Melvin Edwards facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Melvin Edwards
Edwards in 2024
Born	Melvin Eugene Edwards, Jr. (1937-05-04) May 4, 1937 (age 88) Houston, Texas, United States
Alma mater	University of Southern California (BFA)
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Lynch Fragments (1963–1966, 1973, 1978–present) Rockers (1970–present) Breaking of the Chains (1995) David's Dream (2023)
Spouse(s)	Karen Hamre ​ ​ (m. 1960, divorced)​ Jayne Cortez ​ ​ (m. 1975; died 2012)​

Melvin "Mel" Edwards (born May 4, 1937) is an American abstract sculptor, printmaker, and art teacher. He is an African-American artist. Melvin grew up in different communities. Some were segregated (separated by race) in Texas. Others were integrated (mixed races) in Ohio.

In 1955, he moved to California. There, he started his art career while still in college. He first studied painting. But in the early 1960s, he began to explore welding and sculpture in Los Angeles. Later, in 1967, he moved to New York.

Edwards is famous for his Lynch Fragments sculptures. These are small, abstract artworks made from steel. He uses spikes, scissors, chains, and other metal pieces. He welds them together to create wall reliefs (sculptures that stick out from a flat surface). He started this series in 1963. These works are named after the difficult struggles faced by African Americans in the United States. Edwards says they show the strength and survival of his community.

He also creates minimalist art using barbed wire and chains. His Rockers sculptures are kinetic (they move). They are painted metal works on discs that can rock back and forth. He also makes huge outdoor sculptures. These often use straight-edged triangles, circles, and rectangles made of metal. They also feature very large chain designs. Edwards has also made many prints throughout his career. His art is mostly abstract. However, his works often refer to African-American and African history. They also touch on current events and politics.

Edwards has had many solo art shows in museums and galleries. These have been across the United States and in other countries. In 1970, he was the first African-American sculptor to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum in New York. After a quiet period in the 1970s and 1980s, his art gained more attention. In the 2000s and 2010s, his work was shown in major exhibitions. This led to more people recognizing his art. Edwards has also taught art at several universities. He taught for 30 years at Rutgers University, retiring in 2002. Today, he lives and works in upstate New York, New Jersey, and Senegal.

Recently, Edwards has a special art show called a retrospective. It is at the Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. You can see it until February 9, 2025.

Growing Up and Learning About Art

Melvin Eugene Edwards Jr. was born on May 4, 1937, in Houston, Texas. He was the oldest of four children. In 1942, his family moved to McNair, Texas. Then, in 1944, they moved to Dayton, Ohio. This was for his father's job at the Boy Scouts of America. In Dayton, Edwards went to schools that were racially integrated. This means students of different races learned together.

He first understood art in fourth grade. His art teacher had the class draw people. While others drew cartoons, Edwards drew a more realistic picture. He said, "this was a revelation to me. It was a surprise... that that could be done." He often visited the Dayton Art Institute with his family and school.

In 1949, his family moved back to Houston. They lived with his grandmother. Houston was a segregated city at that time. Edwards attended E. O. Smith Junior High and Phillis Wheatley High School. He started making art seriously when he was young. His parents and teachers encouraged him. His father and a friend even built his first easel when he was 14. His father was also an amateur painter. In high school, Edwards was chosen to take art classes at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. There, he learned about abstract art. He was also a keen athlete and played football.

After high school, in 1955, he moved to Los Angeles. He lived with his aunt and uncle. He worked part-time to pay for classes at Los Angeles City College. He had many jobs, including at the post office. He also worked in a warehouse and as a hospital helper. He wanted to study art and continue playing sports. So, he transferred to the University of Southern California (USC). There, he could study and play football.

At USC, he mostly studied painting. He then got a scholarship to the Los Angeles County Art Institute. His first sculpture teachers were Renzo Fenci and Joe Mugnaini. But he went back to USC after six months. He got another scholarship to play football. Edwards once almost failed a history class. He disagreed with his professor's Eurocentric (Europe-focused) views. This later made him want to visit Africa to learn about its history.

While at USC, Edwards met Karen Hamre, another art student. They married in 1960 and had their first daughter. Edwards also became friends with other artists in Los Angeles. He met Charles White, a famous African-American artist. Edwards also spent time at Dwan Gallery. There, he met well-known artists who made minimalism and land art. He finished most of his college work by 1960. But he didn't get his degree until 1965. This was because he needed to complete a language course.

