Exhibition Dates: August 19, 2008–March 8, 2009
Exhibition Location: Lila Acheson Wallace Wing, north mezzanine gallery
Thirteen works by seven contemporary African-American artists – Chakaia Booker, Willie Cole, Glenn Ligon, Whitfield Lovell, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker – are featured at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Provocative Visions: Race and Identity – Selections from the Permanent Collection. The installation, which opened August 19, examines the ways these artists challenge accepted perceptions and assumptions about race, gender, and identity. Cultural heritage and personal history provide a context for these images. All of the sculptures, prints, and drawings were acquired during the past 13 years, within a year or two of their creation – supported in large part by gifts from the Peter Norton Family Foundation and the Hortense and William A. Mohr Sculpture Purchase Fund. Most works are on display at the Metropolitan Museum for the first time.
The artists in the selection are part of a generation of African-American artists born in the 1950s and '60s, who were directly affected by the Civil Rights Movement, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution. They emerged on the art scene
in the 1970s and '80s with these issues strongly in the forefront of their art. The installation represents their work at mid-career with signature images. Chakaia Booker's tire sculpture is one of a number of pieces that utilize found objects;
others include Willie Cole's bicycle and shoe constructions, and Whitfield Lovell's wall tableau with metal implements. Multi-panel prints by Lorna Simpson are based on old photographs, while Glenn Ligon's compositions feature written texts, almost exclusively. Artists Alison Saar and Kara Walker comment on the role of women in society. Questions about the past and the present, particularly as they relate to African-Americans, resonate in these exhilarating, but disturbing, works.
Provocative Visions was organized by Lisa M. Messinger, Associate Curator in the Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art.
A variety of educational programs accompany the exhibition, including gallery talks, a program of short videos featuring several of the artists in the exhibition, student programs, and lectures for audiences in the community and workplace. The Audio Guide will be available after September 15, 2008.
The Audio Guide program is sponsored by Bloomberg.
The exhibition is featured on the Museum's website, www.metmuseum.org
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September 16, 2008
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