Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South at The Royal Academy

The latest exhibition at the Royal Academy is Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South. Open from 17 March 2023, it showcases unique African American artistic traditions and methods of visual storytelling.

The exhibition presents the work of Black artists born between 1887 and 1965 who spent their careers in the American South. While many left during the Great Migration, these artists and their careers have been rooted in the local communities from South Carolina to the Mississippi River Delta.

Through their work, these artists have confronted the history of enslaved African Americans, the segregationist policies of the Jim Crow era, institutionalized racism as well as the Civil Rights Movement.

The artworks often incorporate scrap materials, tree branches as well as clay and sand. And without formal art training or access to traditional galleries, front yards were used to display their work.

The exhibition brings together around 64 works by 34 artists from the mid-20th century to the present. The various media includes assemblages, sculptures, paintings, reliefs, and drawings – mostly
drawn from the collection of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, Atlanta, Georgia. The Foundation’s name is from a 1921 poem by Langston Hughes (1902–67) titled The Negro Speaks of Rivers, the last line of which is “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”

Although these artists are now well known in the United States, most of the works in this exhibition are being shown for the first time in Europe.

Friendships and Family Ties

The first gallery has works by Lonnie Holley (b. 1950), Thornton Dial (1925–2016) and Ronald Lockett (1965–1998).

Lonnie Holley, who had been working as a gravedigger and cotton picker, began sculpting in 1979, when he carved grave markers for a young niece and nephew following their tragic deaths in a fire. Through a former girlfriend he met Thornton Dial, who had worked in farming and as a steelworker before he became an artist. Ronald Lockett was raised by his great-grandmother who was Thornton Dial’s great-aunt, the quilter Sarah Lockett.

I was fortunate to hear to Lonnie Holley being interviewed. He spoke slowly and with a confidence that held our attention. He is an art educator and told us about the piece seen below that is created from the wires inside a telephone. He explained that many of his students had not looked inside a telephone and he wanted to show them that while it’s the same inside all, you can create something unique.

In the artwork below he wanted to point out that you can never make an exact copy of a rock; you cannot copy the natural order.

Without needing to show great expression or raise his voice, he was able to captivate the visitors in the gallery. I’m not sure what he thought about exhibiting in London’s Royal Academy but he had the self-awareness to know the value of sharing his work with a new audience.

While he was a new discovery for me, I was pleased to read his work has been acquired by the American Folk Art Museum in New York and has also been displayed at the White House.

This framed work by Thornton Dial caught my eye. Cotton Field has a beautiful softness to the shapes but it is a clear reference to the enslaved African Americans whose forced labour underpinned the economy of the American South.

Sarah Lockett’s Roses by Ronald Lockett has flowers made from tin cans. It is a clear expression of love for the woman who raised him.

The majority of the artists acquired their art-making skills by learning from family members, mentors and friends, as well as through experimentation. Their challenging economic situation and lack of resources meant artists would use local, recycled materials and found objects to realise their artworks.

This tin can artwork is Stars of Everything by Thornton Dial. In the center is a protruding effigy of a downtrodden American eagle in a tatty suit. Dial was able to find creativity in another man’s rubbish and the stars express his dreams of success.

Another piece by Ronald Lockett, Oklahoma (below) comments on the horrific terrorist attack there in 1995.

Burgle Boys (below) by Mary Lee Bendolph (b. 1935) is a quilt by one of the leading figures of the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers from Alabama. They are featured later in the exhibition but I liked the way this quilt had a companion piece placed opposite.

Thornton Dial created Mrs. Bendolph (below) in honor of the quiltmaker. It’s an assemblage mostly from fabric materials.

Personal Stories, Local, Sources

The second gallery looks at how southern Black artists drew inspiration from daily life and current events. The resulting works use local materials but have global themes such as race, sexuality and politics.

These pieces by James ‘Son Ford’ Thomas (1926–1993) are made from gumbo clay and human hair.

I loved the playfulness of this artwork by Jesse Aaron.

And these artworks by Jimmy Lee Sudduth are further examples of making your own art resources as he used mud, grass stain and berry juice.

This collection of junk has made a brilliant homage to a bison/buffallo skull. You can see drainpipe horns, cans, wood, wire and even a muffin tin.

This section also has more traditional framed artworks.

The Yard Show

The final gallery looks at the large-scale, site-specific art installations, often held outside on their property.

Joe Minter (b. 1943) began African Village in America in 1989 in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. The display there consists of innumerable works made from thousands of found objects.

This exploded tool box and its contents made me smile because of the title (Where is My Hammer?)

Miami-based artist Purvis Young (1943–2010) took the yard show to the streets of his neighbourhood, Overtown, where he displayed his works on the facades of abandoned buildings. The example below shows how he used found board and made each unique frame.

Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers

Before the exhibitions ends, there is an area dedicated to quilts by the celebrated quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, and the neighbouring communities of Rehoboth and Alberta. A selection of works from the 1930s to 2021 feature in the exhibition.

Gee’s Bend, officially known as Boykin, is a remote settlement on a hair-pin bend of the Alabama River. The Bend’s residents are descendants of the enslaved people who worked on the cotton plantation established there in 1816 by Joseph Gee.

Not originally conceived of as formal artworks, quilts were both decorative and necessary objects, keeping families warm and making use of fabric scraps.

This is a small exhibition in The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries while Spain and the Hispanic World is in the main galleries. It’s not a history lesson in oppression but you can see the themes in the artworks.

I particularly enjoyed the free expression in the ‘junk art’ and the reminder that in a world that is full of ‘stuff’ we can make something wonderful.