Portraits of a People
dal 24/8/2006 al 25/11/2006
Segnalato da
24/8/2006
Portraits of a People
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach
Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century, a critical examination of images made of, and in some cases by, African Americans and their role in establishing and fostering racial identity during a period of radical social change. The exhibition features more than 60 portraits in various media, ranging from paintings, photographs, and silhouettes to book frontispieces and popular prints.
The Long Beach Museum of Art presents Portraits of a People:
Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century, a critical examination of
images made of, and in some cases by, African Americans and their role in
establishing and fostering racial identity during a period of radical social change.
On display August 25 through November 26, 2006, the exhibition features more than
sixty portraits in various media, ranging from paintings, photographs, and
silhouettes to book frontispieces and popular prints. This exhibition is accompanied
by a fully illustrated catalogue.
Portraits of a People includes images dating from the beginning of the American
Revolution through the close of the nineteenth century when the Supreme Court upheld
the 1896 decision that ended the era of post-Civil War political gains by
establishing state's rights to legal segregation of the races. These remarkable
images are often unexpectedly candid about the aesthetic desires and social goals of
both their makers and their subjects.
From the anonymously engraved frontispiece portrait of African-born poet Phillis
Wheatley, often attributed to the enslaved artist Scipio Moorhead, to Thomas Eakins'
portrait of student and fellow painter Henry Ossawa Tanner, Portraits of a People
presents the ways in which creative African Americans were imagined. Portraits of
middle class African Americans by painters such as William Matthew Prior reveal the
frequency with which the invisible borders between the black and white worlds were
crossed by sitters seeking to demonstrate common bourgeois ideals and social
aspirations. Photographs of abolitionists, including Sojourner Truth and Frederick
Douglass, provide examples of the ways that inexpensive, mechanically produced
portraits could be mobilized in the services of moral
and political goals, just as images of leaders in the African American church and
politics reveal sophisticated usages of the visual rhetoric of power and prestige.
Portraits of a People was organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art and guest
curated by Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw, Associate Professor of History of Art at the
University of Pennsylvania. The Long Beach presentation is made possible through the
support of Lexus, Port of Long Beach, The Ahmanson Foundation, McLain-Hill
Associates, US Bank, Bess J. Hodges Foundation, Roberta and Matthew Jenkins;
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP; Union Bank of California Foundation and other
generous supporters.
Manager of P.R. & Marketing Mikhael Mei Williams
(562) 439-2119 ext. 256 mikhaelw@lbma.org
Join us for these exhibition related programs:
Sunday, September 10
2 - 4 p.m., Boeing Classroom
Creativity Lab for Families: Artful Silhouettes
Sunday, September 10
2 p.m., Lane Oceanview Gallery
Dr. Caldwell and String Quartet
Sunday, October 8
2 - 4 p.m., Boeing Classroom
Creativity Lab for Families: Self Portraits
Sunday, October 15
2 p.m., Lane Oceanview Gallery
Dr. Caldwell and the Jubilee Boys Choir
Sunday, November 5
2 p.m., Lane Oceanview Gallery
Dr. Ray Briggs and the CSULB jazz quartet
Sunday, November 12
2 - 4 p.m., Boeing Classroom
Creativity Lab for Families: Discover Your Family History - Make a Family Tree with Photographs
All programs are FREE with Museum admission
About The Long Beach Museum of Art
Located on a magnificent bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Long Beach Museum
of Art features a significant permanent collection, changing exhibitions, artmaking
workshops for all ages, an historic mansion and carriage house, expansive galleries
and gardens, oceanfront dining at Claire's at the Museum and a unique Museum Store.
The galleries and store are open Tuesday - Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Claire's at the
Museum is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday - Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and
Sunday. Museum admission is $7 for adults, $6 for students and seniors, free for
Museum members and children under 12, and free for everyone every Friday.
William Matthew Prior, Ms. Nancy Lawson, 1843, Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in., Shelburne
Museum, Shelburne, Vermont
Attributed to Raphaelle Peale, Moses Williams, Cutter of Profiles; after 1802,
Hollow-cut profile, 3 3/8 x 3 O in., The Library Company of Philadelphia
Charles Wilson Peale, Yarrow Mamout, 1819, Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in., Atwater Kent
Museum of Philadelphia, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Gift of
Charles S. Ogden
Press Preview Reception, Thursday, August 24, 2006, 5 - 6 p.m.
Public Opening
Friday, August 25, 2006
Free Friday! Admission is free all day every Friday.
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.