CLEVELAND, OH.- Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell examines the work and enduring legacy of Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell (Americans, b. 1929 and 1935). Inspired by the Cleveland Museum of Art’s recent acquisition of Heritage, a 1973 painting by Wadsworth Jarrell, the exhibition features 18 works from the mid-1960s to the present in a dazzling array of colorful paintings, sculptures and textiles. Taking the form of an intimate dialogue between husband and wife, Heritage celebrates two Cleveland-based artists and illustrates the couple’s keen ability to incite change through art. Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell is on view through February 25, 2018, in the Julia and Larry Pollock Focus Gallery.

In 1968, Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell founded the collective AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), with artists Jeff Donaldson, Barbara J. Jones, and Gerald Williams. Headquartered in Chicago, the group gathered in Wadsworth’s studio, uniting with a specific objective in mind: to create an approach to art separate from the dominant Eurocentric point of view. Inspired by the colors, rhythms and patterns that the artists found in the music, fashion and art of the African continent, they developed a style and unique identity that celebrated the richness of their creative heritage and delivered strong, positive messages for black communities.

“Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell are influential artists and activists who create works that celebrate the power, persistence and beauty of African heritage,” said Heather Lemonedes, chief curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art. “Their visually stunning objects continue to receive critical national and international attention, and we are honored to showcase their dynamic vision here in Cleveland.”

“Shining a light on Jae and Wadsworth’s work has long been overdue,” said Reto Thüring, curator of contemporary art and chair of modern, contemporary, decorative arts and performing arts and film. “Their work is more relevant than ever and the exhibition illustrates the unrelenting power of what they stand for as artists, parents and activists to this day.”

Highlights in Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell

Heritage, 1973. Wadsworth Jarrell (American, b. 1929). Acrylic, metal foil, cotton canvas; 120.7 x 76.2 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 2016.268. © Wadsworth Jarrell
Wadsworth became internationally known in the early 1970s as a cofounder and leading figure of AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists). Founded in Chicago in the late 1960s the artist collective was heavily tied to the Black Arts Movement—the aesthetic branch of the Black Power movement of the 1960s and ’70s. This painting shows two jazz musicians exuberantly playing their instruments; their bodies are composed of letters and dots of color, and phrases like African Rhythm Our Heritage and Black Funk emerge from the vibrant composition. With vivid colors, the prominent use of language, the integration of collage elements, and the explicit references to jazz music as fundamental to African American culture, Heritage contains the most crucial aspects of AfriCOBRA’s common aesthetic and moral principles.

Frock You, 1994. Jae Jarrell (American, b. 1935). Wool, wood, mixed media; 186.7 x 123.2 x 15.2 cm. Collection of the artist. © Jae Jarrell
This sculpture features one of Jae’s textile designs, a green woolen frock, embedded in a screen-like structure. Evocative of a large collage, the screen is made out of different decorative elements such as a feather, small pieces of mirrored glass, partially painted wood, and a silhouette cutout of a woman wearing a hat. In addition, the artist embedded a dictionary definition of the words frock and frocking, referring to the title’s humorous ambiguity.