Powerhouses
“This is not a Black History Month show. This is just a show. To us, every month is Black History Month. Powerhouses is open for three months, but when the show closes, we don’t stop being a Black gallery.”
—Joy Smith, Powerhouses Curator
Installation view of Powerhouses, curated by Joy Smith. Courtesy of Bill Hodges Gallery.
Powerhouses at Bill Hodges Gallery is cultivating space for an important conversation around the definitions of a “powerhouse artist,” “master artist,” and “masterwork.” The gallery, which opened in 1979, is one of the few Black-owned galleries in New York City, and its longevity has fostered an ever-growing collection of historical work by BIPOC artists. Post-2020, there have been calls for more BIPOC art in creative spaces, but these efforts have waned as the Trump administration attempts to minimize the importance of recognizing notable artworks by marginalized artists, labeling them “woke art”—whatever that means.
In showing these works, collector and arts patron Bill Hodges is giving audiences an opportunity to be introduced to Black artists who aren’t a part of the mainstream. Their collection is in-house and made up of Hodges’s acquired works.
Powerhouses, curated by Joy Smith, is a presentation of twenty prominent artists who have had a major impact on contemporary and modern art history. The term master artist has commonly been used to describe white artists who are regarded as the standard in various aesthetics and mediums. The exhibition features a work by Pablo Picasso, Nu Couche Et Homme Ecrivant (Sleeping Nude and Man Writing) (1969), which adds another layer of context to the exhibition. Art historians have cross-referenced Picasso’s style with African art, as he appropriated and plagiarized certain themes and aesthetics from Black culture. The artist had a “periode nègre (black period),” beginning in 1909, which heavily influenced his future works. Picasso had an expansive collection of African art, containing masks and sculptures that influenced and reshaped his artistic approach throughout the course of his career. His fetishization and exoticization of African culture were evident in his extensive collection of African work. By featuring a Picasso in the exhibition, Smith conveys that the artists exhibited with his Nu Couche Et Homme Ecrivant likely had an impact on Picasso’s visual identity. Their legacies are just as significant as “standard-bearing artists” like Picasso.
The exhibition features work from Howardena Pindell, Elizabeth Catlett, Richmond Barthé, Beauford Delaney, Lorna Simpson, Romare Bearden, and more. These drawings, paintings, and sculptures span from the 1870s to 2012. The multimedia exhibition upholds the gallery’s mission of education and the transaction of knowledge surrounding Black art and history. Joy Smith says, “Selling is great, but for me, the dissemination and spread of Black art and culture is even more valuable.”
Charles Ethan Porter, Still Life with Pineapple, Jar and Apples (ca. 1870s). Oil on canvas, 14 x 22 ¼ in. Courtesy of Bill Hodges Gallery.
The show opens with a still life by Charles Ethan Porter (1847-1923), one of the first Black artists to exhibit at the National Academy of Design in 1869. His traditional paintings caught the eye of various New York and Hartford, Connecticut critics and collectors in the early twentieth century. “Early news reports about Porter’s work often qualified him as the ‘colored painter.’ Eventually, he would be known just by his name or as ‘the Hartford artist’” (National Gallery of Art). The exhibition continues with an oil painting by William Edouard Scott (1884-1964), On the Pier, ca. 1940, a depiction of dock and fisherman’s labor. Before Scott’s success as an artist, he worked various jobs to fund his own art education. “In order to study, I had to earn money to carry me along, so I took the first job that presented itself, which was to work on the streets as a day laborer. I was strong and did not mind, for with each shovel of earth I allowed my fancy to turn it into a paint brush and the street into a canvas and then passed the day in mental pictures” (Illinois Art). Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), who recently had a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum titled A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies, is featured in Powerhouses as well. Her sculpture, Mahalia, is an ode to Mahalia Jackson, the Queen of Gospel Song. The seated sculpture “conveys the sense of a modern woman” (Swann Galleries) with a relaxed confidence. The representation of Black women in the frame of resilience and strength defies societal expectations.
