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Celebrate African American Artists at the Museum

In celebration of Black History Month, we are highlighting one of the tours offered to school groups year-round: “Art by Artists of the African Diaspora.”

Waterfalls between fall foliage
Robert S. Duncanson, Minneopa Falls, 1862 (detail). Oil on canvas. Purchase, Andrew A. Ziegler Fund M2007.37. Photo by John R. Glembin.

Where can you find it? Gallery K220

In celebration of Black History Month, we are highlighting one of the tours offered to school groups year-round: “Art by Artists of the African Diaspora.” On this tour, students explore the ways in which artists of African descent, including African Americans, use their work to document their lives, tell the stories of their communities, and fight for social change.

Here are some of the extraordinary works by African American artists featured on each tour. Find them in the Collection Galleries during your next Museum visit!

Waterfalls between fall foliage
Robert S. Duncanson, Minneopa Falls, 1862. Oil on canvas. Purchase, Andrew A. Ziegler Fund M2007.37. Photo by John R. Glembin.

Where can you find it? Gallery K220
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Moonlight, Hebron, ca. 1907. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Whipple Dunbar M1920.1. Photo by John R. Glembin.

Where can you find it? Gallery K232
Egyptian face in the foreground with a group of people climbing a hill to the city
Lois Mailou Jones, The Ascent of Ethiopia, 1932. Oil on canvas. Purchase, African American Art Acquisition Fund, matching funds from Suzanne and Richard Pieper, with additional support from Arthur and Dorothy Nelle Sanders M1993.191. Photo by John R. Glembin. © Lois Mailou Jones Pierre-Noel Trust

Where can you find it? Gallery K224
Josephus Farmer, Lincoln and the Emancipation of the Slaves, 1981. Carved and painted wood. Gift of Richard and Erna Flagg M1991.213.

Where can you find it? Gallery K122
Martin Puryear, Maroon, 1987–88. Steel, wire mesh, wood and tar. Gift of the Contemporary Art Society M1991.24. Photo by Donald Young Gallery. © Martin Puryear

Where can you find it? Gallery K118
Thornton Dial, Sr., The Longest Tail Tiger in the United States, 1989. Acrylic and rope on plywood. Gift of William Arnett M1992.146. Photo by Efraim Lev-er. © 2016 Estate of Thornton Dial / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Where can you find it? Gallery K122
Winfred Rembert, Baptism, 2001. Painted, dyed, and tooled leather. Gift of Anthony Petullo M2012.197. Photo by John R. Glembin. © Winfred Rembert

Where can you find it? Gallery K122
Kehinde Wiley, St. Dionysus, 2006. Oil on canvas with carved and painted frame. Gift of the African American Art Alliance in honor of their 15th Anniversary, with additional support from Valerie A. Childrey, MD, and Sande Robinson M2006.16. Photo by John R. Glembin.

Where can you find it? Gallery K110
Colorful abstract art with a woman with dark hair in a blue dress and another in a yellow dress with wings
Reginald Baylor, On Duty, Not Driving, 2010. Acrylic on canvas. Purchase, with funds from the African American Art Alliance in honor of their twentieth anniversary M2011.16. Photo by John R. Glembin. © Reginald Baylor

Where can you find it? Gallery K110
Rashid Johnson, Untitled Anxious Audience, 2017. Ceramic tile, soap, and wax. Purchase, with funds from Mark and Debbie Attanasio, Marianne and Sheldon Lubar, Joanne Murphy, the African American Art Alliance, and the Modern and Contemporary Art Deaccession Funds M2017.60.

Where can you find it? Gallery K119

Want to experience the “Art by Artists of the African Diaspora” tour with your students? Register here.

Amy Kirschke is Director of Adult, Docent, and School Programs. She works with a team of educators and more than 150 volunteer docents to deliver tours and programs for 50,000 students and more than 5,000 adults each year. At the Museum, you’ll find her facilitating docent training, coordinating gallery talks, and slowing down to take a closer look at art during Slow Art Saturdays.

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