On View
Not on viewObject number2002.57
Blackburn
Artist
Ron Adams
(American, 1934-)
Date2002
Mediumlithograph
Dimensionsimage: 25 × 35 in. (63.5 × 88.9 cm)
sheet: 15 3/8 in. (39 cm)
frame: 37 3/4 × 47 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (95.9 × 121.3 × 3.2 cm)
sheet: 15 3/8 in. (39 cm)
frame: 37 3/4 × 47 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (95.9 × 121.3 × 3.2 cm)
Credit LinePermanent Collection Fund
Exhibition History"Large Format Works on Paper," KIA Galleries 3&4 (June 27 - Sept. 2, 2003).
"Energy and Inspiration: African American Art from the Permanent Collection," KIA Long Gallery (Jan. 13 - April 14, 2006).
"Highlights of the KIA Permanent Collection, (purchased with Auction funds)," KIA Gallery 5 (Sept 9 - Oct. 14, 2006).
"Markings of the Millennium", KIA second floor hallway (Jan. 24, 2007 - March 1, 2008). "Embracing Diverse Voices: African-American Art in the Collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts," KIA Galleries 3&4(Oct. 3 - Nov. 29, 2009).
"Embracing Diverse Voices: 80 Years of African-American Art," KIA Traveling Exhibition, Bakersfield Museum of Art (Dec. 13, 2012 – Mar. 10, 2013).
"Common Ground: African American Art from the Flint Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, and the Muskegon Museum of Art," FIA, Flint, Michigan (Feb. 8 - Apr. 26, 2015), KIA, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (Aug. 21 - Nov. 15, 2015), Muskegon Museum of Arts, Muskegon, Michigan (Dec. 10, 2015 - Mar. 10, 2016)
"Resilience: African American Artists as Agents of Change," [Travel Version] at the Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, MI (June 6, 2021 - August, 15, 2021)Label TextBlackburn was created in homage to master printer Robert Blackburn, who passed away in April 2002. Considered a legend in the printmaking world, Blackburn established The Printmakers Workshop, a cooperative press that is the oldest non-profit lithography workshop in the United States. He is also known for his pioneering efforts in abstract color lithography. An African-American artist as well as a master printmaker, Blackburn supported and encouraged the careers of other African-American artists like Romare Bearden, Faith Ringgold and Jacob Lawrence.
Ron Adams, another African-American artist and master printmaker, retired from printmaking after 25 years to devote himself to making his own art full time. Finding great inspiration from earlier masters like Dürer, Goya, Kollwitz as well as the Mexican muralists, his style is classically realistic but one that incorporates aspects of 20th century expressionism, seen clearly in the exaggerated musculature of his figures. His palette tends to be monochromatic which highlights his confident line, sense of mass and strong use of light and shadow. His figures seem focused inwardly, confined and solitary in their own thoughts and feelings as well as in their pictorial space.
