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Indepth Arts News:
"Allan Rohan Crite: Artist-Reporter of the African American Community"
2001-03-10 until 2001-05-06
Frye Art Museum
Seattle, WA,
USA
Earning and adopting the title of artist-reporter, Allan Rohan Crite (b. 1910)
recorded the people, architecture, and daily activities of African Americans in
Boston's Roxbury and South End districts during the 1930s and 1940s. His oil
paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints capture the parades, games,
conversations, work, and spirit of a past era with expressive lines and vivid
colors. According to the artist, his intention was to show aspects of life in the
city with special reference to the use of the terminology 'black' people and to
present them in an ordinary light, persons enjoying the usual pleasures of life
with its mixtures of both sorrow and joy.
Beyond depicting the particular events and spaces of the African American
community, Allan Crite's imagery acknowledges spiritual values and traditions.
A devout Episcopalian, the artist also turned his attention and talents toward
sacred subjects and liturgical objects. In addition to authoring and illustrating
three religious books, Crite painted triptychs, altars, murals, vestments, and
banners for local churches. Now past the age of ninety, Allan Rohan Crite can
truly be considered an artist-historian. The Frye Art Museum is pleased to
honor his achievements and make them better known to a wider audience.
IMAGE:
Allan Rohan Crite
The News (Death of FranklinDelano Roosevelt), 1945
Oil on canvas,
32 x 28 inches
Boston Atheneum, gift of the artist 1971.
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