Ten years ago, Larry and Brenda Thompson donated 100 works to the museum from their prominent collection of works by African American artists(opens in new tab) and funded an endowment to support a new curatorial position at the museum for African American and African Diasporic art. Their gift has resulted in major change in both exhibitions and acquisitions. In addition, our museum has become a resource for students and the general public interested in works by these artists.
To celebrate this decade of change, Shawnya L. Harris, Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art, has assembled the permanent collection installation “Decade of Tradition: Highlights from the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection,”(opens in new tab) now on view in the Boone and George-Ann Knox II Gallery at the museum. “Decade of Tradition” focuses on the expansion of the museum’s permanent collection through this transformative gift of works by African American artists. This exhibition includes works from the 2011 traveling exhibition “Tradition Redefined: The Larry and Brenda Thompson Collection of African American Art,”(opens in new tab) which preceded the gift, as well as works added to the collection since the gift in 2012.
Traditionally, museums excluded works by African American artists, and the Thompsons have often characterized their collecting as a means of overcoming that practice(opens in new tab). They found it important not only to donate art to the museum but to create a curatorial position dedicated to studying it. The output of curators, such as exhibitions, scholarships, and programming, gives rise to shepherded collections that prevent works of art from becoming “orphaned” and forgotten about.
Harris shares that her role “is to establish that process of stewardship that will make inclusivity possible. As the years go on, we can broaden the museum’s collection while promoting a sense of equity in the way we highlight art traditions.”
In creating this exhibition, she took the liberty of pulling out some of her favorite works that have never been on view at the museum in several years, at all, or others that the museum has acquired since the gift. Harris plans to have future rotations that may focus on specific themes or artists from the collection. Creating a dedicated gallery for works by African American artists allows us to give them the sustained attention they deserve. At the same time, we continue to incorporate more works by Black artists throughout the permanent collection galleries.
Authored by:
Giselle Brannam