Life and Art Career

1960s: Starting Out and New Ideas

Early Art and Lynch Fragments

After college, Edwards learned to weld from a graduate student named George Baker. He took more classes in 1962 to learn more about welding. To support his family, he worked at a ceramics factory. He also worked at a film company. The film company was near a printmaking workshop. Edwards visited the workshop during his lunch breaks. He met famous artists like Louise Nevelson and print curator Riva Castleman.

Living in Los Angeles, Edwards also learned about Mexican muralist artists. These included David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera. He said they inspired him to use his own background in his art. He wanted to share his social and political ideas.

In the early 1960s, Edwards spent years trying different welding methods. He bought his own equipment and set up a studio. In 1963, he made a small sculpture called Some Bright Morning. It was a metal shape with steel bits, a blade, and a chain. The title came from a story about a black family in Florida who fought back against threats. This sculpture was the first in his Lynch Fragments series.

These welded metal wall sculptures are usually small. They were partly inspired by the Civil Rights Movement. They also came from unrest in Los Angeles after a police killing in 1962. Edwards describes the series as a way to show the struggles of African Americans. He uses many metal objects in these works. These include hammer heads, scissors, locks, chains, and railroad spikes.

In 1963, Edwards visited New York for the first time. He met artists like William Majors and Hale Woodruff. He showed Woodruff some of his Lynch Fragments. In the mid-1960s, Edwards also helped Dwan Gallery fix sculptures. He helped artists like Jean Tinguely and Mark di Suvero.

Becoming Known and Moving to New York

Edwards had his first solo art show in 1965. It was at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. He showed his Lynch Fragments and a new work called Chaino. A critic praised his work, saying it showed "Perfection of workmanship." In 1965, Edwards also started teaching at the Chouinard Art Institute. His twin daughters were born that same year.

The Lifted X (1965) at the Museum of Modern Art.

Around this time, he started a new series. These works had dense shapes inside metal enclosures. The Lifted X (1965) was one of these. In 1966, he made Cotton Hangup. His art was also in a big exhibition called The Negro in American Art in 1966. He became friends with artist Sam Gilliam there.

Edwards moved to New York in January 1967 with his family. Other artists encouraged him to move for more opportunities. He decided to stop making new Lynch Fragments for a while. He wanted to focus on larger works. Soon after moving, Edwards and his wife separated. She returned to California with their daughters. They later divorced. In New York, Edwards got a job teaching art at SUNY Orange in 1967.

He met artist William T. Williams and they became close friends. He also met painter and writer Frank Bowling. Bowling, another black abstract artist, supported Edwards's work. In 1968, Edwards made large painted-metal sculptures in Minneapolis. The Walker Art Center showed them soon after. These sculptures used bright, primary colors.

Edwards then joined Williams's new project called Smokehouse. Smokehouse was a community art project in New York. They painted murals on walls in Harlem with local people. Their goal was to create public art that helped communities. Edwards said these projects were like performance art. The artists would sometimes throw black-eyed peas at audiences. This was to show "an example of African culture transposed to here." Edwards connected his time with Smokehouse to his interest in Mexican muralists. He worked with Smokehouse in the summers of 1968 and 1969.

In late 1968, Edwards began a new series of barbed-wire sculptures. These works used strands of barbed wire and chain. They were stretched in different shapes across gallery spaces. They formed environments, not just single sculptures. In 1969, Edwards made drawings for a poetry book by Jayne Cortez. They had met before, but became closer in New York.

Edwards, Williams, and Gilliam showed their work together in June 1969. It was at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Edwards showed his first barbed-wire installations. This included Pyramid Up and Down Pyramid. It was a pyramid shape made of barbed wire in a corner of the gallery. These three artists, all African-American and making abstract art, would have more shows together.

At that time, some black artists felt art should have a clear political purpose. They preferred art that served a social movement. Edwards's works were abstract and not directly political. This caused some discussion. In the fall of 1969, Frank Bowling organized an exhibition. It featured six black artists making abstract art. Edwards showed his second barbed-wire installation, Curtain for William and Peter. It was a wall of barbed wire that divided the gallery space.

Cornell University's Johnson Museum, with Edwards' sculpture Homage to My Father and the Spirit (1969) in the foreground

Edwards also finished his first major public artwork in 1969. It was an outdoor sculpture for Cornell University. It was called Homage to My Father and the Spirit. It has a large steel disc and a triangular panel. That same year, he met the French poet Léon-Gontran Damas. Damas was a founder of the Négritude movement. Damas became a friend and mentor to Edwards.

