Afro-American Images 1971: The Vision of Percy Ricks

In February 1971, the newly formed Delaware organization, Aesthetic Dynamics, Inc., presented its first major undertaking: the exhibition of over 130 works of art—drawings, prints, photographs, paintings, and sculpture—by 66 African American artists. Numerous factors led to artist Percy Ricks’ founding of Aesthetic Dynamics and their ambitious inaugural exhibition, most notably the trauma suffered from the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the subsequent nine-month National Guard occupation of Wilmington and Ricks’ desire to emphasize the influence of African American artists in Wilmington.
Image: Pool Room 11th & Walnut, 1971. Edward Loper Jr. (born 1934)/ Oil on canvas, 24 × 36 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Louisa du Pont Copeland Memorial Fund, 2019. © Edward Loper Jr.