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Chicago’s Black Avant-Garde Art and Music Tradition Goes on Display

Now at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 'The Freedom Principle' explores how the 1960s shaped the black aesthetic.
Antwaun Sargent
Art Ensemble of Chicago performance at MCA Chicago, 1979. © MCA Chicago

In the years following the Civil Rights Movement, artists and musicians were searching for ways to contribute to the message of freedom and equality. In 70s New York, writer Amiri Baraka’s Black Arts Movement flourished while Nina Simone formed her own one-woman musical revolution; in Chicago, the black avant-garde formed the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA) as a way to creatively highlight the communities facing racial and economic injustice and to offer new ideas through their art. The music and art created in Chicago by AfriCOBRA and AACM are now on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago exhibition, The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music 1965 to Now.

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Wadsworth Jarrell, Revolutionary, 1972.Courtesy of the artist. © MCA ChicagoGerald Williams, Nation Time, 1969. Johnson Publishing Company (Chicago). Photo: Geoffrey Black/Johnson Publishing Company. © MCA ChicagoInstallation view, The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now, MCA Chicago. July 11-November 22, 2015. Work shown: Nari Ward, We The People, 2011. In collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Photo: Nathan Keay. © MCA ChicagoRobert Abbott Sengstacke, Wall of Respect, 1967. Photo by Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images. Courtesy of the artist. © MCA ChicagoWadsworth Jarell, New Orleans-style group photo in painter Wadsworth Jarrell’s backyard c. 1968/printed 2015.Courtesy of George Lewis.© MCA Chicago

Tagged:Jeff DonaldsonNari WardMuseum of Contemporary Art ChicagoRashid JohnsonAfriCOBRAAmiri BarakaJae JarrellThe Black Arts MovementThe Freedom PrincipleWadsworth JarrWilliam Pope L.the Association for the Advancement of Creative MusiciansCreators
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