Post-World War II expatriate painters: The question of a Black aesthetic (Herbert Gentry, Edward Clark)

In this dissertation, I examine the influences of the expatriate experience on the signature styles of painters Herbert Gentry and Edward Clark, particularly as this involves the presence of a “black aesthetic.” The study focuses on the artists' lives as African American expatriate painters during the post-World War II years and questions the absence of their artistic contributions from standard art education curricula and records of American and Modern Art.; Research for the study was based on reviews of literature relating to the expatriate artist experience in general, and collections of personal documents and manuscripts relating to the artists' lives and careers in Europe. Research included extensive personal interviews with Gentry, Clark, and other artists who lived through the post-war era in Paris, Sweden, and Holland. The research procedure was based on methodology for conducting qualitative investigations using phenomenological-based life story interviews. Research was conducted over a period of four years in New York City and Malmö Sweden.; The dissertation argues that many post-war expatriate artists were not primarily concerned with social realism but instead, envisioned themselves as part of the mainstream Abstract Expressionist movement. Through interviews with artists and writers, the study provides a range of underlying causes for the differences between post-war works of art by African American artists in the United States and African American expatriate artists from the mid 1940's through the 1970's.; The study found that the social conditions in Paris immediately following World War II provided foundations for Abstract Expressionist styles to emerge in the expatriate artists' work whereas for those painters who remained in the U.S.A., social themes relating to black genre types predominate. It is suggested that the ‘black aesthetic’ is a particularly American notion, which is contextualized by social realist themes for painters who remained in the U.S.A., and by personal life histories projected into materials for expatriate painters.; The dissertation offers to the field of art education, implications for integrating historical information concerning African American expatriate artists, specifically that of Herbert Gentry and Edward Clark, into pedagogical discussions of 20th century Modern Art and Abstract Expressionism.