Heading: (African American, 1905-1944)
Author: Campbell, E. Simms; Lorenzo Harris; Robert Blackburn
Title: Collection of ephemera by three African-American artists of the early 20th century
Place Published:
Publisher:
Date Published: 1905-1944
Description: Numerous items including magazines, drawings, postcards, illustrations and articles cut from periodicals.Before Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence were hailed as 20th-century master artists, other largely unsung Black artists struggled for recognition.Comprising:
Lorenzo Harris, early illustrator for W.E.B.Dubois' NAACP's "Crisis" magazine:
Color illustration, "The Hero of the Game", cut from an unknown periodical
2 pictorial postcards, 1905 and 1910, of Harris' remarkable "Sand Sculptures" at Asbury Park, New Jersey
1944 folding illustrated mailer with Harris's drawing of the 1944 blizzard which destroyed much of the Asbury Park beachfront, including his finest "sand sculptures"
Brief illustrated Harris biography in a 2007 New Jersey magazine

E. Simms Campbell, first nationally-known African-American cartoonist, with close ties to the Harlem Renaissance who only rarely depicted Black-related themes:
Early cartoon in a complete1931 Life magazine
34 full-page Campbell color cartoons removed from 1938-1939 Esquire magazines, only 2 seriously depicting Black characters (Harlem street scene and Black music club)
Complete 1938 Esquire issue with Campbell's illustrated article about his trip to Haiti
Group of his 1943 "Cutie" all-white cartoons featuring sexy blond women, popular with World War II GIs

Robert Blackburn, master printmaker:
20 drawings, with Black, Asian, Hispanic and anti-war themes in two 1938 issues of Magpie, the student literary journal of Dewitt Clinton High School, New York

Varying from fair to very good.