann and lived in Jamaica from 1947 and for about 20 years, did a portrait bust of her circa 1960. Rhoda Jackson also appears to have been friendly with the English painter Eve Disher, who was a repeat visitor to the island.

Book cover design by Rhoda Jackson

The following appraisal of Rhoda Jackson’s work is adapted from Veerle Poupeye’s doctoral dissertation Between Nation and Market: Art and Society in 20th Century Jamaica:

“Rhoda Jackson was an undeniably talented and innovative designer. Her work represents Jamaica by means of a repertory of iconic images consisting of picturesque gingerbread cottages, idyllic fishing beaches and waterfalls, and rollicking cane-fields and mountain-scapes, peopled with pretty ladies, dandyish men and cute children, depicted in frilly “native” costumes. Her work is colorful and forms are simplified and stylized into patterned compositions that often have a tapestry-like quality. This made her designs very versatile and suitable for large panoramic paintings and small embroidery motifs alike.”

“Jackson is best known for tourism-related work but she was also involved in the mainstream art world. She taught art at the prestigious St Hilda’s High School for Girls in Brown’s Town, St Ann where Gloria Escoffery was among her students. Her work was included in Institute of Jamaica exhibitions and she was a member of its influential Art and Crafts Committee, which also included Edna Manley and among others spearheaded the establishment of the Jamaica School of Art”

“It is nonetheless telling that, other than some complimentary reports on her exhibitions, there was no substantive critical response to her work in the local press, while significant efforts were made to engage Edna Manley’s work at an intellectual level. She is also virtually unmentioned in the later art narratives. This suggests that her work has not been taken seriously as significant “art” by Jamaica’s emerging art establishment.”

Albert Huie – Noon (1940, Collection: NGJ)

“Jackson’s iconography, with its focus on rural life, is similar to that of the nationalist school but the tone of her work could not be more different. Her painting
Washing by the River (1945) was bought by the IoJ and is part of the permanent exhibition of the NGJ, compares strikingly with Albert Huie’s Noon (1943). Jackson’s painting depicts women and children washing clothes in a river while Huie’s features a group of sugar factory workers who are lounging under a tree while on their lunch break, with the factory and a mountainous landscape in the background. In Jackson’s painting, the figures are frolicking, carefree and anonymous “natives” while in Huie’s they are dignified modern workers and citizens.”

Rhoda Jackson – detail of mural at the People’s Museum, Spanish Town, n.d.

“A mural Rhoda Jackson produced for what was then the Jamaica Folk Museum, now the People’s Museum, depicts plantation life as if it was an idyllic picnic, with picturesque water wheels and handsome, nicely dressed and cheerful field workers.That this appears to have been a commission from the Institute of Jamaica in itself warrants some critical attention and illustrates the ambiguous position the Institute has held between colonial and modern national culture.”

“One of the reasons why Rhoda Jackson is not more recognized as a Jamaican artist seems to be that the cheerful, touristy depictions of Jamaica she produced did not match the nationalist ideology that dominated mid-twentieth century Jamaican art and art history. The artists of the nationalist school and Independence generally  sought to distance themselves from any tourist aesthetic. As the art and theatre critic Norman Rae wrote in Ian Fleming Introduces Jamaica (1965):

‘Jamaican painters generally do not aim at the titillatingly decorative ‘native’ object or art/craft, the stylish decorations designed for the tourist market that one finds proliferating in many other Caribbean and tropical countries. The ever-present determination not to let the glittering island vistas lead them astray makes them avoid this. (169-170)’

“That this statement was made in what was, for all intents and purposes, a guide book, points towards the complex and contradictory dynamic that has existed between mainstream art and tourism, which has after all always provided a market for Jamaican art, and complicates the relationship between the seemingly contrasting cultural ideologies of those two worlds.”

Rhoda Jackson’s outlook may have been “colonial” and her work may have perpetuated stereotypes modern Jamaican artists have sought to challenge but she is certainly worthy of more attention as an artist, if only because of how her work and ideological choices compare with those of contemporaries such as Albert Huie or Edna Manley.

The National Gallery of Jamaica wishes to congratulate Donnette Zacca on her Silver Musgrave Medal, which was awarded today, and we are pleased to reproduce the award citation:

“The Institute of Jamaica recognizes Donnette Ingrid Zacca for outstanding merit in the field of Art”

“Born in St James in 1957, Donnette Zacca’s sojourn into photography began when she acquired her first camera while a ninth-grade student at the Mount Alvernia High School in Montego Bay. As a young country girl with a camera, she was driven to explore and discover a myriad of outdoor spaces – a practice that continues to this day as she travels to various locations across the island to capture scenes of natural beauty and sometimes otherworldly intrigue. She also produced portraiture, though mainly as a means of earning pocket money to support her new hobby.”

“From 1976 to 1980, Zacca attended the Jamaica School of Art, which is now part of the Edna Manley College, where she attained a Diploma in Art Education and Graphic Design. During these studies, she excelled in Photography, experimenting with a variety of shooting and printing techniques, including how to superimpose multiple photographic images within the same composition. After graduating, she continued her explorations, eventually developing an image-making technique of her own which she has called ‘marbling’.”

