Ashley Explores The Arts

To anybody reading my blog, I wanted to share this letter that I sent to the curator at the Georgia Museum of Art. I wrote this letter because in my art class we have been discussing artists that are left out of the art world. We were told to pick an institute close to us and write them a letter on something their art institute could improve on. I chose the art museum in Georgia because as I mention in the letter, I was born there and hope to go back some day. I also chose it because this is a museum in the south where civil rights were born and slavery was a huge issue and looking at the museum, I think they should have more art that represents not only the history of the state, but the whole south. Currently, this museum does not do a good job at representing people of color or the history of the south, so I want something to be done.  I want everybody to be able to read this letter and see that they can do the same. If more than one person reaches out to places like these and state things that museums need to do better at representing, things might actually change. Look at everything in the world that has already changed because more than one person spoke up. I hope by reading this letter it inspires you to reach out and maybe make a change.

Hello!

My name is Ashley Duncan and I am writing to you on behalf of my modern art history class. Throughout the semester of this class we have been discussing the absence of certain artists in art history. Artists such as females or people of color. Specifically, why I am writing is because of an assignment we have to do. We had to choose an art institute close to us and find something they were missing/could improve upon. I chose the Georgia Museum of Art because I was actually born in Georgia and now currently live in Iowa.

As I examined your art institute online, I noticed something that was missing from a lot of the museum and that was people of color. Or more specifically, artists of color. It seems that a lot of the museum’s artwork comes from collections instead of exhibitions of certain artists. Collections are nice to have because then the museum can get an array of different artists, but they also give the majority of the credit to the person who donated the collection then. The artists a part of the collection doesn’t get as much credit or maybe they do. I am not really sure how most people view collections because we have mainly discussed exhibitions in my art class.

Anyways, the biggest factor that I wanted to bring to your attention and yours specifically, is the amount of African American art you have. On the museums website it says you are the African American exhibitions curator and I wanted to suggest some ideas for more African American art or artists displayed. I noticed between the years of 2014 and 2019 there were a few exhibitions for African American artists, such as Stoney the Road We Trod, Muse: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-à-tête, and The Crossroads of Memory. Since then, it seems that these types of exhibitions have dwindled. It is understandable due to COVID, making everything more difficult and I know there is a new exhibition for Carrie Mae Weems coming up in 2022, but I wanted to offer some other artists that could be put in the museum.

First, I want to offer you this link, https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/black-history-month-10-artists-you-should-know/. It takes you to a page of ten different African American artists. The majority of them are alive, some of them are not. A few of these artists would be Jean-Michel Basquiat, he was a part of the Neo-Expressionism art movement and Contemporary art. He did a lot of graffiti styled art and even worked with Andy Warhol at one point. He did sadly pass away at the age of 27. Another artist is Kara Walker, age 51, and she is a part of the Contemporary art movement. Walker was born in Stockton, California and currently resides in Georgia, actually. Her father took a position at Georgia State University, which is different from the University of Georgia I believe. She earned her BFA at the Atlanta College of Art and her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Her artwork is based around a lot of the American civil war era and around slavery. A lot of her work is actually violent and unsettling black silhouettes cut out and put on a white wall; usually representing slavery and racism. Walked created these artworks because her time in school, she struggled with racism. People called her slurs and said she resembled certain animals.

Today, I know she has a few exhibits at the Tate Modern in London. I don’t know if you guys can contact that museum and see if she has any traveling exhibitions that you guys could rent? Another artist could be Lorna Simpson, age 60, and she is part of the Contemporary art movement as well. Her art is based around African American females’ identities and I think that could go well with a lot of the Black Lives Matter movements going on. Somebody else who could be a good representation for Black Lives Matter would be Glenn Ligon, age 61, who is also a Contemporary artist. His artwork is creating powerful messages through paintings about race and sexual identities.

There are a few photographers who you could possibly add as well. They would be Earlie Hudnall, age 75, and Roland L. Freeman, age 84. Earlie was a part of the Harlem Renaissance and Civil rights eras. While Freeman is a photographer of Southern Folk culture and African American quilters. Elizabeth Catlett is another artist who was a part of the Harlem Renaissance art movement. She passed away at the age of 97, living quite the life by sculpting and using graphic art to depict the life of African Americans. The last artist I saved that you could possibly add in would be Alma Thomas, passed away at the age of 86. She was a part of the Abstract Expressionism art movement and created most of her work in her eighties after she retired.

These are only a few suggestions I have. A lot of the artists I mentioned are females as well, which could also help the museum because not a lot of female artists are represented. According to Hyperallergic, the highest percent of female artists in museum is only 24% and I think your museum actually does a great job with representing women artists. I was surprised with the number of artworks that filled the museum were by women. Counting the artworks made by female artists out of the 20 exhibitions online on your website, 40% of artworks are made by female artists, but white female artists. Out of the 20 exhibitions there was 55% of artworks created by African American males. Counting the exhibitions, I found zero created by African American females. Which was actually really disappointing. I know there are two exhibitions coming up for African American females, but for the fact right now, that is sad. I just feel like more could be done to represent not only African Americans, but also African American women.

I want you to try and add more people of color to your museum because according to Hyperallergic again, 85% of works in museums are done by white artists and only 1.2% is done by African American artists. With our day and age and all the new artists we have, I want to see that changed.

To me, I am not a person of color, but seeing people of color represented means a lot to me. Especially in these times with Black Lives Matter and the voting issues Georgia is having, I feel like African American people need to be represented more than ever. They have always been pushed aside, look at the history of America, we are god awful at representing anybody who isn’t a white male. I do not know how much control you have over getting these artists, but I want your museum to be different than the others. I want it to stand out and show how much they want to stand out against from just representing white male artists from Europe. I wish you well and I hope my suggestions have offered you some ideas into new things you could try for the museum.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this. I hope none of it comes off as insensitive or anything. I just really care about art and I want to see a change in the world where everybody is represented and not just rich, white men. Again, thank you.

Endnotes

Bishara, Hakim. “Artists in 18 Major US Museums Are 85% White and 87% Male, Study Says.” Hyperallergic, 3 June 2019, hyperallergic.com/501999/artists-in-18-major-us-museums-are-85-white-and-87-male-study-says/.

Ellis, Nicquel Terry. “Art so White: Black Artists Want Representation (beyond Slavery) in the Met, National Gallery.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 8 May 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/05/black-artists-african-american-art-museums-galleries-collections-painting/3483422002/.

“Home.” Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia, University of Georgia , 26 Apr. 2021, georgiamuseum.org/.

Jackson, Amari. “Approaching the Table: The Rich and Strange Plight of African American Representation within Major Museums.” BLACK ART IN AMERICA™, 27 Aug. 2020, www.blackartinamerica.com/index.php/2020/08/27/approaching-the-table-the-rich-and-strange-plight-of-african-american-representation-within-major-museums/.

Roussel, Marie-Caroline. “Black History Month: 10 Artists You Should Know.” Artsper Magazine, 21 Apr. 2020, blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/black-history-month-10-artists-you-should-know/.

Sam Phillips, …isms: Understanding Modern Art. (New York: Universe, 2013).

Art Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, ed. Charles Harrison and Paul Wood (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003).