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.
Major retrospectives and surveys of Edwards’s work include Some Bright Morning, presented by the Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2024), traveled to Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (2025) and Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2026); Melvin Edwards: Five Decades, 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 Melvin Edwards Sculpture: A Thirty-Year Retrospective 1963–1993, 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). His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Dia Beacon, NY (2022); 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, D.C.; 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. Edwards is also represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin and New York.
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Bodies of Work
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Lynch Fragments
1960s–presentMelvin Edwards's Lynch Fragments highlight the artist’s exploration of intersectional identity, social justice, and political awareness. The series spans three periods: the early 1960s, when Edwards responded to racial violence... -
Discs
1960s–presentLike Melvin Edwards’s Lynch Fragments, his Discs marry the political with the abstract to reflect on his African American heritage. Created largely in Senegal, where the artist has maintained a... -
Painted Sculptures
1968–1990sMelvin Edwards created his first painted sculptures in 1968 during a summer residency in Minneapolis, MN. After he left the city, under the aegis of the celebrated museum director Martin... -
Large-Scale Sculpture
Although Melvin Edwards’s public sculptures’ monumental scale places them in seeming opposition to his Lynch Fragments, the two bodies of work are united by shared formal and conceptual concerns, constructing... -
Installations
1969–presentOften created from barbed wire and chain—at once delicate and dangerous—Melvin Edwards’s installations invite viewers to construct complex narratives around interrelated themes, including agriculture, incarceration, and racism. Well aware of... -
Rockers
1970s–presentIn the 1970s, Melvin Edwards began to create a series of Rockers, which were inspired in part by his grandmother and her rocking chair. These dynamic sculptures adapt the kineticism... -
Grids
2004–presentAfter establishing a studio in Dakar, Senegal in 2000, Melvin Edwards began mounting small-scale sculptures onto iron grids crafted by local metalworkers. Recalling the reductive, linear compositions of modernism, these... -
Works on Paper
1970s–presentMelvin Edwards’s works on paper feature traces of barbed wire, chain, and metal grating. Rendered in brightly colored spray paint or watercolor, the resulting images resemble the gestural lines of...
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Exhibitions
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Melvin Edwards
Lots of Work to Do November 8 - December 21, 2024 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates, New York presents Melvin Edwards: Lots of Work to Do, the artist’s eighth solo show with the Gallery. A focused survey of nearly sixty years of work,...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
Lines for the Poet March 3 - April 15, 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."
September 16 - October 30, 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 May 6 - June 5, 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 -
Subliminal Horizons: Part 2
August 20 - October 3, 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
July 2 - August 15, 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
July 1 - August 13, 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 -
South South
February 26 - April 11, 2021 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents South South, an exhibition that examines poetics of space and orientation in works by five Gallery artists: Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer, Melvin Edwards, Regina Silveira,...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
Painted Sculpture October 24 - December 14, 2019 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented its fifth exhibition of work by Melvin Edwards (b.1937), Painted Sculpture. An influential figure in African American art, Edwards’ practice reflects his engagement with the history...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
Djeri Jef Fatou July 5 - 28, 2019 GermantownAlder & Co., 222 Main Street, Germantown NY 12526 Hours: Friday – Sunday 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM For more than five decades, Melvin Edwards has created evocative sculptures that...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
In Oklahoma April 13 - May 20, 2017 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented Melvin Edwards: In Oklahoma, the artist’s fifth solo-exhibition at the Gallery, featuring recent sculptures. This exhibition brought together the artist’s first new body of work since...Read more -
Haptic
July 7 - August 12, 2016 New YorkHaptic: of or relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception. Alexander Gray Associates presented...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
October 30 - December 13, 2014 New York“The use of African words as titles of my sculpture is to extend the practical and philosophical values of the large quantity of esthetic possibility in art for now and...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
