Research Catalog

Title

Ademola Olugebefola papers, 1967-1990.

Author

Olugebefola, Ademola.

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

• 3.4 lin ft.
• 7 microfilm reels.

Summary

• Collection contains personal papers, 1968-1988, consisting primarily of files for cultural organizations on whose boards of directors Ademola served, such as Across Culture, Caribbean/American Cultural Exchange, and Society of Africans from America.
• The Professional Activities series, 1967-1990, is divided into four subseries. Included in this series are correspondence and other material regarding speaking engagements, participation in seminars, workshops, symposia and panels. The use of his artwork in publications, articles regarding his work in general, interviews and media appearances are also found in this series.
• The Organizations subseries consists of visual and performing arts, cultural, educational, business and civic organizations in which Ademola held general and board memberships and/or acted as a consultant. Included are files for the National Conference of Artists and Benin Enterprises, Inc. (1975-1983) whose goals were to create positive social change by raising the artistic and cultural consciousness of the community, publicizing the work of minority group artists, funding these artists in their chosen media and establishing a central information bank on minority artists. An outgrowth of Benin Enterprises, the Benin Gallery (l975-1984) is also represented in the collection. The Benin was the first art gallery in Harlem, and featured both master artists as well as developing artists. There are correspondence, memoranda, financial records, gallery announcements, exhibition checklists, sales records and printed material for both entities.
• The Weusi Nyumba Ya Sanaa Gallery and Academy of African Arts and Studies files (1968-1990) contain minutes, correspondence, exhibition catalogs, flyers, memoranda, articles, grant proposals, financial reports, and price listings of artwork.
• Known for innovative work in photography, Pat Davis has exhibited widely and her work has appeared in magazines, journals and on album covers. Her work is also in public and private collections, primarily on the East Coast. Davis is a founding member of Where We At Black Women Artists.
• Files contain correspondence, gallery announcements featuring solo and group exhibitions of her work. Also included are memberhip lists and printed material on Where We At Black Women Artists.

Subjects

• Grinnell Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
• National Conference of Artists (U.S.)
• Olugebefola, Ademola
• Black Arts Movement
• Art museums > Educational aspects
• Art museums > New York (State) > New York
• Society of African from America
• Weusi Nyumba Ya Sanaa Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
• African American art > New York (State) > New York
• African American women artists
• New Lafayette Theatre (New York, N.Y.)
• New York (N.Y.) > Social life and customs
• Benin Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
• African American artists > New York (State) > New York
• Photographers > United States
• Davis, Pat
• "Where We At" Black Women Artists (Organization : Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
• Benin Enterprises, Inc
• Women artists (New York, N.Y.)
• Across Culture, Caribbean/American Cultural Exchange

Note

• Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.
• Material transferred to Art and Artifacts Division.
• Audiotapes transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Access (note)

• Researchers are restricted to microfilm copy.

Additional Formats (note)

• Collection available on microfilm;

Reproduction (note)

• Microfilm.

Source (note)

• Olugebefola, Ademola

Biography (note)

• Artist, designer, educator, activist and businessman, Ademola Olugebefola, nee Bedwick Lyola Thomas, is one of the most respected and inventive catalysts of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Primarily a visual artist, he has worked in all areas of the arts. He has exhibited in a variety of one-man and group shows at the Brooklyn Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Second World Festival of Art and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, and The Corcoran Gallery, among other places, and his work is in a variety of private and public collections. As a graphic designer and illustrator, Ademola has produced cover designs and illustrations for books by several prominent African-American authors. He has also worke d as a stage manager, production director, and set and costume designer for a variety of theatrical and film productions.
• As a member of the Twentieth-Century Creators, one of the largest African-American art groups of the 1960s and one which called for unity and positive ethnic direction in the arts, Ademola participated in the development of the philosophy of "Black-Art for Black People." This concept also was manifested by Weusi, aother group of artists with which Ademola was associated. The Weusi (a Swahili term for blackness), organized in 1965, was devoted to raising the cultural awareness of the African-American community and advocated "Black Art, Black Brotherhood and Black Unity." In 1967 five members of the Weusi founded the Nyumba Ya Sanaa (House of Art) Gallery and in the early 1970s the Academy of African Arts and Studies, of which Ademola was director of education.

Processing Action (note)

• Surveyed
• Processed
• Cataloging updated
• Microfilmed by New York Public Library

Call Number

Sc Micro R-6653

OCLC

NYPW89-A10

Author

Olugebefola, Ademola.

Title

Ademola Olugebefola papers, 1967-1990.

Access

Researchers are restricted to microfilm copy.

Additional Formats

Collection available on microfilm; New York Public Library; call number Sc Micro R-7037; Master negative *ZZ-34872.

Reproduction

Microfilm. New York : New York Public Library, 1995. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (MN *ZZ-34872)

Biography

Artist, designer, educator, activist and businessman, Ademola Olugebefola, nee Bedwick Lyola Thomas, is one of the most respected and inventive catalysts of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Primarily a visual artist, he has worked in all areas of the arts. He has exhibited in a variety of one-man and group shows at the Brooklyn Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Second World Festival of Art and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, and The Corcoran Gallery, among other places, and his work is in a variety of private and public collections. As a graphic designer and illustrator, Ademola has produced cover designs and illustrations for books by several prominent African-American authors. He has also worke d as a stage manager, production director, and set and costume designer for a variety of theatrical and film productions.

As a member of the Twentieth-Century Creators, one of the largest African-American art groups of the 1960s and one which called for unity and positive ethnic direction in the arts, Ademola participated in the development of the philosophy of "Black-Art for Black People." This concept also was manifested by Weusi, aother group of artists with which Ademola was associated. The Weusi (a Swahili term for blackness), organized in 1965, was devoted to raising the cultural awareness of the African-American community and advocated "Black Art, Black Brotherhood and Black Unity." In 1967 five members of the Weusi founded the Nyumba Ya Sanaa (House of Art) Gallery and in the early 1970s the Academy of African Arts and Studies, of which Ademola was director of education.

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Finding Aid

Research Call Number

Sc Micro R-6653