Many reflect the tremendous social and political change that occurred from the early Republic to the Civil War, through the rise of industry, the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance, the post-war years, the Civil Rights movement to present day questions of personal identity and racism. Through art, artists tell such stories—stories of the world’s current complexity, but also visions of a world that could yet be. Artist Radcliffe Bailey talks about his artistic process and what he hopes his art conveys.
Check out our upcoming events, open to Music City locals and visitors alike! Search for art, find what you are looking for in the museum and much more. All public programs are online only, on-site public tours and events are currently suspended. Explore our Music and the Movement initiative, and learn how you can reclaim your vote today. Scheduled to open in Downtown Nashville Fall 2020, the National Museum of African American Music will be a 56,000-square-foot facility that will encourage visitors to discover the central role African Americans have played in shaping and creating all genres of American music. The artists included in SAAM’s collection powerfully evoke themes both universal and specific to the African American experience. Free, timed-entry passes will be required for entry. Richmond, VA 23220, Beuford Smith, American, born 1941 (Artist), Anthony Barboza, American, born 1944 (Artist), Louis Draper, American, 1935 - 2002 (Artist), Ming Smith, American, born c. 1951 (Artist), Robert McNeill, American, 1917 - 2005 (Artist), Shawn Walker, American, born 1940 (Artist), James "Jimmie" Mannas, American, born 1941 (Artist), Stanley Rayfield, American, born 1987 (Artist), Theaster Gates, American, born 1973 (Artist), Beauford Delaney, American, 1901 - 1979 (Artist), Kehinde Wiley, American, born 1977 (Artist), Radcliffe Bailey, American, born 1968 (Artist), Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917 - 2000 (Artist), Henry Ossawa Tanner, American, 1859 - 1937 (Artist), Gordon Parks, American, 1912 - 2006 (Artist), Eldzier Cortor, American, 1916 - 2015 (Artist), Palmer Hayden, American, 1890 - 1973 (Artist), Romare Bearden, American, 1911 - 1988 (Artist), Kara Walker, American, born 1969 (Artist), Martin Puryear, American, born 1941 (Artist), Robert Pruitt, American, born 1975 (Artist), LeRoy Henderson, American, born 1936 (Artist). Keep in touch by subscribing to news and updates from SAAM and Renwick Gallery. African American Art. Artist Julie Mehretu talks about the concepts, processes, and implications of her "Stadia" series, including "Stadia III" in VMFA's permanent collection. single-channel digital video, high definition, color, sound; 07:25 minutes, tambourines, pyrographic calligraphy on lambskin, acrylic discs and braided trim, rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel on wood panel, offset lithograph and screenprint on paper, Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative, Love is the Message, The Message is Death, A Young Woman Between Carrolburg Place and Half Street,…, Untitled (Yellow and Blue House with Figures and Dog), Alabama Loyalists Greeting the Federal Gun-Boats, from the…, Using the Nam June Paik Archive - Access and Hours, Highlights from the Nam June Paik Archive, Online Resources for Researching Nam June Paik, Publication Requests for the Nam June Paik Archive. From classical to country to jazz and hip hop, NMAAM will integrate history and interactive technology to share the untold story of more than 50 music genres and sub-genres. Thu and Fri until 9 pm, 200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard With such a vast arch across time, these works collectively underscore the dramatic shifts in the artistic, social and political landscape and their impact upon the creative expression. The collection also contains works made from a variety of other materials, such as ivory, copper alloys, gold, fibers, beads, animal skins, and earthenware. Produced to accompany the exhibition, "Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic," this video series features the artist himself discussing his background, work, process, philosophy, and art historical influences. Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery, Mickalene Thomas, Portrait of Mnonja, 2010, rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel on wood panel, Smithsonian American Art Museum. When not hanging in the galleries, these works can be found on the Museum’s website. 2020 © Copyright National Museum of African American Music. Come see "Vessel" in VMFA's permanent collection. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is now open to the public.

Through the work of such remarkable artists who range from Joshua Johnson to Kehinde Wiley, we are able to see the transformations within our society that continue to inform our multivalent culture. The African art collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art contains about 480 works. Beginning in the mid-1960s the museum acquired significant works by African American artists including Sargent Johnson’s Mask and James Hampton’s visionary installation, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly, as well as works by Romare Bearden, William H. Johnson, and Alma Thomas from New York’s Harmon Foundation.

As we begin a gradual, phased reopening for the Museum, we’re putting safety first with new measures in place to protect everyone’s health. Since that time, the Museum has remained steadfast in building a collection reflective of the African American experience and expression. Six years later, the museum acquired more than four-hundred works by folk and self-taught artists from the holdings of Waide Hemphill, Jr. including paintings by Sister Gertrude Morgan and Bill Traylor. The collection features masterpieces from early American to modern and later, contemporary artists. The interview was conduced by John B. Ravenal (Syndey and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art), VMFA.
This program was a part of the educational programming related to the exhibition A Commitment to the Community: The Black Photographers Annual, Volume I, on view February 16, 2017-October 3, 2017 and Black History Month 2017. In 2015, the VMFA redoubled these efforts, launching an initiative to significantly deepen its holdings of African, African American and African Diasporic artists as a means to expand its connection to an ever growing diverse community.

Get a closer look at VMFA objects with Google Gigapixel Images! The collaborative project is an extension of their commitment to providing Pre-K—8 teachers, counselors, and administration with online resources to reach and engage students nationwide. NMAAM’s blog expands on the themes and subjects guests encounter in our galleries, and features essays, interviews, and retrospectives. LeRoy Henderson discusses his life and work documenting American protest culture with Dr. Sarah Eckhardt, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, on Thursday, February 16, 2017 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.