Emanoel Araujo, O navio [The Ship], 2007, polychromed wood and carbon steel, Collection Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, gift of the artist
James Phillips, Description of a slave ship, 1789, woodcut, Rare Books, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
Johann Moritz Rugendas, Slaves in the Cargo Hold of a Slave Ship (detail), c. 1835, lithograph with watercolor, Instituto Ricardo Brennand, Recife, Pernambuci, Brazil
Nona Faustine, From her body sprang their greatest wealth, 2013, photographic print, artist's collection
Samuel Raven, Celebrating the Emancipation of Slaves in British Dominions, August, 1834, oil on canvas, The Menil Collection, Houston
Ernest Crichlow, Harriet Tubman, 1953, oil on masonite, courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York
William Walker, Noon Day Pause in the Cotton Field, c.1885 oil on canvas, The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, SC
Archibald John Motley Jr., Nightlife (detail), 1943, oil on canvas, The Art Institute of Chicago, purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field, Jack and Sandra Guthman, Ben W. Heineman, Ruth Horwich, Lewis and Susan Manilow, Beatrice C. Mayer, Charles A. Meyer, John D. Nichols, and Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Smith Jr.; James W. Alsdorf Memorial Fund; Goodman Endowment.
Eugène Delacroix, Portrait of a Woman in a Blue Turban, c. 1827, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Patricia McBride
Osmond Watson, Johnny Cool, 1967, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Jamaica
Daniel Lind-Ramos, Figura de Poder (Power Figure), 2016-2018, mirrors, concrete blocks, cement bag, sledgehammer, construction stones bag, paint bucket, wood panels, palm tree trunk, burlap, leather, ropes, sequin, awning, plastic ropes, fabric, trumpet, pins, duct tape, maracas, sneaker, tambourine, working gloves, basketballs, boxing gloves, acrylic overall, National Gallery of Art, New Century Fund
Alma Thomas, March on Washington (detail), 1964, acrylic on canvas, courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York.
Afro-Atlantic Histories is adopted from a much larger show from 2018 (on which the catalog is based) presented at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo and the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo. The latter was the 2014 site of the origin of the 2018 show in a presentation called Histories of Slavery.
A Brazilian team curated Afro-Atlantic Histories, which is fitting, the essayists note in the catalog, given that Brazil, for more than 300 years, received about 40 percent of Africans forcibly removed from their homes, and today has the second-highest population of Blacks in the world, after Nigeria.
Included above are the portraits, paintings, photographs, sculptures which I found most intriguing, but there are many, many more to whet appetites for learning and see Black history and culture come to life.
The label copy is in Engish and Spanish.
And the catalog! Oh, my! Published by Museu de Arte de São Paulo, it has 400 pages in color of 400 works by 200 artists ($69.95). Not to miss and see and read time and time again.
And don't forget Artle! It's lots of fun!
In conjunction with the exhibition, movies by international filmmakers will be presented at no charge through July 17 in the West Building Lecture Hall. Registration is required at nga.gov/film. Go here for more information.
From Washington, the exhibition moves to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 11, 2022–April 30, 2023, and next to the Dallas Museum of Art with dates to be announced.
Afro-Atlantic Histories was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Museu de Arte de Sāo Paulo in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art.
What: Afro-Atlantic Histories
When: Now through July 17, 2022, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Main floor of the West Building, National Gallery of Art, Washington
How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.
Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza
For more information: (202) 737-4215
Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905
patricialesli@gmail.com