NEWS BRIEFS
COSBY'S ART PAIRED WITH AFRICAN ART
AT SMITHSONIAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before it was
located on the National Mall and was still
an independent museum on Capitol Hill,
the Museum of African Art included both
African and African-American art in its
collection. That changed in 1979, when it
became the Smithsonian National Museum
of African Art, focused on Africa, not the
American diaspora. This year marks the
50th anniversary of the museum, and to
celebrate it the museum has returned to
its roots, supplementing its own collection
with works by African-American artists in
the collection of Camille and Bill Cosby,
Jr.
early 2016 alongside
100 pieces of African
works at the National
Museum of African Art
in Washington.
A centerpiece is "The
Thankful Poor," painted
in 1894 by Henry
Ossawa Tanner, a son
of slaves who went to
Paris and painted scenes
that dignified black
people at a time when
they mostly suffered
degrading images in
popular culture. The
work depicts an elderly
man and young boy
in prayer at a humble dinner table. It
had been left in basement storage at the
Pennsylvania School for the Deaf for 50
years. Camille Cosby found the painting
up for auction in 1981, and bought it
for $250,000 as a Christmas gift for her
husband.
The bidding
had started
at $50,000.
The Cosby's
began
collecting
art in
1967, three
years after
they were
married.
Bill Cosby
featured
paintings by
black artists
on the set
of his early
TV sitcom
"The Bill Cosby Show" where he played
Chet Kincaid. Later, he included AfricanAmerican art on the walls of the Huxtables'
living room in "The Cosby Show" series.
The exhibition, which opened Nov. 9th, not
only celebrates African-American heritage,
it also provides a glimpse at works the
Cosby's have enjoyed intimately, with
pieces ranging from a masterwork that had
remained hidden for a half-century before
Camille Cosby recognized its value, to a
quilt made from their slain son's clothes.
Some of the oldest works in the Cosby
collection include rare portraits from
the late 1700s and early 1800s by Joshua
Johnston, a Baltimore-based AfricanAmerican artist who was at one time a
slave. The family also collected works
by emerging artists and noted artists,
including works by Romare Bearden,
Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence and
Faith Ringgold. Now they're getting
their due in "Conversations: African and
African American Artworks in Dialogue."
More than 60 artworks from the Cosby’s
collection of 300+ pieces of AfricanAmerican art are being displayed through
BISHOP EDDIE LONG’S CHURCH IN
CHARLOTTE IS ENTERING FORECLOSURE.
congregation of just 150
people.
Beginning November 2nd,
members of the church
will attend ‘New Facility
Celebration’ services at
Therapeutic Services
Group, according to The
Herald Weekly.
HUNTERVILLE, NC - The Huntersville,
North Carolina chapter of New Birth
ministries failed to make payments
toward a $10 million loan borrowed from
Evangelical Christian Credit Union,
according to The Herald Weekly. The
church, founded in 2003, has been in the
process of foreclosure since November
of 2013, but there have been seven
Postponements of Sale, and the most recent
was postponed from October 9th through
December 9th.
The church’s number of attendees had been
shrinking ever since the location’s original
pastor resigned. Bishop Terrell Murphy
left New Birth Charlotte in June of 2013
to start his own ministry, Life Center
International. A couple months afterward,
the church reduced their two services to
one, and in August 2013, Bishop Eddie
Long visited and preached to the remaining
Long was sued for two unrelated reasons
in 2010. He was involved in an infamous
scandal in which four young men
accused Long of sexual molestation and
filed four separate lawsuits against him.
He was also sued for failing to pay back
a $2 million property loan. Long settled
all cases out of court.
a creation by Ringgold as a tribute to Bill
Cosby and a large quilt by the Mississippi
Crossroads Quilters entitled "The Ennis
Quilt," made of scraps of son Ennis
Cosby's clothing after he was killed in
1997.
from two continents. Themes range from
spirituality and humanity to political
power, family life and music to drive the
exhibition.
Curators said they looked for the best
works from the Cosby’s and powerful
pieces from the Smithsonian's African art
collection to pair works by black artists
The Cosby’s also collected and
commissioned family quilts as a way to
tell stories. Two of them on display include
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This is not the first series
of financial issues that
Bishop Long has had. Last