Auguste Rodin – The Age of Bronze, Nasher

Lee Ann Torrans

Auguste Rodin – The Age of Bronze – Nasher Sculpture Center

See more under featured artist… Auguste Rodin

 

Claude Monet – Dallas Museum of Art

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The Seine at Lavacourt 1880.  Oil on canvas.  One of two paintings submitted to the Salon in 1880.

African American Heritage Art Venues.

Dallas pays tribute to the African American experience in multiple venues. Experience the three primary venues.

Dallas Museum of Art

The Dallas Museum of Art has a rich collection of African Art.

History of African Americans and Freedmen’s Memorial Park

A part of the History of African Americans is found in Freedmen’s Memorial Park which commemorates a pre-Civil War burial ground in what was once the Freedmen’s Town Area, a small Dallas community formed by African-Americans freed from slavery in the mid-1860s.

Freedman’s Memorial commemorates the lives of more than 5,000 freed slaves who were buried in a once forgotten cemetery.

Freedmen Memorial Cemetery by Artist and Sculptor David Newton

This historic and state landmark memorial features figures cast in bronze by artist David Newton.

David Newton, a classically trained sculptor in the European tradition, has dedicated his career to transforming ordinary African American people and forgotten historical moments into unforgettable, timeless monuments of beauty.

Work of Dallas Sculptor David Newton

Newton’s superb memorial guarantees that these formerly lost souls will forever be remembered in the universally honored spirit of triumph over adversity. This is a sentiment that all of humanity admires, and because of the genius, talent, and wisdom of master sculptor, David Newton, this admiration shall continue for centuries to come.

“The Sentinel” at Freedman’s Memorial represents the dignity and magnificent humanity of the African-American slave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Ann Torrans:  Reviews Dallas and Black History Month

Central Expressway which became Interstate Highway 35 North was originally plotted east Dallas in the mid 1930s.

Located in this area were four cemeteries, two Protestant, one Jewish, and one for African-American freed slaves.

Central Expressway was located over the African American cemetery without relocating the existing graves. The grave stones were in some instances used as fill for the expressway.

Upon the expansion of Central Expressway the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) located some of the original graves. The discovered remains were relocated. The Freedman’s Memorial was first considered in 1989 and dedicated ten years later n February of 1999. The Texas Department of Transportation, the City of Dallas and the African American community, particularly Black Dallas Remembered, a group that collects and disseminates historical information about the local Black community, and the Freedman’s Foundation, raised $2 million for the Memorial. Like most art project this, too, had controversy and dissension. However, the final project is moving and inspiring.

See also David Newton’s restoration of Tenor and Contralto at Fair Park.

Contralto and Tenor

More on David Newton. African American Museum Here

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

Freedman’s Memorial Park

The moving and exquisite Freedman’s Memorial Park, is located in an area of Dallas County settled by former African American slaves shortly after the conclusion of the American Civil War.

Freedman’s Cemetery, a graveyard for African Americans, was established in 1869 on one acre of land. Construction of the Central Expressway through this graveyard in the 1930′s virtually eliminated all physical above-ground reminders of the cemetery.

Descendants of persons buried there and the City of Dallas agreed in 1965 to establish the Freedman’s Memorial Park and Cemetery at this site.

The artist, David Newton, creates a dramatic experience on many levels at The Freedman’s Memorial.

The artwork at Fair Park was restored by David Newton, the artist of the Freedmen Cemetery.

Lee Ann Torrans:  African American Museum Fair Park

The African American Museum located on the grounds of Fair Park, was founded in 1974 as a part of the Special Collections at Bishop College, a Historically Black College that closed in 1988. The Museum has operated independently since 1979.

The African American Museum is the only one of its kind in the Southwestern Region devoted to the preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials. It has one of the largest African American Folk Art collections in the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buffalo Soldiers – The Ninth and Tenth Calvary

The Buffalo Soldiers helped settle the west but for many years the contributions of these African-American soldiers were largely overlooked. Meet one man who is determined to teach this often forgotten chapter of history to today’s eager students.

Lee Ann Torrans