Schoener, Allon [Editor]; Hoving, Thomas F. [Preface]; Van Ellison, Candice [Introduction]

HARLEM ON MY MIND: CULTURAL CAPITAL OF BLACK AMERICA 1900-1968 [Signed]

New York, New York: Random House, 1968. First Edition, First Printing. Quarto, 255 pages. In Very Good minus condition. Spine is white with yellow and red lettering. Wraps have mild general soiling and scuffing along extremities. Text block moderately age toned throughout, mild bumping and bending wear to fore corners. Contains catalogue insert of Candice Van Ellison's response to the controversy surrounding her introduction. Signed flat on title page by 1966-1977 director of the Metropolitan Museum, Thomas Hoving.

1395660

Special Collections - Downstairs

Price: $275

NOTES

Controversy shrouded The Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Harlem on my Mind" long before its doors opened in 1969. The exhibition, which then-director Thomas Hoving asked Allon Schoener to guest curate as part of the museum's suite of centennial exhibitions, was nascent when Black artists began to withdraw support. They cited the lack of inclusion of Black artists working in and transforming the Harlem art scene, some of whom were already part of The MET's collection, such as the painter Jacob Lawrence. Inclusion was not in the vocabulary of the exhibition, which consisted of photographs featuring (yet clearly decentering) unnamed Harlem residents pictured next to prominent figures. The introduction chosen by Schoener for the catalog, an essay written by 17 year old Harlem resident Candice Van Ellison, contained anti-semitic and anti-Irish slurs which further offended Harlem residents in the wake of racial battles over the school district. In response to the exhibition, Black New York artists formed the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition to protest the exhibition for the entirety of its 16-week run. These protests responded to the exhibition with the question "Harlem on Whose Mind?", calling out white supremacy in the museum setting. Hoving agreed to then pull the catalogue from publication and put inserts in the remaining copies. The BECC acted as a catalyst for major change in the ways that museums exhibit Black art, the reverberations of which are felt in the art world today as diverse artists continue the struggle to tell their own narratives.

This is the original exhibition catalogue for "Harlem on my Mind" with the insert stating Candice Van Ellison's response to being held accountable for her racist remarks.