Published in connection with an exhibition of the same name held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), Philadelphia, October 5, 2023-April 7, 2024, and at the Birmingham Museum of Art, fall 2024. Text by Brittany Webb, Sylvea Hollis, Katelyn D. Crawford, Greg Barnhisel, Rebecca VanDiver, Kelin Baldridge Smallwood ; chronology by Hannah McCoy. Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-175) and index.
Summary:
Determined to Be explores the work of American sculptor John Walter Rhoden (1916-2001). When Rhoden was young, he was advised by Hale Woodruff and Alain Locke as well as sculptors Richmond Barthe and William Zorach. He went on to travel the world and became the first Black visual artist to win the Prix de Rome from the American Academy in Rome. Contributing scholars explore various aspects of Rhoden's life and career, including how the artist was shaped by his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, and his training and professional networks. Essays also consider how his time in Italy and his years in Indonesia expanded the scale and scope of his sculpture. Other topics include Rhoden's travels, public commissions, and oeuvre in the context of Cold War modernism, as well as media coverage of his career in the mainstream and Black press. Archival materials from the recently processed John Rhoden papers shed new light on the life of this significant underrecognized sculptor.
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