Student Curatorial Project: African-American artists in UMMA's collection
The University of Michigan Museum of Art has recently drafted policies aimed at increasing representation of artists of color both in the museum's collection and on display in the galleries for visitors to view. The collection as a whole contains around 24,000 objects, and the museum displays about 2500 objects at a time.
You can help UMMA identify works already in our collection that should get time on display. Your task for this project is to pick three of the works in this resource that you would like to see on display and explain why. Some of the art that you see in this resource have been displayed at the museum. Others haven't.
Follow these steps:
1) Look through the artworks and pick out about 5 that you like and find interesting. The most important thing for this step is that you pick art that you like or find interesting or engaging.
2) Do some research on the internet about the artists and the artwork. Wikipedia is a good place to start.
3) Narrow down to the three that you would most like to have displayed at the museum. This is important: Pick three that work good together, not just on their own.
4) Put the images side by side in a table in a google document like this so we can all see them side by side. Even better, put them in a slideshow or powerpoint to make the display look nice.
5) Prepare a 5-minute presentation for the class about your choices. Be sure to take some time to talk about how the three artworks go together well or work well together to say something that they cannot do on their own.
Jacob Lawrence
Champions
tempera over black colored pencil on wood board
19 13/16 in x 24 in (50.32 cm x 60.96 cm);18 1/8 in x 9 3/8 in (46.04 cm x 23.81 cm)
Gift of Dr. James and Vivian Curtis
Beauford Delaney
Street Scene
oil on canvas
18 in x 22 in (45.72 cm x 55.88 cm);23 1/2 in x 27 1/2 in (59.69 cm x 69.85 cm)
Gift of Dr. James and Vivian Curtis
Romare Bearden
Now the Dove and the Leopard Wrestle
oil on canvas
23 1/2 in x 29 1/4 in (59.69 cm x 74.3 cm);32 in x 38 in x 2 1/2 in (81.28 cm x 96.52 cm x 6.35 cm)
Transfer from the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, gift of Clarence Wolf, February 1997
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Thousands of dollars
graphite on paper
24 in x 18 in (60.96 cm x 45.72 cm)
Gift of Arthur Cohen in honor of Ben and Yetta Cohen
Sargent Claude Johnson
Lenox Avenue
lithograph on paper
12 ½ in x 8 9/16 in (31.75 cm x 21.75 cm)
Allocated by the U.S. Government
Commissioned through the New Deal art projects
Miguel Covarrubias
Afro-Cuban Dancers and Percussionists
lithograph on paper
9 1/4 in x 13 1/2 in (23.5 cm x 34.29 cm);11 15/16 in x 16 1/16 in (30.32 cm x 40.8 cm);22 1/16 in x 28 1/8 in (56.04 cm x 71.44 cm)
Museum Purchase
Shani Peters
Nzinga Future
ink on paper
36 1/4 in x 24 in (92.07 cm x 60.96 cm)
Transfer from the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan
Don Camp
Man Who Writes/John Wideman
earth pigment and casein monoprint on paper
30 in. x 22 in. ( 76.2 cm x 55.9 cm )
Gift of Suzan and Michael Alexander in memory of Scott M. Ziobro
Benny Andrews
Homecoming Queen
mixed media and watercolor on paper
22 13/16 in x 18 1/4 in x 13/16 in (58 cm x 46.4 cm x 2 cm);22 13/16 in x 18 1/4 in x 13/16 in (58 cm x 46.4 cm x 2 cm)
Gift of Romesh and Veena Saigal
Glenn Ligon
Untitled
etching, aquatint, spitbite, and sugarlift on Rives BFK paper
25 in x 17 1/4 in (63.5 cm x 43.82 cm);32 3/16 in x 26 3/16 in (81.76 cm x 66.52 cm)
Museum Purchase
Kara Walker
One of five prints from the suite "The Means to an End--A Shadow Drama in Five Acts"
aquatint and etching on light cream Somerset Satin wove paper
34 7/8 x 23 3/8 in. (88.5 x 59.3 cm);40 x 28 x 1 in. (101.6 x 71.12 x 2.54 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by the Jean Paul Slusser Memorial Fund
Betye Saar
Colored
mixed media assemblage with photographs, paper, and thread on wood
14 ½ in x 30 in x 1 ½ in (36.83 cm x 76.2 cm x 3.81 cm);10 in x 5 in x ½ in (25.4 cm x 12.7 cm x 1.27 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by Dr. James and Vivian Curtis and the W. Hawkins Ferry Fund