'Represent' honors African-American artists at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

What do an oil painting of the Annunciation, a colorful mid-twentieth library scene, a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr., and a limestone squirrel have in common? They’re all works by African-American artists from the collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Represent: 200 Years of African American Art groups them into one exhibition, running through April 5.

Viewers of “Represent” will need to decide for themselves what the connections are between such a broad range of work from more than 50 artists spanning two centuries. Pieces include early 19th-century silhouettes by Moses Williams, pottery from David Drake, late-20th-century abstract sculpture from artists like Barbara Chase-Riboud, and Henry Ossawa Tanner’s famous 1898 The Annunciation.

“Represent” promises a slew of notable works, especially from the modern era, and features excerpts of recent interviews with contemporary artists in the show. According to the PMA, “numerous works from the past several decades directly confront issues pertaining to race and representation,” still vital as civil rights protests continue to roil cities across the country.

The show will offer a range of special events throughout its run, including an Art After 5 dance party with DJ Rob Base on Friday, January 16, and an inaugural gala fundraiser on January 17 for the PMA’s African American Collections Committee, featuring dinner and a keynote address from Duke University dean of humanities Dr. Richard J. Powell. (Proceeds from the gala will help create a new fellowship “to advance diversity within the curatorial field.”)

There’ll be family-friendly tours, performances, and art-making on January 18 for Martin Luther King Day, and March gallery programs including poet Tracie Morris, a performance from Amber Art and Design, and a “Represent Wikipedia Edit-a-thon,” dedicated to increasing the visibility of African-American artists on the world’s free online encyclopedia. And on February 1, consulting curator Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw (Associate Professor of American Art at the University of Pennsylvania) will moderate an artists’ roundtable with Odili Donald Odita, Joyce Scott, and Willie Williams of the exhibition.

“Represent: 200 Years of African American Art” is running in the Lynne and Harold Honickman Gallery and Muriel and Philip Berman Gallery from January 10 through April 5. For more information and advance tickets, call 215-763-8100 or click here.

Above at right: Henry Ossawa Tanner's The Annunciation, the first work by an African-American artist to be acquired by an American museum. At left: The Libraries Are Appreciated (1943), by Jacob Lawrence.