Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts

Art Galleries: Selden Rodman Gallery

CLOSED FOR THE SUMMER

The Selden Rodman Gallery of Popular Arts of the Americas
and the Caribbean (B-Wing)
Renowned international collection of works from the Americas, the Caribbean, and elsewhere continues on view.

Students on assignments in Rodman Gallery

Hector Hyppolite, La Cuilleuse des Fleurs, oil, gift of Jonathan Demme

Levoy Exil, Banana Moon Queen, oil, Morris/Svehla Collection

Anonymous, Slave Ship, Brazil n.d.

Overview

Selden Rodman Gallery of Popular Arts

A gallery, dedicated to the display of one of the foremost collections of popular arts of the Americas and the Caribbean, the Selden Rodman Collection, opened at Ramapo College of New Jersey in 2001. The gallery is located in B-130.

From the profoundly religious to the decorative, the visions in the collection offer many things to gallery visitors. These colorful masterworks of "popular arts" feature artists from the Americas and the Caribbean, giving us a rich multicultural link to the developing history of the African Diaspora and the arts. While the Ramapo College collection is one of the foremost in the world devoted to Haitian art, its range extends to include "self-taught" North American artists and outstanding Mexican and Brazilian painters.

Portions of the collection, which were included in an exhibition at the Monmouth Museum in June 1999, were reviewed in the New York Times, which stated, "Much of the best-known popular and folk art takes the form of painting, as does a majority of what is on view here, but many of the most striking works here are sculptures." The reviewer continues, ". . . these are the works one is tempted to call masterpieces."

For more than 60 years Selden Rodman, who died in 2002, immersed himself in Haiti's life and culture. His passion and that of his wife Carole, was the doorway for many to discover the powerful visual expressions there, resulting in an explosion of interest in Haitian art in Haiti, the United States and around the world. Today Haiti's Cathedral Ste. Trinité boasts murals by native artists spurred into being by Selden Rodman. Both Le Centre d'Art in Port-au-Prince and the Haitian Art Center in New York City were co-founded by Rodman. In addition, Rodman has written the standards on Haitian art and tourism. Dan Bischoff, writing in the Newark Star-Ledger at the time of the Monmouth Museum exhibition, called Rodman ". . .one of the original American Johnny Appleseeds of modern naïve painting, first in Haiti and then throughout Latin America and the Caribbean Basin."

Selden Rodman first went to Haiti in 1934. "At that time," he has said, "all the art was underground. My first impression was that the artists were fully formed and had genius. They were ready to be shown and appreciated." So, instead of opening an art school – the original intention of DeWitt Peters, an American artist living in Haiti – Rodman and Peters opened an exhibition space, Le Centre d'Art.

According to catalogue-essayist Randall Morris, the Selden Rodman Collection reflects cultural threads from places other than Haiti. "Kamante Gatura charts with an ancient knowing eye the lore of the animal savanna in Kenya; Kapo and Ras Dizzy from Jamaica record the Revival and Rasta worldviews; and the Ayalas document Mexican folkways. Every work in this compilation is the tip of an iceberg of information."

Rotating exhibitions from the collection are presented on a regular basis as well as special exhibitions including loaned works. A color catalogue with an essay by Randall Morris is available.

As an academic institution with an international mission, Ramapo College is the fortunate repository of the Selden Rodman Collection. The initial donation of art from the Rodmans was made in 1983, with subsequent additions in later years. Another Rodman Collection consisting of fewer works is housed at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven.

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