1970s: Big Shows, Rockers, and Trips to Africa

In 1970, Edwards was asked to show his work at the Afro-American Artists exhibition. He chose not to participate. He commented on the idea of a "black show," saying white artists don't object to being in "white shows."

Installation view of Edwards' solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in 1970. At left: "look through minds mirror distance and measure time" – Jayne Cortez; at right: Curtain for William and Peter.

In March 1970, Edwards had a solo show at New York's Whitney Museum. He was the first African-American sculptor to have a solo show there. He installed several barbed-wire artworks. These included Corner for Ana and "look through minds mirror distance and measure time" – Jayne Cortez. He also remade Pyramid Up and Down Pyramid and Curtain for William and Peter. The show got mixed reviews. Some critics didn't understand his work. But artist David Hammons saw the show and was inspired. He said the barbed-wire sculptures had "cultural value in it for black people." Edwards later said the exhibition reflected the "politics of the time."

In 1970, Edwards also started his Rockers series. These are sculptures that can rock back and forth. Edwards said the series was inspired by his grandmother's rocking chair. He used the term "syncopate" to describe the rocking. This term is also used in African-American music. The first work was Homage to Coco (1970). It had two painted steel half-circles connected by chains that swung as it rocked. Homage to Coco was shown at the Whitney Museum's sculpture exhibition.

That same year, he installed his second public sculpture, Double Circles, in Harlem. It had large vertical steel circles that people could walk through. It was described as "distinctly recreational."

In 1970, Edwards became a professor at the University of Connecticut. That summer, he took his first trip to Africa. He visited Nigeria, Togo, Benin, and Ghana. He traveled with Jayne Cortez and other African-American teachers. After this first trip, he traveled to Africa many more times. He said his time in Africa greatly influenced his work. In Benin City, Nigeria, he learned bronze casting from Chief Moregbe Inneh.

In 1971, Edwards withdrew his work from a Whitney Museum exhibition. He and 24 other black artists protested. The museum refused to hire a black curator for the show. Edwards and other artists published a statement. It criticized the Whitney's exhibition and the art world's views on black artists.

In 1972, he became a professor at Rutgers University. That same year, Edwards, Gilliam, and Williams had a three-person exhibition. It was at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. One work was Good Friends in Chicago, a Rockers piece. Edwards said the title was an "homage to our friendship."

Edwards had stopped making prints after college. But in 1973, Robert Blackburn encouraged him to start again. He made several prints at Blackburn's workshop. Also in 1973, Edwards briefly returned to making new Lynch Fragments. This was due to protests and attacks on black people in his neighborhood. He showed them in several exhibitions. In 1974, he showed new works from the series in a show with Gilliam and Williams. Edwards and Cortez married in 1975.

In 1976, Edwards had another show with Gilliam and Williams. He showed works named after his travels to Africa. These included Angola 1973 and Luanda 1975. In 1977, he went to FESTAC (a big arts festival) in Lagos, Nigeria. He met many artists from the African diaspora (people of African descent living outside Africa). This experience was very important to him. He made lifelong friends there, like Mozambican painter Malangatana Ngwenya.

The Studio Museum in Harlem held Edwards's first retrospective show in 1978. It included Lynch Fragments and Rockers. It also had a steel work dedicated to Damas, who had died that year. The sculpture, Homage to the Poet Léon Gontran Damas, was a large steel form with panels and a bench. It faced east toward Africa. This show did not get much attention from critics. But it inspired Edwards to start making Lynch Fragments again.

In 1978, he also became an editor for an art journal. He wrote about African-American art for people in Nigeria.

1980s: Public Art and Travel

In 1980, Edwards became a full professor at Rutgers. That same year, he traveled to Egypt, Kenya, Gambia, and France. In 1981, he went to Cuba with Cortez. He gave a lecture about African-American art. He also met Cuban artists like Wifredo Lam. Edwards made a sculpture in Lam's memory after he died in 1982.

Also in 1982, Edwards made a sculpture for a public housing complex in Columbus, Ohio. It was called Out of the Struggles of the Past to a Brilliant Future. It had steel half-discs and shapes that formed an archway. It also had a large column of oversized steel chain. This was the first time Edwards used the chain design in his large sculptures. After this, he got several more commissions for public artworks. These included sculptures in North Carolina and New Jersey.

