Publisher's Synopsis
"Determined to Be: The Sculpture of John Rhoden introduces readers to this prolific, award-winning artist through scholarly essays, new photography of approximately 70 sculptures, and archival materials from the recently processed John Rhoden Papers. Rhoden-the first Black visual artist to win the Rome Prize-had an artistic talent that provided him entry into professional mentoring networks and propelled him around the world. In addition to over 150 images, the catalogue features scholarly essays that demonstrate how Rhoden's practice was shaped by his training at Columbia, his time at the American Academy in Rome, his years in Indonesia where he expanded the scale of his work in wood, and the influence of artistic and spiritual traditions he encountered in Asia, Africa, and Europe. The book's authors also reconsider Rhoden's travels, public commissions, and oeuvre in the context of Cold War modernism, the circulation of Black artists i
