She also shifted a few things to work within the spaces of the Beck Building’s American galleries but hewed as much as possible to Whitley and Godfrey’s vision. MFAH assistant curator Kanitra Fletcher has added a section devoted to Black art produced in Houston during the period.

in the 1960s and ’70s.Ĭurated by Zoe Whitley and Mark Godfrey for Tate Modern in London, “Soul of a Nation” covers about 20 years of art history, from the 1960s to the early 1980s, that took place across the U.S., primarily in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Still, I wondered if the show was attempting too much by presenting such a broad constellation of artist collectives, individual artists and more nebulous thematic ideas about what it meant to be a Black artist in the U.S. The largest pieces were not yet hung, wall text wasn’t up, lights weren’t set. The first time I walked through “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the installation was still in progress. So much time to make up, so many artists to acknowledge. Photo: Tilton Gallery, New York / Tilton Gallery, New York It will also explore the art historical and social contexts with subjects including black feminism AfriCOBRA and other artist-run groups the role of museums in the debates of the period and where visual art sat in relation to the Black Arts Movement.David Hammons' 'Black First, America Second,' a bodyprint and screenprint on paper from 1970, is among works on view in 'Soul of a Nation:Art in the Age of Black Power' at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston April 26-July 19. This book features substantial essays from co-curators Mark Godfrey and Zoe Whitley, writing on abstraction and figuration respectively. How could they make art that would stand as innovative, original, formally and materially complex, while also making work that reflected their concerns and experience as black Americans? This significant new publication, accompanying an exhibition at Tate Modern, surveys this crucial period in American art history, bringing to light previously neglected histories of twentieth-century black artists, including Sam Gilliam, Melvin Edwards, Jack Whitten, William T. In the period of radical change that was 1963-1983, young black artists at the beginning of their careers in the USA confronted key questions and pressures.

Soul of a Nation by Mark Godfrey