The Bowdoin College Museum of Art will open African/American: Two Centuries of Portraits on November 7. The exhibition’s opening coincides with the College’s AF/AM/50 weekend, celebrating fifty years of Africana Studies, the African American Society, and the John Brown Russwurm African American Center. Summer Curatorial and Education Assistant Lauryn Dove ’21 curated the exhibition and sought to illuminate the complexity of Blackness and re-contextualize the antebellum period. Dove also developed the audio labels featured in Art Purposes and throughout the American and European galleries. In many ways, the audio labels complement the new exhibition by thoughtfully examining historic and contemporary works through the lens of Blackness.

African/American complicates the story of Black people in the United States and abroad by focusing on individual contributions to the anti-slavery movement, diasporic narratives, and forms of resilience. The exhibition includes contemporary works to highlight the effects of slavery and diaspora seen throughout the twentieth century and today. Works range from painting and sculpture to photography and printed material, showcasing the various media that document the experiences of Black people across time. One exciting inclusion is Joshua Johnson’s Daniel Coker portrait, on loan from the American Museum in Bath, England, which will be reunited with Johnson’s portrait of Abner Coker in the Museum of Art’s collection. Johnson was one of the first African American painters, and these two portraits are the only likenesses of African American figures in his oeuvre.

Also opening in anticipation of AF/AM/50 is The Art of David C. Driskell, H’89 and the Art that Inspires Him. The exhibition will be on view for the duration of the celebratory weekend, as David Driskell is a keynote lecturer. The exhibition will feature a combination of works from Driskell’s collection and a selection of works from the Museum in response.

Join us on November 7 at noon for a curators’ tour to coincide with the exhibition’s opening. Tours of the exhibitions for AF/AM/50 will take place on November 8 at 2:15 p.m. and November 9 at 9:00 a.m.

 

Elizabeth Humphrey

Curatorial Assistant and Manager of Student Programs