In 1984, he had a show of his sculptures in Paris. He showed many new Lynch Fragments. One, At Cross Roads, had a metal vise with a "Made in USA" mark. Edwards traveled a lot in the 1980s. He visited Nicaragua, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Gabon, and Brazil. In 1988, he made a Lynch Fragment called Palmares. It was inspired by his trip to Brazil. It marked 100 years since slavery ended there. Also in 1988, Edwards received a Fulbright Fellowship to Zimbabwe. He taught metalworking workshops there. He also made new Lynch Fragments, the largest ones yet.

His career in New York slowed down a bit in the 1980s. He had fewer big shows there. Some said it was because he made abstract art as a black artist. Others thought the topic of his Lynch Fragments was too "tough" for the art world. In 1988, a critic called Edwards "one of the best American sculptors" but also "one of the least known."

In 1989, Edwards finished an outdoor sculpture for the Social Security Administration building in Queens, New York. It was part of a federal art program. His sculpture, Confirmation, was made of large stainless-steel shapes.

1990s: First Commercial Show and Retrospective

Edwards continued making Lynch Fragments in the 1980s. He showed many of them in a survey of his work in 1990. He also had his first solo show at a commercial gallery in New York. He showed seventeen Lynch Fragments and a large steel sculpture called To Listen. Museums bought many sculptures from this show. The gallery owner said it was hard to sell Lynch Fragments to private collectors. She said, "Their confrontation is a dramatic one." Edwards said that after his Whitney show, he thought something big should have happened. But when it didn't, he "just kept on working."

In 1993, Edwards had a 30-year retrospective show. It started at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York. A critic wrote that Edwards's art didn't fit into common art styles. This might explain why he had to wait so long for such a big museum show. That same year, Edwards showed his work in Japan. His large outdoor sculpture, Asafo Kra No, won the grand prize. It was permanently installed at a museum in Nagano.

In 1996, Edwards went to Senegal. He took part in an artist residency there. He created a series of prints with other artists.

2000s: Time in Senegal and Retirement

In 2000, Edwards and Cortez started living part-time in Dakar, Senegal. Edwards set up a studio there. He began making new works similar to his Lynch Fragments. But he added metal drainage covers from the region. He and Cortez also bought a larger home in upstate New York. Also in 2000, Edwards had a show of his prints at the Jersey City Museum. It showed his prints, drawings, and small sculptures.

Edwards retired from teaching at Rutgers University in 2002. He moved most of his large sculptures to storage in New York. But he kept his studio in New Jersey. In 2006, his work was in an important exhibition. It was called Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980. This show aimed to bring new attention to abstract art by black artists.

In 2008, he finished Transcendence. It was a huge sculpture for Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. It was made of steel shapes and chain links. It honored David K. McDonogh. He was a 19th-century eye doctor who escaped slavery.

2010s: Big Retrospective and International Shows

In 2010, Edwards had a show in New York. It featured new and old works. He showed newer Lynch Fragments about current events like the Iraq War. He also showed older works like Chaino. Critics praised the show. One wrote that it showed "the quiet, undiminished integrity of Mr. Edwards's art."

Several of Edwards's Lynch Fragments were in an exhibition in 2011. It was called Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980. This led to more critics looking at his work. Younger curators also became aware of his art. In 2012, he remade his barbed-wire sculpture Pyramid Up and Down Pyramid at an art fair.

In 2014, Edwards had his first solo show in the United Kingdom. It was in London. A critic said that renewed interest in Edwards's work was important. This was because of similarities between the struggles of the 1960s and current unrest.

The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas opened a 50-year retrospective of Edwards's work in 2015. It showed art from his entire career. One part of the show recreated his barbed-wire sculptures from his 1970 Whitney Museum exhibition.

Edwards's work was also in the 56th Venice Biennale in May 2015. This is a very important international art exhibition. The curator, Okwui Enwezor, was the first African curator for the show. He arranged Edwards's Lynch Fragments in two rows. Visitors had to walk between them. Being in the Biennale brought more attention to Edwards's career.

In 2016, Edwards went to Oklahoma for a month. He found materials from local scrapyards to make new works. These included sculptures with metal shapes hanging in the air with chains. He showed many of these new pieces in 2017 in New York. Also in 2017, Edwards had a solo show at Brown University. He showed old and new works. One new work was Corner for Ana (Scales of Injustice). It had a scale holding metal pieces behind barbed wire.

In 2018, the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) in Brazil hosted a large show of his Lynch Fragments. The next year, Edwards returned to Brazil for an art residency. He created many new works in just two weeks. These included a room-sized installation and new Lynch Fragments. Also in 2019, Edwards had a solo show called Crossroads in Baltimore.

