Recent acquisitions at Delaware Art Museum play into a major traveling exhibition.
“There is a Woman in Every Color: Black Women in Art” examines the diverse styles and approaches of Black women over the past two centuries - and the depth of their presence in American art history.
The exhibition was organized by the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and curated by art historian Elizabeth Humphrey.
Delaware Art Museum Curator of American Art Heather Campbell Coyle says Humphrey’s path to building the original exhibition was personal.
"She was really interested in the rarity of representation of black women in art, of women that looked like her, in the museum, on the campus where she had done her undergraduate work, a campus that has more and more young black women attending. So, for her, it was about looking through, finding the representation, and creating an exhibition that showcased those works,” she said.
Campbell Coyle explains the museum has been acquiring works recently, especially in the last ten years, and Humphrey worked with the Delaware Art Museum to add more works to the Wilmington show.
"Being able to have someone go through and pull out some of those earlier works, like a Faith Ringold we acquired around 2000, work by Joyce Scott, and being able to look at those, but then also look at this cluster of works that we’ve acquired in recent years,” she said.
There is a Woman in Every Color: Black Women in Art runs through Sunday, May 26 at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