“In the late 1980s, she continued her photographic education, beginning with a course on Basic Architecture and Archaeological Photography, offered in Port Royal by the University of London (1987 – 1988). From 1988 to 1989, supported by scholarship from the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID), she attended the University of Cincinnati where she undertook studies in alternative and advanced photographic techniques. From 2000 to 2004, she pursued and acquired a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art.”

“Donnette Zacca has been exhibiting as a fine art photographer since the mid-1980s. Notable exhibitions in which she has maintained a consistent presence include the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s (JCDC) National Photographic Competitions and the Annual National and Biennial exhibitions of the National Gallery of Jamaica. She has also held a number of solo exhibitions, most memorable among them the Issues in Fertility exhibition at the Mutual Gallery in 2008. Her work is well represented in private as well as public collections.”

“Additionally, Donnette Zacca has contributed her photographic expertise to many national organizations, including the National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET). She has received important commissions, including the creation of twelve stamps for the Jamaica Postal Service in 2003, which featured White Sorrel and historic and modern buildings in Jamaica.”

“Donnette Zacca’s career as an educator in the visual arts is as extensive and impactful as her career as an artist. In 1980, she began teaching Art and Craft at the Wolmer’s High School for Boys, and in 1985, she returned to the Jamaica School of Art as a Photography Lecturer and Lab Technician. She continues to teach at the Edna Manley College today. Her impact as a teacher and mentor is evidenced by the great number of recent graduates who have integrated photography into their professional practice and several others who are now among the most sought after photographers in the island. She is a co-founder of the Jamaican photography club, Just Black and White (JBW), which was established out of the College’s part-time programme.”

“The recipient of numerous awards including several medals awarded by the JCDC and a Purchase Award from the National Gallery in 2001, Donnette Zacca is widely acknowledged as one of Jamaica’s most respected photographers.”

“For her contribution to Art, the Council of the Institute of Jamaica is pleased to award Donnette Ingrid Zacca the Silver Musgrave Medal for outstanding merit in the field.”

Edna Manley in London in 1937, with Rachel (1934)

The NGJ team is putting the finishing touches on the Edna Manley Galleries, as the second part of a larger project to reinstall the permanent galleries. The new galleries will be open to the public by Saturday, October 24. There will be no special opening function.

Edna Manley, Horse of the Morning (1943)

The Edna Manley Memorial Collection

The Edna Manley Memorial Collection is a specialized collection of the NGJ dedicated to the life and work of Edna Manley. The Development of the Collection was spearheaded by the late Hon. Aaron Matalon, O.J., the founding Chairman of the Edna Manley Foundation, and Dr. David Boxer, Chief Curator of the NGJ. Various private and corporate collectors of Edna Manley’s work donated major sculptures and drawings. The Collection forms the basis of the Edna Manley Galleries at the NGJ and is supplemented with some works from the core permanent collection of the NGJ and loans from the Edna Manley Estate and private collections.

The following persons, organizations and companies donated works to the Edna Manley Memorial Collection: Wallace Campbell, Paul Chen Young, Contemporary Art Centre, Sonia Jones, Michael Manley, Rachel Manley, Edna Manley Foundation, ICD Group of Companies, Aaron & Marjorie Matalon, Olympia International Art Centre, Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust, Burnett Webster, David Boxer.

Edna Manley

Edna Manley was born on March 1, 1900 in Bournemouth, England, the daughter of an English cleric, Harvey Swithenbank and his Jamaican wife, Ellie Shearer. She studied sculpture in London, at the Regent Street Polytechnic and St. Martin’s School of Art. After marrying her Jamaican cousin Norman Manley she moved with him to Jamaica in 1922.

Her early work reflected the current Vorticist and Neo-Classical trends in British sculpture but also revealed in its subject matter a strong identification with Jamaica and its people. Throughout this early period, she exhibited in England where she was admitted to the London Group in 1930.

In the mid 1930s, her work became increasingly political and embodied the emerging Jamaican nationalist, anti-colonial movement, in which Norman and herself were active. She fostered the development of Jamaican art as a teacher, organizer and patron, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Jamaica School of Art in 1950.  With the Dying God cycle (1941-1949), her work entered another phase in which she combined private symbolism, inspired by the Jamaican Blue Mountain landscape, with an almost painterly approach to form and surface. Horse of the Morning (1943), which was donated to the collection by Edna Manley’s son and former Prime Minister of Jamaica, the late Michael Manley, is arguably the best known work of this cycle.

In the 1950s and 1960s, her political activity and duties as wife of Jamaica’s premier clearly affected her work although she carried out some major commissions. After Norman’s death in 1969, she entered another period of intense activity with the so called Mourning Carvings (1969-1974). She stopped carving in 1974 and stopped sculpting altogether in 1985, turning to painting instead. She continued working until her death on February 10, 1987. The Jamaica School of Art in 1995 became part of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, which was named in her honour.