•This Week•
Exhibit of African-American historical artifacts to open at SMC Barrett gallery
AMONG THE ITEMS included in the African American Treasures exhibit at Santa Monica College is this historic piece.
The Santa Monica College Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery will present African American Treasures: History and Art from the Collection of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 12 through March 9. An opening reception is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the gallery in the SMC Performing Arts Center, 11th Street at Santa Monica Boulevard. A book signing and gallery tour will precede the reception from 4 to 5 p.m. Held during African-American Heritage Month, the show has toured eight cities and been seen by more than three million visitors. The Kinseys, of Pacific Palisades, have explored and celebrated their AfricanAmerican heritage by collecting items of historical and cultural significance throughout their more than 40-year marriage, a gallery spokesperson notes. Their collection includes a copy of an early version of the Emancipation Proclamation, correspondence between civil rights activist Malcolm X and “Roots” author Alex
Haley, and a reproduction of a 1773 firstedition copy of poems by Phillis Wheatley. The collection spans nearly four centuries and documents the hardships and triumphs of the African-American experience, say gallery organizers. The exhibit will feature 26 original artworks and nearly 40 original items, artifacts, articles, posters, graphics, writings, photos and books – with detailed information next to each piece explaining their significance, according to gallery director Marian Winsryg. The historical pieces will be in chronological order with original artworks interspersed throughout. “This is an extraordinary collection that will give our students and community a unique and up-close perspective on the profound African-American cultural and historic impact on the United States,” Winsryg said. This is the first time pieces from the collection have been at an institution of higher education, to the delight of the Kinseys, who have lectured at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and China,
THE CULTIVATORS by Samuel L. Dunson, Jr. will be featured along with other artifacts from the Bernard and Shirley Kinsey collection at the Barrett gallery.
Winsryg added. “We love talking to young people about American history and the achievements of the African-American community,” Bernard Kinsey said. “Our collection brings to light the extraordinary triumphs and accomplishments of our ancestors and in doing so give these individuals a voice, a personality and a name,” he said.
An illustrated, 198-page coffee table book, “The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey – Where Art and History Intersect,” accompanies the exhibition. Information, www.thekinseycollection. com. For gallery information, (310) 4343434.
James Gray Gallery to host auction of vintage autographed books Blacksparrow Auctions will present a live auction of “The Arthur Ronnie Collection: Books and Autographs,” beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 10 at the James Gray Gallery at Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave. D4, Santa Monica. A public preview is available Feb. 7 through 9 at the gallery. The auction features a selection of over 200 pieces from the collection of Ronnie, an individual collector who personally interviewed many authors and obtained autographs for over 70 years throughout his career as a newspaper reporter and publicist in the entertainment PAGE 12 THE ARGONAUT February 7, 2013
field. Examples of subject matters include presidents, explorers, aviators and Hollywood entertainment. Some of the many highlights of the collection include: “20 hrs. 40 min. Our Flight in the Friendship” The American Girl, First Across the Atlantic by Air, Tells Her Story – aviator Amelia Earhart’s personal copy with a piece of fabric from the Friendship; “The Spirit of St. Louis,” Presentation Edition signed by Charles A. Lindbergh, T. Claude Ryan, Otto W. Timm, and Bud
Gurney; “Memoirs” by President Harry S. Truman, both volumes inscribed; and “The White House Years: Waging Peace, 1956-1961,” by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, signed limited edition. Complementing the signed books is a group of signed color lithographs, including a who’s who of early and instrumental aviators such as Charles Taylor, Grover Loening, Douglas Campbell, William Bishop, Gianni Caproni, Richard E. Byrd, A.V. Roe, Ruth Law, Ernest Hall, Jacqueline Cochran, Charles Lindbergh, Katherine Stinson, Henri Farman, and more, ac-
cording to Blacksparrow. The auction company says the featured item of the sale is a two-volume set of “The Lafayette Flying Corps” (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920, First Edition). Interested bidders will be able to bid live in-person, by telephone, via absentee, and on the Internet as facilitated by iCollector. A print catalog will be available for purchase at blacksparrowauctions. com. Information, (310) 315-9502, or http:// jamesgraygallery.com.