I was able to exhibit with some of the world's most prolific artists from the past and the present. Given the lack of respectful early depictions of African Americans, the bulk of the exhibition was created by twentieth and twenty-first-century artists.įiber artist Bisa Butler tells Art & Object, “I cannot express what it means to me to have been included in the 200 years of black portraiture exhibit. 1800 oil portrait of a determined-looking Black man in a jaunty red scarf and blue double-breasted jacket-thought to be sea captain, merchant, and abolitionist Paul Cuffe, a free New Englander from a well-to-do mixed-race family. Sequentially arranged in the classic salon tradition across the gallery space, the exhibition begins with the c. It is also something of an homage to LACMA’s 1976 exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art, the first comprehensive survey of African American art, curated by world-renowned artist, art historian, and African American art authority David Driskell, who died in 2020. The exhibition encompasses a variety of mediums, from painting, drawing, and sculpture, to fiber art, lithographs, photography, and mixed media. The artists range from self-taught to classically trained, and, while primarily Black, include other artists known for their supportive portrayals. Subjects span a wide breadth to include historical figures, iconic change-makers, arts and culture luminaries, and ordinary people rendered extraordinary through the lens of art. Primarily drawn from the museum’s collection, the exhibition brings together approximately 140 works by over 100 artists, spanning roughly 200 years. Challenging past conventions that centered the white gaze and often demonized or fetishized Blackness, LACMA’s Black American Portraits celebrates Black people, art, and culture.
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