Introducing The Arc of the Spelman College Collection
For more than eighty years, Spelman College has shaped an impressive collection of artworks from the African Diaspora. "The Arc of the Spelman College Collection" traces the history of the Collection and its ongoing growth as the Museum celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary.
By Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
"Showcase & Tell: Highlights from the Spelman College Collection" at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, 2009. Installation view.
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
During the 1960s and 70s, the AUC Coordinated Art Program expanded the arts offerings across the Atlanta University Center. The Program also hosted numerous notable artists-in-residence, including Benny Andrews, Herman “Kofi” Bailey, Sam Gilliam, and Barrington Watson.
Barrington Watson (Jamaican, 1931 – 2016), Baby Mothers, ca. 1970, Oil on canvas, 68½ x 58½ inches, Spelman College Purchase, 1972.44 (1970) by Barrington WatsonSpelman College Museum of Fine Art
Explore an Artwork by Artist-in-Residence Barrington Watson
Watson was a master painter known for portraying Jamaican culture and life. He is one of the leading artists of the post-Independence period in Jamaica. Considered an academic realist, he explores a wide range of themes and genres in his paintings.
Watson's artwork prioritizes storytelling. Take a closer look at the multiple ways abundance, growth, and vitality are depicted in this work. Notice the highly saturated colors and how the composition emphasizes the female figures' physical presence and role as caretakers.
Through his choice of subjects, use of colors, and depictions of body language, Watson shares the history, culture, and ways of Jamaican life. He frequently painted casual scenes of mothers and children or women working together: talking, laughing, and dancing.
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.
Foregrounding Black Women Artists
The 1983 acquisition of works by Black women artists honored a call on campus for greater representation of Black women in leadership at Spelman. Professor emerita Jenelsie Walden Holloway, C'41, led efforts for the acquisitions as chair of the Spelman College Department of Art.
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.
"Building a More Stately Mission"
Inspired by the stewardship of Spelman College’s seventh president, Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, leaders including Dr. M. Akua McDaniel, Dr. Jontyle Robinson, and Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee worked to establish the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art as a world-class institution.
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art was established in 1996 with a mission to foreground art by and about women of the African Diaspora.
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.
Collection Forecast
Collection Forecast acknowledges a significant moment in the history of curatorial practices and Collection acquisitions at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art: respecting the past, remaining mindful of the present, and looking toward the future.
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.
We Are The Night – The Keepers of Light (2015/2019) by Lina Iris ViktorSpelman College Museum of Fine Art
Enter the World of Lina Iris Viktor
In works combining painting, performance, and photography, Liberian-British artist Lina Iris Viktor creates distinctively fantastical artworks based on photographs that are then painted over and gilded, oftentimes featuring the artist, as shown here.
Black and Gold
In Viktor's work, Blackness functions not as a void but rather as a rich source of life, self-knowledge, and affirmation. Similarly, the artist's use of 24-karat gold leaf raises questions about how Black women are valued (or undervalued) in society.
Viktor was included in the exhibition AFRICA FORECAST: Fashioning Contemporary Life at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 2016. This original exhibition was curated by Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, PhD, and Erika Dalya Massaquoi, PhD.
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.
The Arc of the Spelman College Collection is made possible by the generosity of the Friends of the Museum, the Benny Andrews Estate and Foundation and UNCF, the Estate of Selma Burke, Lucinda and Robert Bunnen, Dorothy Gilliam, the Wish Foundation, Inc., Drs. Sivan and Jeffery Hines, Mrs. Ruth Shack, the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, and Elynor A. Williams, C'66.
