We Flew Over The Bridge

by Ringgold, Faith

• ISBN13: 9780822335641
• ISBN10: 0822335646
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

In We Flew Over the Bridge, one of the country's preeminent African American artists-and award-winning children's book authors-shares the fascinating story of her life. Faith Ringgold's artworks-startling "story quilts," politically charged paintings, and more-hang in the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and other major museums around the world, as well as in the private collections of Maya Angelou, Bill Cosby, and Oprah Winfrey. Her children's books, including the Caldecott Honor-winning Tar Beach, have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. But Ringgold's path to success has not been easy. In this gorgeously illustrated memoir, she looks back and shares the story of her struggles, growth, and triumphs. Ringgold recollects how she had to surmount a wall of prejudices as she worked to refine her artistic vision and raise a family. At the same time, the story she tells is one of warm family memories and sustaining friendships, community involvement, and hope for the future.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xiii
PART I: HARLEM BORN AND BRED
1 From the Cradle to the Classroom in the 1930's	3	(22)
2 Growing Up on Sugar Hill in the 1940's	25	(14)
PART II: MEN, MARRIAGE, AND MOTHERHOOD
3 Men and Marriage in the 1950's and 1960's	39	(28)
4 My Mother Was Perfect, or So She Said	67	(14)
5 Parental Politics: My Daughters and Me	81	(50)
Color Plates	97
PART III: MAKING ART, MAKING WAVES, AND MAKING MONEY
6 A European Trip Ends with a Death in the Family	131	(12)
7 The 1960's: Is There a Black Art?	143	(22)
8 The End of the 1960's: Out of the Studio and into the Streets	165	(8)
9 The 1970's: Is There a Woman's Art?	173	(44)
10 Teaching Art: Those Who Can Should	217	(20)
11 We Flew over the Bridge: Performance Art, Story Quilts, and Tar Beach	237	(36)
Appendix: Matisse's Chapel	273	(2)
Faith Ringgold Chronology	275	(8)
Public and Private Collections	283	(2)
Index	285