womenXwomen: Selections from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art
Penn State Lehigh Valley, Ronald K. De Long Gallery
2809 Saucon Valley Road, Center Valley, PA 18034
January 27 – March 14, 2020
womenXwomen is a selection of artwork by (with the exception of Alix Ayme) African American women from the PFF collection. The selected works range from representations of other women, artists representing themselves, and pieces that capture the tremendous power that these artists have in their art forms.
Ann Lalik’s curation enhanced this show by displaying works by iconic artists, as well as incredible talents of the next generation, capturing their influence on and dialogue with one another. Featured artists include: Syd Carpenter, Lavett Ballard, Ify Chiejina, Mequita Ahuja, Latoya Hobbes, Allison Janae Hamilton, Barbara Jane Bullock, Elizabeth Catlett, and Joyce Scott.
Gallery Website: https://lehighvalley.psu.edu/womenxwomen
Afrocosmologies: American Reflections
Wadsworth Atheneum
600 Main Street, Hartford CT, 06103
October 19, 2019 – January 20, 2020
Alison Saar (b. 1956), Black Snake Blues, 1994, Lithograph Print.
Black artists explore spirituality and culture in Afrocosmologies: American Reflections. Alongside artists of the late-nineteenth century, contemporary artists define new ideas about spirituality, identity, and the environment in ways that move beyond traditional narratives of Black Christianity. In dialogue, these works acknowledge a continuing body of beliefs—a cosmology—that incorporates the centrality of nature, ritual, and relationships between the human and the divine. Emerging from the rich religious and aesthetic traditions of West Africa and the Americas, these works present a dynamic cosmos of influences that shape Contemporary art.
The exhibition brings together the work of an incredible assortment of artists including Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, Elizabeth Catlett, Willie Cole, Titus Kaphar, Lois Mailou Jones, Alison Saar, Hale Woodruff, and Shinique Smith along with many additional artists of note. It was accompanied by a 156-page, fully illustrated catalogue with essays by Frank Mitchell, Berrisford Boothe, Claudia Highbaugh, and Kristin Hass.
Gallery Website: https://www.thewadsworth.org/afrocosmologies-american-reflections/
An Essential Presence: The Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art
Allentown Art Museum
June 2 – September 1, 2019
Scheller and Fowler Galleries
31 N 5th St. Allentown, PA 18101
(610) 432-4333
This exhibition presents sixty-five pieces from the esteemed Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art, including more than forty works new to the collection and on view for the first time. Spanning the late nineteenth century to the current decade, the show features work by such celebrated artists as Henry Ossawa Tanner, Charles White, and Elizabeth Catlett. Simultaneously, it heralds groundbreaking contemporary artists like Vanessa German, William Villalongo, and Syd Carpenter. With paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, and photographs, this selection gives a sense of the broad range of powerful and sensitive artwork made by artists of the African diaspora over more than a century. From realism to abstraction, with humor, grace, and pathos, the works in this exhibition sample this important private collection built in the last six years under the direction of curator Berrisford Boothe.
Founded in 2006, the Petrucci Family Foundation (PFF) actively responds to the needs of the communities it serves, with the mission of supporting education and creating
https://www.allentownartmuseum.org/exhibitions/an-essential-presence-the-petrucci-family-foundation-collection-of-african-american-art/
Constructing Identity
Portland Art Museum
Jan 28 – Jun 18, 2017
1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97205
(503) 226-2811
In 21st-century America, questions of race and identity are being explored as never before. This exploration has prompted many artists of color to investigate what constitutes identity, community, and the idea of a so-called post-racial society. Constructing Identity: Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art brings together paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings by prominent contemporary African-American artists along with a selection of historical works from the 1930s, 1940s, and Civil Rights era.Drawing from the Petrucci Family Foundation collection, Constructing Identity features works by more than 80 artists, including Henry Ossawa Tanner, Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Faith Ringgold, Radcliffe Bailey, Kara Walker, and Mickalene Thomas as well as John Biggers, Barbara Bullock, David Driskell, Joyce Scott, and Sonya Clark, among others. The exhibition brings awareness to the contributions of artists of color, whose work is often historically underrepresented in museums and galleries, to foster a more complete understanding. Constructing Identity includes works by 11 artists whose artwork is also held in the collection of the recently opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., as well as Northwest artists such as Portland painter Arvie Smith (whose own exhibition at PAM has been extended through March 12).
As part of a growing and more thoughtful dialogue about how art reflects the experiences of African Americans, Constructing Identity visually represents a cross-section of themes that speak to all of us in voices from communities of color in America.
“Historically, and within African-American communities, a central question is how do we best represent ourselves—and how do these representations come together to form an ever-changing statement of identity?” asks Berrisford Boothe, curator for the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art. “We offer this art to present a more complete and informed view of African Americans as a people and reveal the dynamic nature, narratives, and impulses that constitute our full humanity.”
Founded in 2006, the Petrucci Family Foundation’s aims to support education and create opportunity for Americans at every stage of and station in life. Its collection of African-American art is a targeted initiative established to focus on, collect, conserve, and exhibit an inspiring range of works, thereby confirming African-American art’s essential place in the history and discourse of American art. The collection celebrates the beauty, compassion, strength, and persistent will within the culture of African Americans. “We want to collect master works that define humanity, that show characters in their full, most authentic human moments,” Boothe says.
Constructing Identity is accompanied by a catalog, an artist panel discussion and artist talks on February 11, and additional programs and community partnerships.
Organized by Portland Art Museum and guest curated by Berrisford Boothe, Professor of Art at Lehigh University.
Visit the museum page: http://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/constructing-identity/
Body and Soul: Selections from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art
William Paterson University Galleries
April 12 – May 15, 2015
Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts
300 Pompton Road, Wayne, NJ 07470
http://www.wpunj.edu/coac/gallery/
As We See It: Selected Works from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection
African American Museum in Philadelphia
February 5 – March 22, 2015
701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Identities: African-American Art from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection
January 23 – March 7, 2015
Schmucker Gallery – Gettysburg College
300 North Washington Street, Gettysburg, PA 17325
https://www.gettysburg.edu/gallery
