The American Sixties

Item

Title
The American Sixties
Date
1969
Description
Mixed-media
Abstract
The influence of the Civil Rights Movement also found its way into the art annuals, specifically in the last show in 1970, when all of the members of the Jury of Selection were African American—the first time and the last. It is worth noting that the winning assemblage sculpture in the 1970 exhibition was James Newton’s The American Sixties (1969) that, in its minimalistic way, symbolically comments on the rise of black nationalism and civil rights politics of the 1960s. The work features three semi-automatic guns, segmented blocks, and cut out stars all painted in black, with the only color being a thin ribbon of red, white, and blue.
Medium
Mixed-media Assemblage
50 ½ x 34 ½ x 5 3/8 inches
Creator
James Newton
Rights
Clark Atlanta University Art Museum