Melvin Edwards
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Biography
Melvin Edwards (b.1937) is a pioneer in the history of contemporary African American art and sculpture. Born in Houston, Texas, he began his artistic career at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, where he met and was mentored by the Hungarian painter Francis de Erdely. In 1965, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA organized his first solo exhibition, which launched his professional career. Edwards moved to New York City in 1967. Shortly after his arrival, his work was exhibited at The Studio Museum in Harlem and in 1970, he became the first African American sculptor to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Edwards’s practice reflects his engagement with the history of race, labor, and violence, as well as with themes of the African Diaspora. Making welding his preferred medium, his sculptures are studies in abstraction and minimalism. Ranging from colorful painted sculptures that expand on the modernist vocabulary of artists like Alexander Calder to barbed wire installations to tangled amalgamations of agricultural and industrial elements, his work is distinguished by its formal simplicity and powerful materiality.
Edwards remains best known for his series of Lynch Fragments, welded combinations of disparate objects that invite competing narratives of oppression and creation. This body of work spans three periods: the early 1960s, when the artist responded to racial violence in the United States; the early 1970s, when his activism concerning the Vietnam War motivated him to return to the series; and from 1978 to the present, as he continues to explore a variety of themes, including his personal connection to Africa. Edwards first traveled to the continent in the 1970s with his late wife, the poet Jayne Cortez. Since his initial trip, he has returned to Africa many times, teaching welding in different countries before ultimately establishing a studio in Dakar, Senegal in 2000.
In addition, Edwards has a longstanding commitment to public art. Since the 1960s, he has created sculptures for universities, public housing projects, and museums. His commissions include Homage to My Father and the Spirit (1969) at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Holder of the Light (1985) at Lafayette Gardens, Jersey City, NJ; and Asafo Kra No (1993) at the Utsukushi-Ga-Hara Open-Air Museum, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Edwards’s large-scale sculptures extend his extraordinary range of aesthetic expression, reaffirming his commitment to abstraction.
Retrospectives of Edwards’s work have been presented at Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX (2015), traveled to Zimmerli Museum of Art, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (2015), and to Columbus Museum of Art, OH (2016), and Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York at Purchase (1993), traveled to The Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami (1994), Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (1994), and to McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX (1995). Edwards’s sculptures are currently on view at and Dia Beacon, NY. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA (2022); Public Art Fund, City Hall Park, New York, NY (2021); Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA (2020); Baltimore Museum of Art, MD (2019); and Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil (2018), among others. He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including New York: 1962–1964, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY (2022); The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (2021), traveled to Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX (2021); Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom (2017), traveled to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK (2018), Brooklyn Museum, NY (2018), The Broad, Los Angeles, CA (2019), de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA (2019), and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (2020); Postwar: Art Between the Pacific and the Atlantic 1945–1965,Haus der Kunst,Munich, Germany (2016); 56th Venice Biennale: All the World’s Futures, Italy (2015); Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties, Brooklyn Museum, NY (2014); traveled to Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (2014); and Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin (2015); and Blues for Smoke, The Geffen Contemporary at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2012), traveled to Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2013), and Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH (2013). Edwards’s work is represented in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, NY; Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY; The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH; Dia Art Foundation, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, among others. Edwards taught at Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, from 1972 to 2002. In 2014, he received an honorary doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. The artist is also represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
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Videos
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Exhibitions
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Melvin Edwards
Lines for the Poet 3 Mar - 15 Apr 2023 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates, New York presented Melvin Edwards: Lines for the Poet, the artist’s seventh one-person exhibition with the Gallery. It marks the debut of a series of never-before-shown ca....Read more -
"A sheet of paper casts a shadow."
