Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell at CMA
This exhibition was inspired by the Cleveland Museum of Art’s recent acquisition of Wadsworth Jarrell’s Heritage (1973), a painting of great significance, the exhibition examines the work and enduring legacy of multidisciplinary artists Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell.
Heritage features 15 works from the mid-1960s to the present, the exhibition is a stunning array of colorful paintings, sculptures, and textiles. The Jarrells’ work engages music, the family, and many cultures from the African continent as cornerstones of pride and communal identity. Taking the form of an intimate dialogue between husband and wife, the exhibition celebrates these two Cleveland-based artists and illustrates the couple’s keen ability to incite change by focusing on our heritage instead of protesting injustice meted out by mainstream America.”
Jae and Wadsworth Jarrell joined with three other artists as founding members of AFRICOBRA in 1968. Wadsworth had moved to Chicago from Georgia, and Jae from Cleveland, both to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After Chicago, their family moved on to other cities. Wadsworth taught painting at Howard University and the University of Georgia and developed his practice as a painter, exhibiting his paintings widely. Jae is not only an artist, but also a dealer in vintage clothing, who had shops in Chicago and in TriBeCa, New York City, and supplies period costume for TV and film productions. They now live in Cleveland, where their work continues: Wadsworth as a painter and Jae as a sculptor using reclaimed furniture as her medium.
Heritage exhibition opened Sun, 11/19/2017 to Sun, 02/25/2018 at Cleveland Museum of Art
photography: Ron Shelton
