The Newark Eagles’ Max Manning as rendered by artist Kwest.
Allan Appel Photo
“Peanut” Johnson, now on view at Channel One.
The “Negro” baseball leagues not only produced stars like Willie Mays and Satchel Paige; they fielded black women athletes like hurler Mamie “Peanut” Johnson. Those heroes have been brought back to life in New Haven thanks to some artists who feel they, too, are playing in a segregated league.
Johnson was one of only three females to play coeducational professional ball thanks to the Negro leagues. (Other women played briefly in an all-women’s league.) Her portrait is the centerpiece of an eye-opening new exhibition by “outsider artists” who see parallels between themselves and the storied – and segregated – players, whose leagues operated roughly from the 1920s through the early 1950s.
The exhibition features 20 artists’ views, mainly paintings done in acrylic on canvas, wood, and other materials, that focus on the visual imagery of the Negro Leagues, which produced storied teams until Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson desegregated the majors and ushered in a new era of pro ball.
The show runs through March 27 at Channel One on State Street and is that gallery’s contribution to the celebration of Black History Month.
“Being a black artist is a little like being in the Negro leagues,” said exhibition curator and local muralist Katro Storm (left in photo with artist Bill Saunders). “You don’t get a lot of opportunities.”
The genesis of the exhibition was a visit Storm paid in November to Boston, where he had attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in the late 1980s. He visited the studio of an old friend, Kwest, and was struck by the range and quality of his work and that of his pals, many of whom were not showing much.
“Basically we’re all in the Negro leagues,” Storm said, meaning they produce work of real quality but have trouble finding an audience. Back in New Haven, Channel One offered him space for a solo show in return for curating a group effort.
“It’s good to bring fresh stuff to New Haven, and there’s comfort in numbers,” said Storm.
Kwest has contributed three canvases including this one, outlined in chalk and then a mauve paint.
While the figure in the center is recognizably Josh Gibson of the Homstead Grays, the most feared hitter in the Negro leagues; the figure sliding into home and the larger one preparing a monumental wind-up are deliberately anonymous.
“I wanted to capture the motion and the emotion,” Kwest said at the show’s opening reception Friday night.
To prepare, Kwest said, he did a lot of research online and in library books. While he knew general knowledge of the Negro leagues, the commission by Storm led to his learning a lot – for example how big a business it was.
“I learned there were 20,000 people on a [given]Tuesday night [at many of the barnstorming Negro league games],” Kwest said.
He captured some of them in the stands in an energetic black and white portrait (shown at the top of this story) of lanky Max Manning of the Newark Eagles, with the swirls of white paint around the head showing what Kwest called “the built-up energy you don’t usually notice.”
Kwest as well as El Amado and Problak, two more Boston-based artists in the show, wanted their subject matter to get beyond the usual legends like Gibson, Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson.
They wanted to convey lesser known aspects of the Negro leagues’ contribution to the game.
Such as Mamie Johnson, who played for the Indiana Clowns in the early 1950s. Against great odds, she made the team, playing in the men’s uniform but as a woman; she didn’t disguise herself. Two other women, also with the Clowns, preceded her.
“I wanted to give her a card,” said Problak in a phone interview from Boston, referring to the baseball card motif that frames Johnson’s portrait.
Another eye-opener is this sculptural-looking charcoal and acrylic portrait of Dominican-born Tetelo Vargas by deme5.com. Players like Vargas are the forefathers of all the current Latino players, said El Amado.
El Amado said such players were not only forefathers but innovators of the game. He said that the hit-and-run as well as the infield fly rule came about as a result of Negro League play.
“The mound was [also] lowered from 16 inches to 10, ‘cause his [Satchel Paige’s] curve was so awesome,” said El Amado.
And the connection between “outsider artists” that Storm has assembled and the “outsider” ballplayers they have portrayed?
Look around, said El Amado, pointing to the wide range of work on the wall. “Some of these artists are not schooled,” he said. In the same way that Josh Gibson never played in a minor league or had a coach to give him tips. He had talent and he was self schooled, like many of the artists at Channel One.
“And yet no white player ever wanted to pitch to Josh Gibson during the barnstorming. No one wants to get embarrassed by Negro players,” added El Amado.
For more information and other events as part of the show, contact Channel One.