November 2 - December 22, 2012 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented its second exhibition with Melvin Edwards, spanning the trajectory of Edwards’ nearly 50-year career. Concurrently, Edwards is a featured artist in the celebrated exhibition Now Dig...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
Sculptures 1964-2010 September 8 - October 16, 2010 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates was pleased to present its first exhibition of Melvin Edwards’ sculpture. The exhibition spans four decades, including his influential series, Lynch Fragments (on going from 1964) and...Read more
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Other Exhibitions
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SOME BRIGHT MORNING
Fridericianum August 31, 2024 - January 12, 2025Melvin Edwards's solo exhibition Some Bright Morning at Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany. The institution's press release follows: Under the title Some Bright Morning, the Fridericianum is presenting the first extensive solo... -
Melvin Edwards
Dia: Beacon
Long-term viewMelvin 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. The institution's press release follows: April 12,... -
Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days
Public Art Fund, City Hall Park May 4 - November 28, 2021Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days May 4 – November 28, 2021 Public Art Fund, City Hall Park New York, NY The institution's press release follows: For more than 60 years, New... -
Melvin Edwards: Crossroads
Ogden Museum of Southern Art February 8 - July 5, 2020Melvin Edwards's solo show Melvin Edwards: Crossroads at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA. The institution's press release follows: Peer into Melvin Edwards’ world of twisting,... -
Melvin Edwards
auroras February 2 - October 25, 2019Melvin Edwards's solo exhibition at auroras, São Paulo, Brazil, 2019. The institution's press release follows: auroras is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new work by Melvin Edwards.... -
Melvin Edwards: In Oklahoma
Oklahoma Contemporary October 20 - December 27, 2016Melvin Edwards solo exhibition Melvin Edwards: In Oklahoma curated by Jennifer Scanlan at Oklahoma Contemporary, OK. The institution's press release follows: Edwards is known for his creation of powerful abstract... -
Melvin Edwards: Five Decades
Nasher Sculpture Center January 31 - May 10, 2015Melvin Edwards's solo show Melvin Edwards: Five Decades at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX. The institution's press release follows: Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas January 13, 2015 - May 10,...
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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 -
Videos
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Nana Adusei-Poku in conversation with Melvin Edwards
Fridericianum August 28, 2024On the occasion of Melvin Edwards’s exhibition, SOME BRIGHT MORNING at the Fridericianum, a film documenting a conversation between Melvin Edwards and Nana Adusei-Poku (Assistant...Watch -
Melvin Edwards On View at Dia Beacon
Dia Art Foundation August 16, 2023This exhibition presents a group of previously unrealized installations from one of sculptor Melvin Edwards’ most dynamic bodies of work. In a brief but prolific...Watch -
Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days
Public Art Fund June 15, 2021On view May 4, 2021 - Nov 28, 2021 City Hall Park Video by SandenwolffWatch
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News / Events
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Film Screening
Some Bright Morning: The Art of Melvin Edwards Directed by Lydie Diakhaté December 7, 2024, 12:00 PMJoin us this Saturday, December 7 at 12:00 PM at Alexander Gray Associates, New York for a film screening of Some Bright Morning: The Art...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum November 8, 2024–September 14, 2025Melvin Edwards is included in the group exhibition, The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
Ancestry: Afro-Americas [United States and Brazil] at Magnetoscópio, Museum of Brazilian Art (MAB) at FAAP October 29, 2024–January 26, 2025Melvin Edwards is included in the group exhibition, Ancestry: Afro-Americas [United States and Brazil] at Magnetoscópio, Museum of Brazilian Art (MAB) at FAAP , São...Read more -
Lecture by Christian Rattemeyer: Melvin Edwards: Historicity and Formalism
Fridericianum October 24, 2024, 7:00–8:30 PMIn his lecture, Christian Rattemeyer attempts to critically confront prevalent interpretations of Melvin Edwards’ work, namely as over- or underdeterminations of content. He develops a...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
Glenstone Museum October 17, 2024–March 2, 2025Melvin Edwards's solo exhibition at Glenstone Museum, Maryland, is on view from October 17, 2024–March 2, 2025. Glentstone Museum's press release follows: On view in...Read more -
Melvin Edwards
Edges of Ailey at the Whitney Museum of American Art September 25, 2024–February 9, 2025Melvin Edwards is included in the exhibition, Edges of Ailey at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, on view from September 25, 2024–February...Read more -
