Edges of Ailey
Sept 25, 2024–Feb 9, 2025
Ailey’s Influences
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Edges of Ailey includes selections of ephemera and moving images from a sweeping range of sources across dance, theater, music, and literature from which Alvin Ailey drew inspiration. Luminaries of modern dance such as Carmen de Lavallade, Katherine Dunham, Martha Graham, Geoffrey Holder, Lester Horton, Pearl Primus, and Ted Shawn served as his mentors, collaborators, and examples. The dazzling scenes of Broadway, Hollywood, and theater—especially his acting teacher Stella Adler and the choreography of Jack Cole—informed his distinct sense of theatricality and the glint of entertainment in his dances. Additionally, an eclectic combination of literature, poetry, and music, from James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Albert Murray, to Hart Crane, Carson McCullers, Henry Miller, and Tennessee Williams, to Alice Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Donny Hathaway, and Laura Nyro, offered him a creative continuum to absorb and build upon.
Artists
- Terry Adkins
- Alvin Ailey
- Emma Amos
- Benny Andrews
- Ellsworth Ausby
- Eldren Bailey
- Richmond Barthé
- Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Romare Bearden
- Kevin Beasley
- John Biggers
- Beverly Buchanan
- Elizabeth Catlett
- Karon Davis
- Roy DeCarava
- Beauford Delaney
- Thornton Dial
- Aaron Douglas
- Sam Doyle
- David Driskell
- David Driskell
- Robert Duncanson
- Melvin Edwards
- Rotimi Fani-Kayode
- Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
- Charles Gaines
- Ellen Gallagher
- Theaster Gates
- Sam Gilliam
- David Hammons
- Lyle Ashton Harris
- Maren Hassinger
- Palmer Hayden
- Barkley L. Hendricks
- Geoffrey Holder
- Lonnie Holley
- Clementine Hunter
- Hector Hyppolite
- Wadsworth Jarrell
- Rashid Johnson
- William H. Johnson
- Loïs Mailoi Jones
- Jacob Lawrence
- Ralph Lemon
- Norman Lewis
- Samella Lewis
- Glenn Ligon
- James Little
- Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos
- Mary Lovelace O'Neal
- AI Loving
- Kerry James Marshall
- Archibald John Motley, Jr.
- Thomas Nast
- Senga Nengudi
- John Outterbridge
- Joe Overstreet
- Jennifer Packer
- Gordon Parks
- Fon peoples
- Horace Pippin
- Noah Purifoy
- Martin Puryear
- Faith Ringgold
- Betye Saar
- Lorna Simpson
- Alma Thomas
- Blaise Tobia
- Bill Traylor
- Makers unknown
- Rubem Valentim
- James Van Der Zee
- Carl Van Vechten
- Kara Walker
- Paul Waters
- Carrie Mae Weems
- Charles White
- Kandis Williams
- Hale Aspacio Woodruff
- Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
- Purvis Young