Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art, Vol. 2

612 pages
1,008 color illustrations
Hardcover, clothbound
Tinwood Books

    Completing the two-volume set, Souls Grown Deep, Vol. 2 takes the visual and historical presentation of the first volume to a richer level, offering an even broader array of artistic styles and media. Published in 2000, the first volume explored the diverse historical roots of the genre and introduced artists whose work recalled the South of the pre–civil rights era. This sequel brings the movement into the present, delving into the work of the current generation of artists who are creating a rich and complex form of contemporary art.

    Breaking away from the stereotypes that identity folk art and the South with rural, isolated, static and agrarian ways of life, these pages unveil an art that embodies social change and continues to flourish at the dawn of a new century. Sure to challenge assumptions about art and American society, Souls Grown Deep is an indispensable resource for general readers and students interested in folk art, contemporary art, the South, African American culture, and American civilization.

    “Every page holds some incredible incident of artistic expression. . . . But in addition to the art, there is page after page of thought-provoking text. . . . Souls Grown Deep, Volumes One and Two provide evidence that what we call modern art may actually be a deeper, more fundamental style of human expression that developed in places far beyond the salons of Paris and the lofts of New York. These two handsome books may be nothing less than the battle plans of an aesthetic war that will some day change our understanding of art history in total.”—New Orleans Times-Picayune