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A Journey Towards Self-Definition: African American Artists in the Permanent Collection

On view through January 2, 2021

This exhibition brings together paintings, photographs, textiles, and sculpture by mainly self-taught African American artists from the museum’s permanent collection, spanning from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. Each work explores the artist’s experiences as a person of color in the United States: while many were inspired by simple moments of everyday life, others drew from transformative experiences including imprisonment or religious visions. These artists, many of whom were born or practiced in the South, operated outside of the mainstream art world as defined by New York galleries and museums. For many, there was no choice, as the majority of the artists in this exhibition grew up during segregation and were unable to access higher education. Instead, these artists created the space to discover their craft themselves, defining and asserting their own artistic identity and vision in the process.

Rotunda Projects: E.V. Day - Divas Ascending

On view through January 2, 2021

Artist E.V. Day has repurposed costumes from the New York City Opera archives to make Divas Ascending, a series of sculptures that transform familiar icons of women’s empowerment and entrapment into new objects that confound conventional readings of these clichés. Using tension to suspend, stretch, and shred garments and to create forms that the artist likens to futurist abstract paintings in three dimensions, Day has created work that transforms rigid symbols into a range of emotions: anxiety, ecstasy, liberation, and release. E.V. Day American, b. 1967 Manon – Ghost Angel, 2009 Costume of Manon from Massenet’s Manon made of tulle, silk, embroidery and lace worn by Beverly Sills from New York City Opera. Costume suspended with monofilament and stainless steel hardware on steel armature. ©2009, all rights reserved E.V. Day

Drawing Memory: Essence of Memphis

Currently on view

Victor Ekpuk, a Nigerian American artist, painted a mural for the new African art galleries in March 2017. His art is inspired by nsibidi, a sacred means of communication among male secret societies in southeastern Nigeria.

Carroll Cloar Gallery

Currently on view

In honor of Carroll Cloar and to commemorate the museum’s hundredth anniversary, the Brooks Museum created a gallery dedicated to his art.

Arts of Global Africa

Currently on view

The arts of Africa are as varied as the continent itself, which encompasses over fifty independent countries and thousands of languages. This diversity is reflected in the exceptional works of art on view, most of which are on long-term loan from the Newark Museum’s extensive African art collection. Bringing together historic and contemporary works in a range of different media, the selection of works presents an expansive vision of Africa’s artistry.