Reflections

African American Life from the Myrna Colley-Lee Collection

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Reflections: African American Life from the Myrna Colley-Lee Collection offers an intimate view of African American life and culture through a broad range of 20th century art.  

Featuring paintings, works on paper, fabric work, and photographs, Reflections presents the lives, traditions, and environments of African Americans from the 20th century to the present. In its Texas exhibition debut, notable artists Romare Bearden, James Van Der Zee, Elizabeth Catlett, Eudora Welty, and Betye Saar are represented. 

Myrna Colley-Lee is credited as one of the foremost costume designers in the Black Theatre movement. Her collection juxtaposes work by leading artists with that of lesser known, yet equally compelling creators.

The Bullock Museum is hosting the exhibition in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth in 2015.

Support for the Bullock Museum's exhibitions and education programs provided by the Texas State History Museum Foundation.

Educator Guide

About the Artists

Randy Hayes (b. 1944, American)

Randy Hayes is a Mississippi photographer whose photographs are combined with paint to create multidimensional works. Raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Hayes attended Memphis College of Arts for his BFA.

He is a past recipient of the Betty Bowen Memorial Award, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Visual Award. Hayes has exhibited at the Mississippi Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, and the New Museum, New York, NY. His photographs are on display in the collections of the Orange County Museum of Art, Mississippi Museum of Art, and the Seattle Art Museum.

Maude Schuyler Clay (b. 1953, American)

Maude Schuyler Clay was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and attended both the University of Mississippi and the Memphis Academy of Arts.

She is acclaimed for her haunting black and white photographs of the Mississippi Delta region, and her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Clay’s photographs have also appeared in the publications of Vanity Fair, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine. In the past, Clay has been awarded the Mississippi Arts and Letters Award for photography and the Mississippi Art Commission’s Individual Artist Grant. She is a contributing editor for Oxford American.

Charles White (1918-1979, American)

Charles Wilbert White was born in Chicago and spent most of his life there and in Los Angeles. He studied both at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York. White went on to become one of America’s most recognized African American and Social Realist artists with his black, white and sepia drawings, paintings and lithographs.

He received a National Institute of Arts and Letters Grant, and his work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Library of Congress. His artwork is also in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Ernest Crichlow (1914-2005, American)

Ernest Crichlow was a New York painter and printmaker who captured the social realities of African American life in the 20th century. He studied at both New York University and the Art Students League of New York.

He was recognized by many institutions, including the White House in 1980 at the National Conference of Artists. Crichlow exhibited at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, and the Newark Museum.

Support for the Bullock Museum's exhibitions and education programs provided by the Texas State History Museum Foundation.