16 Sep - 30 Oct 2022 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents 'A sheet of paper casts a shadow.” This group exhibition features a selection of works on paper by six Gallery artists, Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer,...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
B-Wire 6 May - 5 Jun 2022 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates, Germantown presented Melvin Edwards: B-Wire, an exhibition of Here and There (1970/2022), a barbed wire installation, and historic works on paper. The show builds on Dia Beacon’s...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
Dia Beacon 6 May 2022 - 23 Jan 2023 -
Melvin Edwards
B-Wire 6 May - 5 Jun 2022 -
Melvin Edwards: Asafokra
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum 27 Apr - 5 Sep 2022 -
Epistrophy
Pace Gallery 1 - 30 Apr 2022 -
This Tender, Fragile Thing
The School, Jack Shainman Gallery 15 Jan - 30 Apr 2022 -
The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston 4 Nov 2021 - 6 Feb 2022 -
Subliminal Horizons: Part 2
20 Aug - 3 Oct 2021 GermantownSubliminal Horizons: Part 2 Germantown August 21 – October 3, 2021 Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown presented Subliminal Horizon, the second iteration of an exhibition curated by Alvin Hall . Subliminal...Read more -
Subliminal Horizons: Part 1
2 Jul - 15 Aug 2021 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates presened Subliminal Horizons: Part 1, an exhibition curated by Alvin Hall as an open-ended survey of Black, indigenous, brown, and Asian artists living and working in the...Read more -
Subliminal Horizons
1 Jul - 13 Aug 2021 New YorkSubliminal Horizons New York July 1 – August 14, 2021 Alexander Gray Associates presented Subliminal Horizons, an exhibition curated by Alvin Hall as an open-ended survey of Black, indigenous, brown,...Read more -
Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days
Public Art Fund, City Hall Park 4 May - 28 Nov 2021 -
South South
26 Feb - 11 Apr 2021 Germantown -
Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America
New Museum 17 Feb - 6 Jun 2021 -
Melvin Edwards: The Sculptor of Resistance
Museu Afro Brasil 20 Nov 2020 - 31 Jan 2021 -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963–1983
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 27 Jun - 30 Aug 2020 -
Future Food. Essen für die Welt von morgen
Deutsches Hygiene-Museum 30 May 2020 - 26 Sep 2021 -
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem
Frye Art Museum 9 May - 2 Aug 2020 -
Melvin Edwards: Crossroads
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art 8 Feb - 5 Jul 2020 -
Melvin Edwards
Museu Nacional da República 7 Feb - 29 Mar 2020 -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963 – 1983
de Young Museum 9 Nov 2019 - 8 Mar 2020 -
Melvin Edwards
Museu de Arte Moderna de Bahia 8 Nov 2019 - 21 Jan 2020 -
Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011
MoMA PS1 3 Nov 2019 - 1 Mar 2020 -
Melvin Edwards
Painted Sculpture 24 Oct - 14 Dec 2019 -
Melvin Edwards: Crossroads
Baltimore Museum of Art 29 Sep 2019 - 12 Jan 2020 -
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 13 Sep - 8 Dec 2019 -
Walking Through Walls
Martin-Gropius-Bau 12 Sep 2019 - 12 Jan 2020 -
Melvin Edwards
Museu da República 17 Aug - 27 Oct 2019 -
Melvin Edwards
Djeri Jef Fatou 5 - 28 Jul 2019 -
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem
Gibbes Museum of Art 24 May - 18 Aug 2019 -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963 – 1983
The Broad 23 Mar - 1 Sep 2019 -
Melvin Edwards
auroras 2 Feb - 16 Mar 2019 -
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem
The Museum of the African Diaspora 15 Jan - 14 Apr 2019 -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
Brooklyn Museum 14 Sep 2018 - 3 Feb 2019 -
Melvin Edwards: Lynch Fragments
The Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) 24 Aug - 15 Nov 2018 -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art 3 Feb - 23 Apr 2018 -
Melvin Edwards: Festivals, Funerals, and New Life
David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University 11 Nov 2017 - 11 Feb 2018 -
An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940–2017
Whitney Museum 18 Aug 2017 - 27 Aug 2018 -
An Incomplete History of Protest
Whitney Museum of American Art 18 Aug - 10 Oct 2017 -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
Tate Modern 12 Jul - 22 Oct 2017 -
Melvin Edwards
Galerie Buchholz 28 Apr - 17 Jun 2017 -
Melvin Edwards
In Oklahoma 13 Apr - 20 May 2017 -
Melvin Edwards: In Oklahoma
Oklahoma Contemporary 20 Oct - 27 Dec 2016 -
Postwar — Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945-1965
Haus der Kunst 14 Oct 2016 - 26 Mar 2017 -
Haptic
7 Jul - 12 Aug 2016 -
Melvin Edwards: Five Decades
Columbus Museum of Art 12 Feb - 8 May 2016 -
Melvin Edwards: Five Decades
Zimmerli Art Museum 1 Sep 2015 - 10 Jan 2016 -
Melvin Edwards: Five Decades
Nasher Sculpture Center 31 Jan - 10 May 2015 -
Melvin Edwards
Stephen Friedman Gallery 25 Nov 2014 - 17 Jan 2015 -
Melvin Edwards
30 Oct - 13 Dec 2014 -
Melvin Edwards
Hood Museum of Art 30 Aug - 14 Dec 2014 -
Melvin Edwards
Galerie Anne de Villepoix 11 Jan - 15 Mar 2014 -
Melvin Edwards
2 Nov - 22 Dec 2012 -
Melvin Edwards
Art Unlimited Art 43 Basel 14 - 17 Jun 2012 -
Melvin Edwards
Hammer Museum 2 Oct 2011 - 8 Jan 2012 -
Melvin Edwards
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center 18 Jul - 18 Sep 2011 -
Melvin Edwards
Sculptures 1964-2010 8 Sep - 16 Oct 2010
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Public Collections
The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Baltimore Museum of Art, MD
Birmingham Museum of Art, AL
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY
Brooklyn Museum, NY
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY
Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, CA
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, FL
Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Dallas Museum of Art, TX
David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI
Detroit Institute of Arts, MI