Melvin Edwards: SOME BRIGHT MORNING
Fridericianum August 31, 2024–January 12, 2025Melvin Edwards's solo presentation, Melvin Edwards at Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, will be on view from August 31, 2024–January 12, 2025. The Fridericianum's press release follows:...Read more -
Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer, and Melvin Edwards
Juan Francisco Elso: Por América at the Phoenix Art Museum May 6–September 17, 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
Then Is Now: Contemporary Black Art in America at Bruce Museum April 2–October 15, 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
Revisiting 5 + 1 at the Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook University November 10, 2022–March 31, 2023Melvin 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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Film Screening with 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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Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer, and Melvin Edwards
Juan Francisco Elso: Por América at El Museo del Barrio October 27, 2022–March 26, 2023Ricardo 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
In conversation with Curator Daniel S. Palmer at 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
A Site of Struggle at Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts August 13–November 6, 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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Encore Presentations: Melvin Edwards
In conversation with Christopher Bedford and Chad Williams at the 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: Brighter Days
Juneteenth African American Read-In with writer, performer, educator and curator Porsha Olayiwola and The Willie J Laws Band at 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: Brighter Days
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum June 1, 2022–April 30, 2023Melvin 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, 2022–OngoingMelvin 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: Asafokra
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum April 27–September 5, 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
Epistrophy at Pace Gallery April 1 – April 30, 2022Melvin Edwards included in Epistrophy, a group exhibiton with Sam Gilliam and William T. Williams at Pace Gallery, New York.
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Melvin Edwards, Jennie C. Jones, and Lorraine O'Grady
Us Them We | Race, Ethnicity, Identity at Worcester Art Museum February 19–June 19, 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, and Joan Semmel
Making Community: Prints from Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Brodsky Center at PAFA, and Paulson Fontaine Press at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts February 1–April 12, 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
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Melvin Edwards’s Sculptures Bow Under the Weight of History
FriezeOctober 1, 2024 Houston-born artist Melvin Edwards's first institutional European solo show includes more than 50 works that showcase his ability to provoke... -
Material Metaphors: Melvin Edwards at Fridericianum
Berlin Art LinkSeptember 30, 2024 Melvin Edwards possesses a thoroughly enlivening process mania. Looking at the disciplined repetition of the pieces on view at his... -
We Asked 10 Art Industry Savants to Share the Top Artists Residencies Around the World. Here’s What They Told Us
artnet NewsJuly 24, 2024 Whether starting one’s art career or entering a more established stage, artist residencies can offer valuable resources and professional connections... -
Dia at 50: a new era
The Art NewspaperJuly 12, 2024 Dia Art Foundation was established in New York in 1974, dedicated to commissioning and presenting major public works of art... -
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Latin American Film Center NYC present ‘Echoes of Césaire’
Fort Worth ReportJuly 9, 2024 SPECIAL EXHIBITION Surrealism and Us: Caribbean and African Diasporic Artists since 1940 On View through July 28 Organized by Curator... -
In Rome, a Collection of Contemporary American Art Makes a Baroque Statement
ArtsyJune 14, 2024 This exhibition, “Day for Night: New American Realism,” draws entirely from the private collection of Beirut-based collectors Tony and Elham... -
Melvin Edwards imbeds history in his art
The Philadelphia TribuneOctober 10, 2023 Melvin Edwards, a contemporary artist and former teacher, firmly states that he is not an illustrator. He is seemingly uninterested... -
Melvin Edwards
ArtforumJune 1, 2023 How can we take pleasure in beauty, knowing the cruelty that goes on all around us? In this exhibition, Melvin... -
Erin Christovale's Five Favorite Works from Frieze Viewing Room
FriezeMay 18, 2023 Melvin Edwards 's works on paper from the 70’s are a rare, visual treat. This untitled work gives insight into... -
“Revisiting 5+1”
ArtforumApril 6, 2023 In recent years, curatorial efforts to recuperate the stories and careers of Black artists who practiced during the 1960s and... -
What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries in March
The New York TimesMarch 2, 2023 Melvin Edwards Melvin Edwards is best known for his wall sculptures “Lynch Fragments,” a series made of welded metal scraps... -
