UNITY WORKS PUBLISHING
In Collaboration with
THE MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART
Los Angeles, California

is proud to announce the publication of

Barthé
His Life in Art

After 20 years of research and with access to all the papers, journals, photographs and sculptures of Richmond Barthe, art historian and distinguished artist Samella Lewis has published a groundbreaking work, Barthe: His Life in Art.

Samella Lewis’ Barthe:  His Life in Art is a gorgeous revelation about a gifted artist, written with graceful simplicity and disarming candor.  Part intimate biography, part stunning visualization through exquisite photographs of the sculptor’s art, Barthe:  His Life in Art brings to life the monumentally powerful work of a complex genius, James Richmond Barthe.  Tracing his amazing life and brilliant career-path from the rural South to galvanizing Chicago, to energizing New York, and finally to the  more quiescent climes of Jamaica and Pasadena, Lewis steadily moves the reader toward the interior reaches of Barthe’s incomparable creativity.

And what creativity it was, capturing the exquisite harmonies of form of men, women, children and horses seeming about to burst through the fragile bonds of Lewis’ pages. Each photograph encapsulates the essence of the sculpted subject, whether it is a nameless mother or a vaunted public figure. In the case of standing figures, it is as if the camera has caught them as they were about to take their next step or make their next move.

Adding layers of depth to the understanding of the personal world in which Barthe lived, is an amazing gallery photographs of his well-known and far-flung friends and admirers. Their friendship was a testimony to his charismatic appeal, his generous heart, his elegantly handsome appearance and his wide-ranging interests.

Written through Lewis’ lens as an artist-colleague who was his confidant and close friend for more than a quarter of a century, Barthe: His Life in Art  is the definitive study of this multi-talented sculptor who conversed with nature and brought to full-blooded and passionate life both heroes and ordinary mortals who changed the world.  Art historians, artists and readers in general will be ever grateful for Lewis’ painstaking research and meticulous assemblage of a life that made a glorious difference in the portrayal of the human spirit and the oneness of mankind.  In this important volume, Samella Lewis has made certain that Barthe’s body of work and artistic legacy will take its rightful place in the pantheon of extraordinary sculptors.

A national museum tour is being planned for an exhibition of Barthe’s works entitled Richmond Barthe: His Life in Art, in conjunction with the release of the book. The tour will begin in the fall of 2009 and continue through 2012.  Currently, venues include: the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American Art, Detroit, MI; Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN; and the NCCU Art Museum, Durham, NC.  The exhibition and tour are being organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions of Los Angeles, CA.  The exhibition website is at www.a-r-t.com/barthe

About the Author

Samella Lewis, Professor Emerita, Scripps College of the Claremont Colleges, is not only a towering iconic figure in American art, her intellect is as breathtaking as her staggering output of work.  As an art historian, she has become an American Treasure, demonstrating both depth and breadth in her understanding of the visual arts. As an artist she has achieved and created works of stunning beauty and enduring power, in oils, watercolors, prints and a host of other mediums.  Her work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the DuSable Museum, Chicago, the New York Historical Society, Haus der Kirche, Germany, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, among other art institutions. She is the founder of the Los Angeles Museum of African American Art and the International Review of African American Art. She has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, Distinguished Scholar by The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, a UNICEF visual arts award, and six honorary doctorates, in addition to the doctorate she earned at The Ohio State University.  She is also the author of eight other publications.  Lewis continues to work and reside in Los Angeles.