Represent as an exhibition is a unique attempt to draw in a new audience demographic with an exhibition showcasing pieces already owned by the museum. The exhibit highlights the work of African American artists as well as work depicting prominent and influential African-Americans. The exhibition attempts to express the personal identity of Black Americans by drawing on pieces that mark a national history of racial inequality. The Head Curator is John Vick, who's name you'll have to struggle to find, with consulting curator Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw from the University of Pennsylvania.
I found it very interesting that he chose to highlight the generosity and enthusiasm of the museum to bring these works together at a time when there are clear racial divisions in the country. This exhibit clearly draws on the impact of African-American culture on American history and how the two are so intertwined, it's difficult to use separate terms.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art owes it's draftsmanship to an African-American by the name of Julian Abele, the first Black American to graduate from the architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania. Along the outside wall of the exhibition are three of the original drafts of the museum.
The span of types of works on display are vast: sculptures, abstract art, portraiture, textile, furniture, etc. The exhibition itself represents only a small collection of African-American culture within the museum. To see the full range of objects and art, you'd need to see the official exhibition book.
There are a number of pieces that illustrate how intricate the culture of Black Americans and American history are one. Horace Pippin has a number of poignant pieces, but my favorite was the "The End of the War: Starting Home," (1930-33). This piece is a colourful portrayal of the First World War with all the pieces of the war technology and weaponry. The Black soldiers blend into the earth whereas the white soldiers standout as a focal point.
The US Army was at the time still-segregated. Pippin who had served, was profoundly changed by the experience and at the time of producing the work he was still nursing wounds. His work can serve as an excellent primary source of the terror and confusion of trench warfare and his corresponding journal is an excellence source of documentation about the changing landscape of the war.
Some of the most moving works that were on display were the pieces by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937). The masterpiece that is most often cited is The Annunciation. The painting depicts the Virgin Mary as a young Palestinian teenager. She sits quietly amazed by the apparition. What is illuminated by the light is the spirituality of the message she is receiving and the meekness of her reception.
This was the first work of a Black artist acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Strikingly still is the second contemporary piece in the museum. Tanner had studied in Paris, but from the Pennsylvania school with Thomas Eakins, and is very much a part of the American Art Canon. What I found incredible was the use of light, made illuminated by the technical use of brush stroke.
There was a unique aspect that made this exhibition touch home. Samuel Joseph Brown, Jr. was an artist who was a friend of the family. His self portrait on display is a watercolor over graphite on cream wove paper. He became a director of the museum, and produced work in the 1930s that was overtly social commentary. What drove me to see this piece in a sea of others stems from the detail in the eyes. Brown's eyes are fixed in a deadpan manner that signify he is a man that not only sees the viewer, but sees himself. There is strength in identity, and the smoke of the pipe, the painting in the background, and the vertical wallpaper further serve to illuminate the eyes.
Although a number of pieces were moving, by far the one that seemed to stick with me, was the Joyce J. Scott piece "Rodney King's Head Was Squashed Like a Watermelon" (1991). There are so many social references to the "Black Experience" in the piece. Scott was born in Baltimore and of mixed Native, Scottish, and African American.
The use of beads is an extension of material that expresses her ancestral heritage and the integral nature and racial and gender stereotypes. This piece is intriguing as she rarely creates works that are based on historical events. This piece focuses on the brutality against race both in the consciousness of America as well as the standing issues that existed and still do in urban America. In this work Scott underlines the damaging and sometimes violent consequences of racial and ethnic stereotypes.
The exhibit ends tomorrow, which makes me incredibly lucky to have come home this week. I hope the success of the exhibit, I hope demonstrates the interest in African-American culture as having an integral in American history. The two are really the same. What is most remarkable is that all of these pieces were already a part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art collection. All they needed was a curatorial team and funding support to bring them all together.
I found it very interesting that he chose to highlight the generosity and enthusiasm of the museum to bring these works together at a time when there are clear racial divisions in the country. This exhibit clearly draws on the impact of African-American culture on American history and how the two are so intertwined, it's difficult to use separate terms.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art owes it's draftsmanship to an African-American by the name of Julian Abele, the first Black American to graduate from the architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania. Along the outside wall of the exhibition are three of the original drafts of the museum.
The span of types of works on display are vast: sculptures, abstract art, portraiture, textile, furniture, etc. The exhibition itself represents only a small collection of African-American culture within the museum. To see the full range of objects and art, you'd need to see the official exhibition book.
"The End of the War: Starting Home:" (Detail) (1930-33)
Horace Pippin
Oil on Canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
There are a number of pieces that illustrate how intricate the culture of Black Americans and American history are one. Horace Pippin has a number of poignant pieces, but my favorite was the "The End of the War: Starting Home," (1930-33). This piece is a colourful portrayal of the First World War with all the pieces of the war technology and weaponry. The Black soldiers blend into the earth whereas the white soldiers standout as a focal point.
The US Army was at the time still-segregated. Pippin who had served, was profoundly changed by the experience and at the time of producing the work he was still nursing wounds. His work can serve as an excellent primary source of the terror and confusion of trench warfare and his corresponding journal is an excellence source of documentation about the changing landscape of the war.
Some of the most moving works that were on display were the pieces by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937). The masterpiece that is most often cited is The Annunciation. The painting depicts the Virgin Mary as a young Palestinian teenager. She sits quietly amazed by the apparition. What is illuminated by the light is the spirituality of the message she is receiving and the meekness of her reception.
The Annunciation (Detail), 1898
Oil on canvas, 57x71 1/4 inches
Purchased with the W.P. Wilstach Fund
Philadelphia Museum of Art
This was the first work of a Black artist acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Strikingly still is the second contemporary piece in the museum. Tanner had studied in Paris, but from the Pennsylvania school with Thomas Eakins, and is very much a part of the American Art Canon. What I found incredible was the use of light, made illuminated by the technical use of brush stroke.
"Smoking My Pipe" 1934
Samuel Joseph Brown, Jr.
Watercolor over graphite on cream wove paper
Public Works of Art Project,
on long-term loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art from the Fine Arts Collection
Although a number of pieces were moving, by far the one that seemed to stick with me, was the Joyce J. Scott piece "Rodney King's Head Was Squashed Like a Watermelon" (1991). There are so many social references to the "Black Experience" in the piece. Scott was born in Baltimore and of mixed Native, Scottish, and African American.
"Rodney King's Head Was Squashed Like a Watermelon" 1991
Joyce J. Scott
Beads and Thread
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The use of beads is an extension of material that expresses her ancestral heritage and the integral nature and racial and gender stereotypes. This piece is intriguing as she rarely creates works that are based on historical events. This piece focuses on the brutality against race both in the consciousness of America as well as the standing issues that existed and still do in urban America. In this work Scott underlines the damaging and sometimes violent consequences of racial and ethnic stereotypes.
The exhibit ends tomorrow, which makes me incredibly lucky to have come home this week. I hope the success of the exhibit, I hope demonstrates the interest in African-American culture as having an integral in American history. The two are really the same. What is most remarkable is that all of these pieces were already a part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art collection. All they needed was a curatorial team and funding support to bring them all together.
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