A Marvelous Exhibition Looks at How Black Artists Have Dissected and Rearranged the History of European Modernism—See It Here
While museums around the globe are closed to the public, we
are spotlighting each day an inspiring exhibition that was
previously on view. Even if you can’t see it in person, allow us to
give you a virtual look.
“Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and
the European Modernist Tradition”
Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
What the museum says: The show “presents
works by African American artists of the 20th and 21st centuries
together with examples by the early 20th-century European
artists with whom they engaged.
“European modernist art has been an important, yet complicated
influence on black artists for more than a century. The powerful
push and pull of this relationship constitutes a distinct tradition
for many African American artists who have mined the narratives of
art history, whether to find inspiration, mount a critique, or
claim their own space. ‘Riffs and Relations’ examines these
cross-cultural conversations and presents the divergent works that
reflect these complex dialogues.”
Why it’s worth a look: In the jewel-box
museum that is the Phillips Collection, which includes so many gems
of European modernism, a show that tackles the myth of the genius
white male artist is especially powerful. The contemporary
African American artists in this show include luminaries and
lesser-known practitioners, many of them directly riffing on
European examples that came before them to offer an expanded view
of what tradition, transformation, and critique can mean in an era
when influence is a complicated and thorny subject.
What it looks like:
Faith Ringgold, Picasso’s Studio
(1991). © 2020 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York, Courtesy ACA Galleries, New York.
Sam Middleton, Table Top Still
Life (1996). Courtesy of Spanierman Modern, NY/Miami.
Pablo Picasso, Le dejuener sur
l’herbe, after Manet I (1962).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Carrie Mae Weems, After Manet
(2002,2015). Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New
York. © Carrie Mae Weems
Titus Kaphar, Pushing Back the
Light (2012). Courtesy of the artist and the photographer,
Christopher Gardner.
Ayana V. Jackson, Judgement of
Paris (2018). Courtesy of the artist and Mariana Ibrahim
Gallery, Chicago.
Faith Ringgold, Picasso’s Studio
(1991). © 2020 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York, Courtesy ACA Galleries, New York.
Winold Reiss, African Phantasy:
Awakening (c. 1925). Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art
Museum, Washington, DC.
Martin Puryear, Face Down (2008)
Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery © Martin Puryear.
Sanford Biggers, Negerplastik
(2016). Courtesy of Massimo De Carlo, Milan/London/Hong Kong,
photo: Todd-White Art Photography.
Elizabeth Catlett, Ife (2002). ©
2020 Catlett Mora Family Trust / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York.
Janet Taylor Pickett, And She was
Born (2017). Courtesy of the artist.
Mequitta Ahuja, Xpect (2018).
Courtesy of the artist.
Installation view, “Riffs and Relations”
at the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC.
Riffs and Relations Exhibition
Installation view, “Riffs and Relations” at the Phillips
Collection, Washington, DC.Wasington DC.
Installation view, “Riffs and Relations”
at the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC.
The post A Marvelous Exhibition Looks at How Black Artists
Have Dissected and Rearranged the History of European Modernism—See
It Here appeared first on artnet News.
Read more https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/phillips-collection-riffs-and-relations-1814136
Further reading
Leave a comment