Templeton’s Work

On View At Mattatuck Museum

Remains As Relevant As Ever

By Shannon Hicks

WATERBURY — During the same week that Americans celebrated the swearing in of the first African American President in the country’s history, The Mattatuck Museum not only hosted a free screening of that notable event on January 20, but also continued the celebration of its latest exhibition.

“Lest We Forget: Images of the Civil Rights Movement” presents work by the late Woodbury artist Robert Templeton (1929–1991), who spent more than two decades of his life chronicling the struggle for equal rights in this country. Portraits span from the era of abolition, represented by a portrait of former slave Frederick Douglass, to the defiant period of the Black Panthers.

The exhibition opened with a reception during the early evening of January 15.

“Tuesday night we were in here setting up the exhibit,” Mattatuck Museum Curator Cynthia Roznoy, PhD, shared during the opening celebration, “and people were entranced. They knocked on windows and said ‘When can we come in?’ They were excited, and that’s what this gallery is all about.”

The museum’s Community Gallery is being utilized for the Templeton exhibition. Located just past the main desk inside the front lobby, the gallery space can be viewed from the West Main Street sidewalk that runs along the museum. Don’t try to view the show from the sidewalk, however. It is worth it to make the walk inside, to view the portraits — many of which are fairly large scale – in the proper gallery setting.

Robert Templeton is perhaps best known for his portrait of President Jimmy Carter, displayed at the National Portrait Gallery. His consistent efforts, however, were toward visually documenting the Civil Rights Movement in a collection that he and Dr Benjamin Mays (1895–1984), past president of Morehouse College (whose student roster at the time included a young man named Martin Luther King, Jr), named “Lest We Forget.” The two men compiled a list of those whose portraits would personify the record of the struggle for equal rights in the United States. A portrait of Dr Mays is also included in “Lest we Forget.”

Mr Templeton’s commitment to this project stemmed from his experiences in Detroit during the 1967 riots. There by coincidence — Mr Templeton was originally in the city to do children’s portraits — he made sketches for a cover of Time magazine (studies of which are included in the Mattatuck exhibition) and was so greatly moved by what he witnessed that he devoted a large portion of his career to portraits of the people who personified the struggle.

The exhibition includes portraits of such Civil Rights leaders as Ralph Abernathy, Bill Cosby, Hubert Humphrey, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, Ralph McGill, Rosa Parks, Asa Philip Randolph, and Roy Wilkins. Curators hope it will remind visitors to become more determined not to forget the struggle, the leadership of the individuals portrayed, and the artist committed to preserving their memory.

Most of the portraits were sketched from life. The centerpiece of “Lest We Forget,” however, was done after the death of the Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, who was assassinated a short time before he was scheduled to sit for his portrait. Mr Templeton reportedly met with Coretta King in Atlanta, during which time the two selected the photo that eventually became one of the artist’s most impressive portraits. The 96- by 84-inch oil on canvas cannot be missed by visitors when they walk into the gallery space where “Lest We Forget” is being presented.

In addition to the portraits of contemporary black Americans, Mr Templeton included white Americans who had been active supporters of the Civil Rights Movements, among them Atlanta Constitution editor Ralph McGill, to those presented in his “Lest We Forget” collection.

While the show’s works are primarily done in oil, there is also a 37- by 30-inch charcoal on paper of the educator Booker Taliafero Washington, and a mixed media work called “Images of the Black Civil Rights Movement.” Measuring 50 by 50 inches, the work is a painting of an hourglass on a black background at its core, but the hourglass is filled with many faces of the movement. To the right of the work is a diagram that allows viewers to identify all 35 people within the piece.

Another collage, to the right of  “Images of the Black Civil Rights Movement,” depicts “The Young Blacks.” The 40- by-30 inch oil, done in 1967, shows the faces Americans who came of age during the 1960s. While the cool stare of Malcolm X (who is also featured elsewhere in his own portrait) is easily identifiable, not all faces in this work are recognized. Instead the artist offers images of the men and women who celebrated their traditions in African origins and their history in American slavery, who used the term Negro to replace black, and who popularized the Afro haircut. Using anchor fencing as a background and a depiction of mounted police, Mr Templeton’s work shows the identity of a generation and their youthful fight against impatience.

The exhibition continues in the hallway leading from the main foyer of the museum to the permanent exhibition, where seven more works are presented, including the sketches that led to the August 4, 1967, cover of Time magazine (one of two cover assignments the artist landed that year, the other being for a feature on Michigan Governor George Romney).

A series of pastel on paper sketches from the 1969 trial of Black Panther co-founder Robert G. Seale is among the works on view. CBS News had commissioned Mr Templeton to make the sketches from within Judge Julius Hoffman’s New Haven courtroom during the trial, which became a national sensation long before O.J. Simpson entered Judge Lance Ito’s  L.A. courtroom a quarter of a century later.

The portraits in “Lest We Forget” were done in between the artist’s commissions projects, including the Carter portrait. The portraits were first shown in 1986 at Emory University in Atlanta, before the collection was sent on a national tour under the auspices of the United Negro College Fund, culminating that year in an exhibition on Capitol Hill.

Lenore Templeton, the artist’s widow, is “instrumental in letting her husband’s work remain relevant,” curator Cynthia Roznoy said during the January 15 opening.

Mrs Templeton was in attendance at the reception, and graciously accepted the invitation to speak about her husband and his work. She called the latest opening for her husband’s signature collection “a joyous occasion” and urged those at the gallery to listen to the art around them.

“All human beings have dignity and value,” she said. “These portraits seem to speak to you and you view them. They say ‘We’ve done our job, now it’s your turn. Every time you fight injustice you move this society toward a fairer world.’”

 The hopes of the people depicted in the Templeton portraits moved another step closer to their dreams this week.

“Lest We Forget: Images of the Civil Rights Movement” will remain on through Sunday, March 22.

The Mattatuck Museum Arts & History Center is at 144 West Main Street, Waterbury. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday, noon to 5 pm, with convenient, free parking located directly behind the museum on Park Place. For more information about this exhibition, the museum’s collections, and other programs, call 203-753-0381, extension 10, or visit MattatuckMuseum.org.