Autumn is Certainly Here

Raise your hand if autumn is your favorite season. My hand is raised. There are so many different interpretations of this season in art history. Rather than show trees changing color, I’m showing you artist Joseph Norman’s (born 1957) unique take on defining Autumn. This is autumn seen through one my fellow Chicagoan’s experiences in Berlin.

Autumn is Certainly Here

Berlin Autumn #1 is part of one of a number of suites of lithographs and paintings that came out of the time Norman spent in Germany in the 1990s. Specifically, Berlin Autumn refers to Norman's memories of the trees in the Tiergarten (Animal Park) in Berlin where he spent much time. These works focus on the twisted and tangled tree trunks, and to Norman, they symbolize human form and emotion.

Executed in black and white lithography, the trees of different patterns and textures also represent the differences between peoples. At their heart, his forms are associated with the impenetrable dark forests of children's stories, and overgrown castles that are a statement about the relationship between people, and people and nature.

Background

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s galvanized African American artists to push for a revival of exhibitions and study of African American art which had lagged since the Harlem Renaissance (ca. 1918-1930s). The re-invigoration within the African American artistic community led to the formation of the group Spiral in 1963. It included artists who had been active during the Harlem Renaissance.
 
Spiral revived the debate from that period whether African American art should reflect themes relevant to Black people’s community and African ancestry, or if modernist styles were legitimate representations of their community. Although the group only lasted through 1965, it sparked an energetic resurgence of African American representation in galleries and museums by the 1970s and 1980s, which included a wide range of modernist experiment. African American artists in working in myriad art forms are more active than ever before in the 21st century.

Joseph Norman was born in Chicago. He earned a BA from the University of Illinois, and an MFA (1986) from the University of Cincinnati. After moving to Rhode Island, his career as an artist took off. He began exhibiting and teaching at the Newport Art Museum. He is considered one of the foremost African American printmakers today, and is now a professor of art at the Lamar Dodd Art School of the University of Virginia.

Correlations to Davis programs: Explorations in Art 2E grade 2, lesson 1.1; Explorations in Art 2E grade 4, lesson 1.8; Explorations in Art 2E grade 4, lesson 6.6; Explorations in Art 2E grade 6, lesson 5.2; Experience Art lessons 4.1, 4.2;  Exploring Visual Design 5E lesson 11.1