CAAD Inc. hopes to establish a study/resource center within the Los Angeles community
to disseminate information on African and African American art-related events. A key component will be
a research library within the Center to house slides, books, magazines, videos, oral histories, prints
and photographs, and other materials related to the arts of the African Diaspora. CAAD Inc. is in
association with Amazon.com so if you purchase books through the site you will be helping out CAAD Inc.
and saving money.
The CAAD staff strongly recommend the following books as essential reading for the study of the arts of the African Diaspora.
Recommended readings:
Cunningham, Michael and Craig Marberry, foreword by Maya Angelou. Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats.
Price, Sally and Richard Price. Maroon Arts: Cultural Vitality in the African Diaspora.
A vivid display of the art made by rebel Africans in 18th century South America.
Nesbett, Peter T. and Michelle DuBois, eds. The Complete Jacob Lawrence.
Two volumes presenting every work to know by one of the country's premier artists.
Kennedy, Jean. New Currents, Ancient Rivers: Contemporary African Artists In a Generation of Change.
A wealth of information on the development of African art during the past
few decades.
Willis, Deborah (CAAD Advisory Board member) and Jane Lusaka, eds. Visual Journal: Harlem & D.C. In The Thirties and Forties.
In stunning clarity, five African American photographers - Robert H. McNeill, Gordon Parks, Robert S. Scurlock, and Morgan & Marvin Smith -documented segregated black communities in Washington, D.C., rural Virginia and New York City in the 1930s and 40s.
Herzog, Melanie Anne. Elizabeth Catlett: An American Artist In Mexico.
From the Jacob Lawrence Series on American Artists, this richly illustrated and informative monograph is the first to document the full range of Catlett's life and work.
Adero, Malaika, ed. The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
Anthologie de la Photographie africaine et de l'Océan Indien XIXe & XXe siècles, Editions Revue Noire, 1998.
Barnwell, Andrea D., et al. The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art, University of Washington Press, 2000.
Bearden, Romare and Harry Henderson. A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present, New York: Pantheon Books, 1993.
Catlett, Elizabeth. The Black Woman in America: Prints by Elizabeth Catlett, Champaign, Illinois: Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, 1993.
Janson, Anthony F. and Peter Howard Selz. Barbara Chase-Riboud: Sculptor, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999.
Jezierski, John Vincent. Enterprising Images: The Goodridge Brothers (Great Lakes Books), Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000.
Kasfir, Sidney Littlefield. Contemporary African Art, London: Thames and Hudson, 2000.
Lewis, Samella. African American Art and Artists, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
__________ and Ruth G. Waddy. Black Artists on Art, Volume 1, Los Angeles: Contemporary Crafts Publishers, 1969.
Maurer, Evan M., and Niangi Batulukisi. Spirits Embodied: Art of the Congo, University of Minnesota Press, 1999.
Pique, Francesca, and Leslie H. Rainer. Palace Sculptures of Abomey: History Told on Walls (Conservation and Cultural Heritage), J. Paul Getty Museum Publications, 2000.
Parks, Gordon, et al. Half Past Autumn: A Retrospective, New York: Bulfinch Press, 1997.
Powell, Richard J. Black Art and Culture in the 20th Century, London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1997.
Robinson, Jontyle Theresa, editor, et al. Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists, New York: Spelman College and Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1996.
Rohner, John R. Art Treasures from African Runners, University Press of Colorado, 2000.
Taha, Halima. Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas, New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1999.
Willis, Deborah. Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000.
Willis-Thomas, Deborah. An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black Photographers, 1940 - 1988, New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1989.
Willis-Ryan, Deborah, et al. Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987.
__________. Black Photographers, 1840 - 1940: An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography, New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985.
Wilson, Jackie Napolean. Hidden Witness: African American Images from the Birth of Photography to the Civil War, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.
