KARAMU ARTISTS INC. Printmaking Artwork - Race & Community Inspired Wall Decor for Home, Office & Gallery Displays

Product Description

1915Karamu HouseKaramu Artists Inc.202538Cleveland Museum of Art

1915 / 1930Langston HughesWElmer W. BrownHughie Lee-SmithCharles SalléeE William E. SmithWPA / Works Progress Administration1939 Work Projects Administration Karamu Artists Inc.1942WPAHarlem Renaissance19301940Karamu Artists Inc.

Curlee Raven Holton

An exploration of the rich history of printmaking at Cleveland's Karamu House, a center of Black arts, culture, and community since 1915.

Karamu House, founded as a settlement house in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1915, is one of the preeminent homes of Black arts, culture, and community in America. Noted for its theater program, Karamu House also hosts a rich legacy in the graphic arts. Printmaking workshops open to artists and community alike launched in the 1930s, allowing a young Langston Hughes—as one notable example—to experiment with print.

Linked with printmaking's ethos of accessibility and democracy, a group including Elmer W. Brown, Hughie Lee-Smith, Charles L. Sallée Jr., and William E. Smith—some of the most prominent Black printmakers of the WPA era—founded Karamu Artists, Inc. Reproductions of works by such artists are accompanied by essays situating the prints, the artists, and this locus of Black arts and culture in the histories it shaped. These writings are complemented by an interview with printmaker and Karamu alumnus Curlee Raven Holton.