Grandassa - In The New Yorker + Upcoming Book (at Amazon)

[JSngry]

pg. 57

or online here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/18/kwame-brathwaites-grandassa-models

In the nineteen-sixties, the age of Ann-Margret and Jean Shrimpton, the photographer and activist Kwame Brathwaite co-founded a group called the Grandassa Models. (“Grandassa” is taken from the term “Grandassaland,” which the black nationalist Carlos Cooks had used to refer to Africa.) “We said, ‘We’ve got to do something to make the women feel proud of their hair, proud of their blackness,’ ” Brathwaite recalled. The models’ skin tones ranged from light brown to dark brown, and they had full lips, natural hairstyles, and a variety of body shapes. The above photograph is from a series in which the models wore Afrocentric fashions, their hair untouched by heat tools, against a variety of brightly colored backgrounds. The first monograph dedicated to Brathwaite’s work, titled “Black Is Beautiful” (a phrase that Brathwaite and the Grandassa Models helped popularize) will be released on May 1, 2019.

—Tyler Foggatt

Book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/159711443X/?tag=thneyo0f-20

In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, Kwame Brathwaite used his photography to popularize the political slogan “Black Is Beautiful.” This monograph―the first ever dedicated to Brathwaite’s remarkable career―tells the story of a key, but under-recognized, figure of the second Harlem Renaissance.
Inspired by the writings of activist and black nationalist Marcus Garvey, Brathwaite, along with his older brother, Elombe Brath, founded the African Jazz Arts Society and Studios (AJASS) and the Grandassa Models (1962). AJASS was a collective of artists, playwrights, designers, and dancers; Grandassa Models was a modeling agency for black women, founded to challenge white beauty standards. From stunning studio portraits of the Grandassa Models to behind-the-scenes images of Harlem’s artistic community, including Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and Miles Davis, this book offers a long-overdue exploration of Brathwaite’s life and work

[JSngry]

While visiting Detroit, we spent a few (not nearly enough) hours in the Detroit Institute of Arts and took in a wonderful exhibit of Ghana/London photographer James Barnor. I could not help but notice that Barnor's London work that was shot in color and for the cover of a local African Lifestyle magazine (Drum) could easily have been used for Blue Note covers with little to no modification.

Wondering if there was an awareness of Barnor's work over here, especially in the Grandassa circles. Or vice-versa? At the very least, Barnor (who began his odyssey in Africa - Gold Coast/Ghana), but moved to London in 1959) was displaying a very early awareness of the Black Is Beautiful aesthetic that the Braithwaites were, and at about the same time.

Some examples:

There are a few things that show an awareness of earlier BN designs as well:

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/james-barnor-elrin-ilbrack-drum-cover-girl

Erlin Ibreck was/is an incredibly beautiful woman and would have been great on a Blue Note cover if she had been there for that.

I confess to being totally ignorant about Barnor and his work until this exhibit. Failure now at least partially remediated!

 

 

[JSngry]

The Grandassa book mentioned in the New Yorker is still available on Amazon, but at a greatly reduced price, down from $45.00 to $25.99. I can afford that, so I ordered. Next day delivery!