Who Gets to Be Abstract? A Legendary Show of Black Artists Gets a Second Look in “Revisiting 5+1”
Art in AmericaJanuary 24, 2023 In 1969 Stony Brook University was in dire straits. Having been rocked by anti-war protests, student demands for a Black... -
Explorations of Heritage and Identity at Frieze Seoul
FriezeSeptember 4, 2022 Melvin Edwards More Than You See, 2016-2017 Welded steel and chain Alexander Gray Associates (Booth C18) A pointed play... -
Sam Gilliam ‘Took a Step Most People Didn’t Understand Was Possible’
The New York TimesJune 28, 2022 When the painter Sam Gilliam died last weekend at age 88, he left behind pioneering artworks, particularly his draped canvases... -
Exploring Melvin Edwards' urealised works at the exhibition at Dia Beacon, New York
STIRworldMay 22, 2022 Installations are immersive and participatory, and one should feel compelled to engage with the medium of the artwork. However, we... -
Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days opens June 1st at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum
Artfix DailyMay 18, 2022 deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum announces its newest outdoor exhibition, Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days, opening to the public on June... -
Nora Lawrence's Top Five Works from Frieze Viewing Room
FriezeMay 18, 2022 The Artistic Director and Chief Curator of Storm King Art Center chooses her favourite pieces from the Frieze New York... -
Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam and William T. Williams: Abstract Artists and Old Friends
T, The New York Times Style MagazineMarch 31, 2022 'Do one thing for me,' the sculptor Melvin Edwards says, 'don't use a musical metaphor.' A chastened journalist revokes his... -
Top 10 for Visual Art in Chicago: Big shows, big messages in the first months of 2022
The Chicago TribuneJanuary 6, 2022 As museums carry on showing pandemic holdovers too good to cancel, the embarrassment of riches continues. So many great shows,... -
This Powerful Art Exhibit Proves the South Still Has Something to Say
HoustoniaNovember 15, 2021 The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’S (CAMH) latest effort, The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse ... -
Before Summer Ends, See These Five Temporary Art Installations in New York
Cultured MagazineJuly 20, 2021 Though it’s tempting to hole up inside to escape the summer heat, meaningful art makes a sunny jaunt worth the... -
Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend
The Art NewspaperMay 21, 2021 Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days Until 28 November at City Hall Park, Manhattan The Public Art Fund has organised a landmark... -
Sculpted in Metal, Stories of History and Identity Take Shape
The New York TimesMay 4, 2021 The sculpture, made of red stainless steel and chains, rocks and sways. The lengths of links — some rusted, some... -
At Last, Melvin Edwards’s Steel Abstractions Come to City Hall Park
HyperallergicMay 3, 2021 Starting May 4, Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days, a landmark survey of the artist’s work from 1970 to 2020, will fill... -
Black Grief, White Grievance: Artists Search for Racial Justice
The New York TimesFebruary 18, 2021 In the matter of racial justice, the United States has built up terrible karma over the centuries. And in the... -
Nasher Sculpture Center Announces Gift From Artist Melvin Edwards
NBC 5 Dallas-Fort WorthNovember 18, 2020 The Nasher Sculpture Center has announced a major gift to the collection from artist Melvin Edwards. Edwards, whose 2015 retrospective... -
Ogden Museum reopens Monday with must-see exhibits of African American abstract art
NolaJune 15, 2020 The Ogden Museum of Southern Art reopened Monday, June 15, after locking its doors for three months to help suppress... -
The Six Best-Designed Items of Summer
The Wall Street Journal MagazineJune 1, 2020 This summer in New York’s City Hall Park, the Public Art Fund presents six pieces by Melvin Edwards, 83, who... -
Just Arts Spotlight on the Rose Art Museum
The JusticeMarch 3, 2020 “A lynching is a murder, a group murder,” reads the quote from artist Melvin Edwards accompanying his piece, “Nigerian Diamond,”... -
Melvin Edwards review
Time Out LondonFebruary 7, 2020 Melvin Edwards's art is heavy-duty. The African-American artist, born in 1937 and still very much practising, morphs the accoutrements of... -
Culture Talk: Collector Pamela Joyner on the Artists Defining the History and Shaping the Future of Black Abstract Art
Culture TypeJanuary 19, 2020 SINCE 1999, PAMELA J. JOYNER and Alfred J. Giuffrida have focused their collecting on abstract art by artists of African... -
The Pioneering Painted Sculptures of Melvin Edwards
HyperallergicDecember 9, 2019 Melvin Edwards learned to weld at the University of Southern California in 1960 and the world has not been quite... -
MELVIN EDWARDS with Choghakate Kazarian
The Brooklyn RailNovember 7, 2019 A major figure in African-American art, Melvin Edwards (b. 1937) started as a sculptor in the early 1960s in Los... -
Art by black artists forces a new look at art history in a must-see show at the Smart Museum
Chicago TribuneApril 22, 2019 Why do collectors collect? “Solidary & Solitary: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection,” a knockout show at the Smart Museum of Art, offers... -
Will Some Bright Morning Ever Arrive?
