Up From the Streets had its inception in a donation by James F. Duffy Jr. to Wayne State University consisting of more than one hundred works of art by artists associated with the Cass Corridor movement. Detroit, known for its development of the automobile and its impact on industry, has also been home to many art trends, none more notable than the Cass Corridor movement, which flourished from the late 1960s through the 1980s. The explosive times of the race riots, the development of the civil rights movement, and the harsh yet riveting grittiness of the city made the Cass Corridor’s art phenomenonon particularly potent. Using non-traditional materials, the artists formed a creative community that produced challenging and striking pieces. As one critic noted, these Detroit artists “could make art out of a sheer desire to be artists.”
The book contains the biographies and artwork of these instrumental and innovative Detroit-influenced artists. The numerous thought-provoking images included speak to the city’s industrial landscape and the raw labor that built it.