Introducing The Arc of the Spelman College Collection

For more than eighty years, Spelman College has cultivated an impressive collection of artworks from across the African Diaspora through the generosity of the extended Spelman community.


The Arc of the Spelman College Collection looks at four pivotal moments in the collecting history of the College: its early collecting efforts and the AUC Coordinated Art Program, the move to emphasize works by Black women artists, the Museum’s founding in 1996, and its ascent as a world-class institution.

The Atlanta University Center (AUC) Coordinated Art Program offered an enhanced and diverse arts curriculum to students matriculating across the AUC. The Program's artist residency was spearheaded by Hans Bhalla, an alumnus of Talladega College who served as chair of the Spelman College Department of Art from 1967 to 1979. The College acquired works by artists including James Adair, Edna Manley, and Floyd Coleman — in addition to the aforementioned artists-in-residence — during this period.

In 1983, Donald Stewart, the sixth president of Spelman College, raised funds to purchase several contemporary works by Black women artists, positioning the College as an institution where objects made by and about women of the African Diaspora would be exhibited and regularly discussed. The College acquired works by artists including Emma Amos, Betty Blayton-Taylor, Elizabeth Catlett, Laurie Ourlicht, Lucille Malkia Roberts, Stephanie Pogue, Betye Saar, and Claudia Widdis at this time.

Faculty from the College's Department of Art played an instrumental role in the Museum’s initial planning and helped establish its trajectory. Curated by former associate professor of art history Jontyle Theresa Robinson, Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Artists opened as the inaugural exhibition at the Spelman Museum of Fine Arts in 1996 before going on to tour nationally.

Bearing Witness included works by artists such as Beverly Buchanan, Elizabeth Catlett, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others, fundamentally informing the Museum’s focused emphasis on Black women artists. The exhibition publication includes contributions by Robinson, M. Akua McDaniel, and Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies Beverly Guy-Sheftall, as well as celebrated writers such as Pearl Cleage and Maya Angelou.

Since its establishment, works from the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art have been featured in local, national, and international exhibitions. A selection of recent acquisitions and gifts marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Museum in 2021 are featured in Collection Forecast. Significant works by artists including Lina Iris Viktor and the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers epitomize the Museum’s mission to expose audiences to artworks by and about women of the African Diaspora.

The Arc of the Collection commemorates a community of artists, alumnae, professionals, and supporters of Spelman College. Interwoven within this exhibition are the efforts, spirits, and voices that have helped to shape the Spelman College Collection and supported the Museum in its first twenty-five years.