Art education often excludes Black artists and artworks despite their relevance and importance. Smith grew up with some of these Powerhouse artists in her own home, so their names have been familiar for years. We share this same sentiment, as both of our families taught us about Black art and culture at a young age. Smith notes, “In the art history canon, there are not enough Black people, there are not enough Hispanic people, there are not enough Asian people, and there are not enough LGBTQ+ people being taught alongside the white artist. I think that's baffling. I knew about these artists early. I’m so grateful to have had this knowledge from the very beginning. My parents have been collectors of African American art amongst other artists, and I’ve been so enriched by it. Working here at the gallery, I’ve only become more entrenched in this history. Our education is not focused on this, and if it is, it's only taught as a small section of art history. Black art is a part of global art history and needs to be treated as such. When we’re thinking about the New York School of Art, we’re talking about Jackson Pollock, but we should also be talking about Norman Lewis. We should be talking about the Harlem Renaissance artists. They were creating at the same time, and they were not separate from each other. They were probably in the same spaces. They should be in conversation, and that idea relates back to the premise of Powerhouses. These people are all in conversation, and in this exhibition, they’re just across the wall from each other, unalienated.”
Romare Bearden, The Train, 1974. Color aquatint etching and photoengraving with hand-coloring on paper. Courtesy of Bill Hodges Gallery.
It is extremely important to normalize the inclusion of Black artwork in exhibitions in conjunction with European works. The generation of emerging audiences, curators and artists, needs to see this art to formulate a more diverse and comprehensive view of art history. “I want people to ask questions. I want them to be surprised. If you’ve never seen a Robert Colescott, well now you have—welcome in! You’ve never seen a Charles White? You haven’t heard of Beauford Delaney, Romare Bearden, or Elizabeth Catlett? That's okay—now you have, here’s a catalogue, learn more about them. Get curious, dive in. These are interesting people with fascinating lives who’ve made amazing work.” The gallery has catalogues that chronicle several mediums by Black artists on display for viewers to peruse and take home free of charge.
Joy Smith shares, “That’s my favorite thing about art—sharing it with more people. I couldn't care less whether you like it or not. I just hope it makes you feel something. Leave the gallery feeling curious. Black art history is art history. Black art is art. These artists are artists.”
The gallery serves as an inclusive space for Black curators, collectors, artists, and creatives. Smith reflects on the importance of culturally affirming spaces. “Spaces to feel safe are so important and haven’t always been present for the Black community. We’ve had to create these spaces for ourselves. Art spaces have always been those safe havens, whether they be jazz clubs, restaurants, or galleries, and a lot of the artists in our collection were prominent Harlem Renaissance artists. During that era, they were meeting other artists, and they were also going to the jazz clubs. They knew the singers, and they knew the actors, and they’d go uptown to Harlem, to continue to build and solidify community. That’s where people like Romare Bearden come in, as he depicted Black everyday life.” So many depictions in art—whether they be in theater, music, or visual art—have shown Black people suffering, in bondage, or in other negative ways, but there’s so much Black joy. While hardship is a part of our history, Black life is also happy life. Black life contains multitudes. We are not monoliths.”
Howardena Pindell, Waterfall (Gihon River), 1998. Etching with Chine collé on Rives BFK Paper. Edition of 20. Courtesy of Bill Hodges Gallery.
Many of the gallery’s collectors are African American: “We're happy for anyone to collect from us, but it’s extra special for these works to end up in Black families and archives. We’ve had works go to major museums, and these works can still be traced back to us, which is extremely special. Black people collect art, and have been forever. Just because you don’t know this doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. On these white walls, that means something.”
Further, Smith emphasizes the relevance of the gallery’s location. “We have a reputation to uphold, not only as a gallery that’s been around for over forty years, but also, being where we are—in the historic Chelsea area. Unfortunately, as society goes, we are a Black gallery that has to work ten times harder than our non-black counterparts. We don’t shy away from that. A lot of our neighbors show Black art, but they get to pick and choose when. We don’t stop. This is our lived experience every single day.”
I would love for people to get used to this.
Powerhouses is on view at Bill Hodges Gallery from February 6 to April 18, 2025.
