Reginald Gammon (1921-2005) was an American artist and member of the African American artist's collective,
Spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1 ...
. Gammon served in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
stationed in Guam from 1944 through 1946.
After the war Gammon located to New York City. In 1963 joined Spiral, a collective of Black artists interested in incorporating the concerns of the
civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
into their art. The group met at the artist
Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City a ...
's studio and the name Spiral was suggested by
Hale Woodruff
Hale Aspacio Woodruff (August 26, 1900 – September 6, 1980) was an American artist known for his murals, paintings, and prints.
Early life, family and education
Woodruff was born in Cairo, Illinois, in on August 26, 1900. He grew up in a black ...
. Gammon's black and white painting "Freedom Now", based on a
Moneta Sleet Jr.
Moneta J. Sleet Jr. (February 14, 1926 – September 30, 1996) was an American press photographer best known for his work as a staff photographer for ''Ebony'' magazine. In 1969 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his p ...
photograph of the 1963
March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...
, was exhibited at the 1965 Spiral exhibition "First Group Showing: Works in Black and White".
After Spiral dissolved in 1966 Gammon joined the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC) a group of artists that picketed the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
and the
Whitney Museum
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude ...
to protest the exclusion of black artists.
In 1970 Gammon left (BECC) and New York City to take a teaching job at
Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...
where he stayed until he retired in 1991 as professor emeritus Gammon then moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he became a member of the "New Mexico Afro-American Artist Guild" and the
New Grounds Print Workshop
New Grounds Print Workshop, founded in 1996 by Regina Held, is a nontoxic printmaking facility specializing in intaglio and relief printmaking. It is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. According to the mission statement on t ...
Woodmere Art Museum
Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, S ...
. His work is in the collection of the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
, the
Columbus Museum of Art
The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collect ...
, the Woodmere Art Museum, and the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His papers are in the
Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...