HyperallergicSeptember 6, 2016 NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — In 1963, while living in Los Angeles, Melvin Edwards welded “Some Bright Morning” out of different... -
Melvin Edwards: Liberation and Remembrance
Sculpture MagazineMay 5, 2016 Melvin Edwards has been welding sculpture for more than five decades and bearing witness to the continuing history of race... -
MELVIN EDWARDS AND FRANK BOWLING IN DALLAS, by Mark Godfrey
ArtforumMay 5, 2015 “THIS EXHIBITION is devoted to commitment,” wrote curator Robert Doty in the catalogue for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s... -
Review of ‘Melvin Edwards: Five Decades’ at the Nasher Sculpture Center
The Wall Street JournalMarch 31, 2015 If you’ve never heard of Melvin Edwards, the contemporary African-American sculptor known for making industrial, visceral abstractions out of welded... -
An Oral History with Melvin Edwards by Michael Brenson
BOMB MagazineNovember 24, 2014 Michael Brenson: Your life has been an epic one, so I don't know how we're going to tell the story.... -
Man of Steel: The Welded Transfigurations of Melvin Edwards
HyperallergicNovember 22, 2014 Melvin Edwards’ welded relief sculptures conjure up human anguish and human advancement often within the same work. His art delivers... -
Battle Lines for Change
The New York TimesMarch 20, 2014 “A change is gonna come,” the soul singer Sam Cooke promised in his 1964 hit song. And so it did.... -
Art That Goes Beyond Social Content
The New York TimesMay 23, 1993 During the last 30 years, Melvin Edwards has put together a compelling body of work that deserves to be better... -
Freestanding Metaphors of Suffering and Strength
The New York TimesApril 18, 1993 AT the Neuberger Museum at the State University of New York here is an old-fashioned blockbuster exhibition containing a large... -
Big Names in the Recycling Game Coax Poetry from Debris
New York TimesNovember 8, 1991 OBSESSIVE is the word that comes most often to mind while viewing 'Discarded' at the Rockland Center for the Arts... -
Sculptor's Horizons Have No Limits
The New York TimesJune 3, 1990 DESPITE having had numerous exhibitions of his work in the United States and other countries, and having received fellowships from... -
Black Artists: A Place in the Sun
The New York TimesMarch 12, 1989 In a sleepy, uneventful art season, there are the rumblings of an earthquake. After years of being dismissed as not... -
Sculpture, Private And Public
The New York TimesDecember 23, 1988 Melvin Edwards is one of the best American sculptors. He is also one of the least known. He made a... -
Art: Going Back to Africa
TIMEMarch 31, 1980 At New York City's P.S. 1, a show of Afro-American art The exhibition of 'Afro-American Abstraction,' being held in the... -
Melvin Edwards
ArtforumMay 5, 1970 MELVIN EDWARDS negotiates a supposed gap between geometrical minimalism and anti-form. Robert Morris has already accomplished this and in new...
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