Throughout the 2010s, many museums bought Edwards's work. His art became more recognized. He also started trying to create tapestries during this time.

2020s: Public Art and European Show

In 2021, the Public Art Fund organized Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days. It was a major show of Edwards's outdoor sculptures. It was in City Hall Park in New York. The show included Homage to Coco (1970) and other historical works. He also made a new large outdoor sculpture for the show. It was called Song of the Broken Chains. It had oversized stainless steel broken-chain links. The exhibition was supposed to open in 2020. But Edwards postponed it to support the Black Lives Matter protests.

In April 2022, Edwards, Gilliam, and Williams had their last three-artist exhibition together. Gilliam passed away in June of that year. Also in 2022, the Dia Art Foundation opened a long-term display of Edwards's barbed-wire sculptures. These sculptures from the late 1960s and early 1970s had only existed as sketches before. In 2023, Edwards finished the public sculpture David's Dream. It honored art historian David Driskell. The sculpture has steel discs, shapes, and large chains. It was installed at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2024.

Edwards had his first solo museum exhibition in Europe in 2024. It was at the Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. The show, Some Bright Mornings, includes his Lynch Fragments and other sculptures. It also has drawings, prints, and paintings from the 1970s and 80s.

Personal Life

Edwards met Karen Hamre while they were art students at the University of Southern California. They married in 1960. They had three children: a daughter born in 1960 and twin daughters born in 1965. After moving to New York in 1967, they separated. Karen and the children returned to Los Angeles. Edwards and Hamre later divorced.

In 1969, Edwards reconnected with the poet Jayne Cortez. They had met briefly before. They became close after he drew pictures for her poetry book. The couple married in 1975. Cortez passed away in 2012 at age 78.

Edwards and Cortez moved to upstate New York in the early 2000s. They also started living part-time in Dakar, Senegal. Today, Edwards has art studios in Accord, New York, Plainfield, New Jersey, and Dakar.

Edwards has said that jazz music influences his art.

Public Artworks

Edwards has created many large public sculptures. His public artworks include:

• Homage to My Father and the Spirit (1969) at Cornell University
• Homage to Billie Holiday and the Young Ones of Soweto (1976–1977) at Morgan State University
• Out of the Struggles of the Past to a Brilliant Future (1982) in Columbus, Ohio
• Breaking of the Chains (1995) in San Diego
• David's Dream (2023) at the University of Maryland, College Park

Exhibitions

Edwards has had many solo shows in the United States and other countries. His notable solo shows include:

• Melvin Edwards (1965) at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, his first solo museum show.
• Melvin Edwards: Works (1970) at the Whitney Museum, his first solo show in New York and the first by an African-American sculptor there.
• Melvin Edwards (1990) at CDS Gallery in New York, his first solo show at a commercial gallery.
• Melvin Edwards (2014-2015) at Stephen Friedman Gallery in London, his first solo show in the UK.
• Melvin Edwards (2022), a long-term display of his previously unbuilt sculptures at Dia Beacon.

He has also had many museum retrospective exhibitions (shows looking back at his whole career):

• Melvin Edwards: Sculptor (1978) at the Studio Museum in Harlem, his first retrospective.
• A 30-year traveling retrospective in 1993, starting at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York.
• A 50-year traveling retrospective in 2015, starting at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas.
• Some Bright Mornings (2024), his first museum retrospective in Europe, at the Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany.

He has also been part of many group exhibitions. These include the 56th Venice Biennale (2015) and the Havana Biennial (2019).

Awards and Honors

Edwards has received many grants and fellowships. These include:

• National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) fellowships in 1971 and 1984.
• A Guggenheim Fellowship in 1975.
• A Fulbright Fellowship to Zimbabwe in 1988.

He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1992. He became a full member in 1994. He has also received honorary degrees from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Brooklyn College.

In 2016, a documentary film was made about him. It was called Some Bright Morning: The Art of Melvin Edwards.

Notable Works in Public Collections

Images for kids

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  Edwards in 2024

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  Installation view of Edwards' solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in 1970. At left: "look through minds mirror distance and measure time" – Jayne Cortez; at right: Curtain for William and Peter.

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  Cornell University's Johnson Museum, with Edwards' sculpture Homage to My Father and the Spirit (1969) in the foreground

See also

• Black Abstractionism
• List of African-American visual artists