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NEW YORK, NY (August 17, 2012)--The story of America and African Americans is a story of hope, inspiration and steadfast courage. It is also the story of injustice and of a people whose struggles and achievements helped our country achieve its promise of liberty and justice. Kadir Nelson captures the true history of our nation in his award-winning children's book Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans published by HarperCollins in 2011. This fall The Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators will exhibit forty original oil paintings from Nelson's awe-inspiring children's book."Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans" will be on display at the Museum from September 5 through October 20, 2012.
Written in the voice of a former slave that goes on to cast her vote for the country's first African American president, Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americansportrays scenes of triumph and hardships that have become important symbols to our nation's history. Inspired by such prominent illustrators as Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth and Dean Cornwell, Nelson's large scale, sculptural and intensely colored oil paintings take viewers through African American History from colonization to the civil rights movement. This body of work illustrates the milestones that were achieved helping all citizens gain their freedom and equal rights.
Nelson says, "My goal is to inform viewers in a way that is very familiar to them-the significance of citizenship and how American and African American historical achievements, both large and small, have helped to create a national platform that allows for freedom, and the right to fight for it."
The Society of Illustrators is proud to display these powerful images together for the first time.
In conjunction with this exhibit the Society of Illustrators is pleased to present the following events:
Exhibit Opening Reception: September 7th, 6:30pm, suggested donation $15.
Lecture and Panel Discussion: African American History is American History: How Struggles for African American Liberty Earned All Americans their Civil Rights, October 4, 7:00 - 8:30pm, $15. Panelists include author/artist Kadir Nelson, Schomburg Center Historian/Curator Christopher Moore and Wesleyan University Professor of English and African American Studies Lois Brown, Ph.D. State University of New York Distinguished Service Professor and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Purchase College John Howard, Ph.D., J.D., will serve as the moderator.
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