Treasures from the Amistad Collection

Ogden Museum of Southern Art

University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA

504-539-9600

http://www.ogdenmuseum.org

Treasures from the Amistad Collection

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is winding down its stay on Julia Street with an outstanding schedule of upcoming exhibitions. Beginning on White Linen Night, the introductory gallery will exhibit Treasures from the Amistad Collection. The selections were made from the Amistad Research Center's collection of nearly 500 works by African American masters of the 19th and 20th centuries, many of which have yet to be seen in New Orleans. The exhibition will run through September 29, 2001 at 603 Julia Street.

The Amistad Research Center on Tulane University's campus is one of the nation's leading repositories specializing in the history of African Americans. The works on loan for this exhibition represent a fraction of the center's prominent collection of African and African American art. A collaborative show, jointly curated by David Houston, Chief Curator of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd, Director and Curator of Visual Arts at the Amistad Research Center, Treasures includes paintings, drawings and sculpture by such well-known African American artists as William Artis, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Richard Barthe, Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Ellis Wilson and Hale Woodruff. (left: William H. Johnson (1901-1970), Temptation of Christ, ca. 1945)

Numerous works in the collection belong to the generation of artists who were productive both during and immediately after the Harlem Renaissance. Many of the artists who were part of that cultural movement in New York in the 1920s were born in the American South, and therefore reflect the Ogden Museum's commitment to Southern art and artists.

"The Amistad Collection is a very important local resource that has yet to be properly seen or studied in New Orleans. The Ogden Museum is honored to bring these works to the Warehouse Arts District. As a museum dedicated to the art and culture of the South, part of our on-going mission will be to work with the diverse cultural institutions in the city to celebrate our unique treasures and rich heritage," says Dr. Rick Gruber, Director of the Ogden Museum. He continues that, "it is our hope to build an on-going relationship with the Amistad Research Center as we get closer to opening our permanent museum on Lee Circle next year.

Mora Beauchamp-Byrd concurs, "We were delighted to work with the Ogden Museum on this exhibition to reach new audiences in the city and beyond. We look forward to collaborating on future projects as well." Founded in 1966, the Amistad Research Center is the largest independent archives specializing in the history of African Americans and the study of ethnic history, culture and race relations in the United States. The center houses more than 10 million primary documents, 250,000 photographs, 400 video and audio tapes, and more than 20,000 books relating to African Americans and other ethnic groups throughout the Americas.

Read more about the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in Resource Library Magazine

For further biographical information on selected artists cited above please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

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This page was originally published in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information. rev. 6/7/11

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