Name/Title
Pride of the Bamboo ForestContext
A founding Freewheelers member and a prolific artist celebrated for his “ethereal visualizations of life across the Black Diaspora,” Gerald Duane Coleman (b. 1948) has been a key figure in Milwaukee’s Black Arts Movement. Often mixing whimsy, social realism, and protest, Coleman leans toward whimsy in his “Blue Gorilla” series.
As Coleman explained, his blue gorillas were “based on those familiar luminaries of the Milwaukee County Zoo,” where he “spen[t] several hours each week …, studying and sketching Samson and Tanga.” Contrary to common misconceptions about the “hulking but gentle and intelligent” gorilla, Coleman admired his subject as “a shy, unaggressive vegetarian who cherishes his family and fights only when threatened,” and commented that “the world would be better off … [i]f man would take on more of [the gorilla’s] attributes.” Thus, the viewer finds Coleman’s blue gorillas “doing the most delicately civilized actions—eating berries, picking daisies, playing with butterflies.”
Coleman's love letter to the Milwaukee County Zoo joins other works in celebrating the places and public institutions that help connect us and anchor our social infrastructure: the library (Edgar Jeter’s “Girl Reading”), the Mitchell Park Domes (Frankie B. Cole's "Red Tropical Circle"), and neighborhoods and front stoops (Sylvester Sims’s “Brothers” and its look back to the “warmth, vigor and camaraderie” of 'Old Walnut Street').
Other work by Coleman is on view at the Atkinson, Center Street, and Martin Luther King libraries, and the MPL Digital Collections Milwaukee Black Arts Movement digital collection offers more revealing insight into Coleman as a visionary artist and performer.Collection
Wisconsin Art Collection, Artwork CollectionAcquisition
Accession
1978.11Source or Donor
Gerald Duane ColemanAcquisition Method
PurchaseMade/Created
Artist
Gerald Duane ColemanDate made
1977Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
TitleLocation
Lower leftTranscription
"Pride of the Bamboo Forest"Material/Technique
PencilType
Signature and DateLocation
Lower rightTranscription
"Gerald Duane Coleman '77"Material/Technique
PencilType
Signature and DateLocation
On "Custom Framed By" sticker on back of frameTranscription
"Gerald Duane Coleman 7/24/78"Material/Technique
PenDimensions
Dimension Description
Framed SizeHeight
24 inWidth
31 inDimension Description
Image SizeHeight
17 inWidth
25 inRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
FreewheelersRelated Publications
Notes
Materials pertaining to the artist and this work are available in the Milwaukee Black Arts Movement digital collection: https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/MkeBAM/.