Temple Isaiah of Great Neck will be hosting an art lecture on African Diaspora art entitled “Nineteenth-Century Africa in America” on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.
This is the first of a series of presentations on African American art by Dennis Raverty, an award-winning teacher, author and art historian.
History painting had an important place in the work of the old masters but had nearly disappeared with the rise of Modern art. Yet many African American artists embraced this neglected genre in the twentieth century as a strategy for re-inscribing Black people into history, a history from which they had been marginalized.
The slave trade tried to totally erase ethnicity during the middle passage from Africa to the Americas, yet a surprising amount of West African spirituality and artistic influence (especially Yoruba) survived across the Atlantic.
For decades, Raverty has delighted audiences with lively presentations at libraries, churches, synagogues, hostels and business lunches on various topics in the history of art, from the Italian Renaissance to the Harlem Renaissance.
Raverty has recently retired from his role as an Associate Professor at New Jersey City University, where he taught 19th and 20th-century art history, the art of West Africa, the diaspora and African American art, as well as the Renaissance and Baroque periods in Europe.
Raverty is co-authoring a book on American illustration with Dennis Dittrich, former president of the Society of Illustrators.
Temple Isaiah is located at 1 Chelsea Place off Cutter Mill Road in Great Neck and is a member congregation of the Union for Reform Judaism.
For additional information about this or any other program, please contact the Temple office at (516) 487-5373 or ISAIAHGN@YAHOO.COM.
Suggested donation is $15. Light refreshments will be served.