Dia Art Foundation, NY
Flint Institute of Arts, MI
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
Joseph P. Addabbo Federal Building, Jamaica, NY
Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY
Lafayette College, Easton, PA
Long Beach Museum of Art, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Miami University, FL
Miami University, Oxford, OH
Montclair Art Museum, NJ
Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, MI
Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela
Museum de Domijnen, Netherlands
Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX
National Academy of Design, New York, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York at Purchase
The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton
New York City Parks, NY
The Newark Museum, NJ
Peat, Marwick, and Mitchell, Montvale, NJ
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY
Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, NE
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
Winston-Salem State University, NC
Worcester Art Museum, MA -
News / Events
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Melvin Edwards
Montclair Art Museum February 9, 2024Melvin Edwards is included in a group exhibition, Century: 100 Years of Black Art at MAM at the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, New Jersey.
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Juan Francisco Elso: Por América
Phoenix Art Museum May 6, 2023Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer, Melvin Edwards, and Lorraine O’Grady are included in the group exhibition Juan Francisco Elso: Por América organized by El Museo de Barrio and curated by Olga Viso travels to the Phoenix Art Museum.
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Melvin Edwards and Steve Locke
Bruce Museum April 2, 2023Melvin Edwards and Steve Locke are included in the group exhibition Then Is Now: Contemporary Black Art in America at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT.
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Melvin Edwards
Stony Brook University November 10, 2022Melvin Edwards included in the group exhibition Revisiting 5 + 1 at the Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook University in Suffolk County, NY.
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Melvin Edwards
University of Texas November 10, 2022Melvin Edwards screening of Some Bright Morning: The Art of Melvin Edwards followed by a conversation with the artist, curator Phillip Townsend, and director Lydie Diakhaté.
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Juan Francisco Elso: Por América
El Museo del Barrio October 27, 2022Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer, Melvin Edwards, and Lorraine O’Grady included in the group exhibition Juan Francisco Elso: Por América curated by Olga Viso at El Museo del Barrio, New York.
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Melvin Edwards
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum August 19, 2022Melvin Edwards in conversation with curator Daniel S. Palmer about Brighter Days at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA
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Melvin Edwards
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts August 13, 2022Melvin Edwards included in the group exhibition A Site of Struggle traveling to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama.
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Melvin Edwards
Rose Art Museum August 10, 2022Melvin Edwards's 2015 conversation with Christopher Bedford and Chad Williams re-broadcasted Wednesday, August 10 at 7pm by the Rose Art Museum for their series Encore Presentations.
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Melvin Edwards
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum June 19, 2022Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days included in the Juneteenth African American Read-In program at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
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Melvin Edwards
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum June 1, 2022Melvin Edwards's one-person exhibition Brighter Days will travel to deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
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Melvin Edwards
Dia Beacon May 6, 2022Melvin Edwards's one-person exhibition Melvin Edwards highlights site-specific sculptures of welded steel, chains, and other metal objects at Dia Beacon in Beacon, NY.
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Melvin Edwards
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum April 27, 2022Melvin Edward's large scale installation Asafokra will be on view at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum’s Main Street Sculpture program from April 27–September 5, 2022.
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Melvin Edwards
Pace Gallery April 1, 2022Melvin Edwards included in Epistrophy, a group exhibiton with Sam Gilliam and William T. Williams at Pace Gallery, New York.
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Us Them We | Race, Ethnicity, Identity
Worcester Art Museum March 17, 2022The Worcester Art Museum's group exhibition, Us Them We | Race, Ethnicity, Identity, featuring works by Melvin Edwards, Jennie C. Jones, and Lorraine O’Grady will have a discussion led by Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College and specialist in visual culture studies, Kimberly Juanita Brown, Ph.D. as a part of Master Series Third Thursday programs.
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Melvin Edwards, Harmony Hammond, Joan Semmel
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts February 1, 2020Melvin Edwards, Harmony Hammond, and Joan Semmel included in Making Community: Prints from Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Brodsky Center at PAFA, and Paulson Fontaine Press at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
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Articles / Reviews