One of the more interesting examples of institutional self-examination has emerged out of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “Among Others: Blackness at MoMA” by Darby English and Charlotte Barat chronicles the ways in which the Museum of Modern Art has engaged Black artists throughout its history. English and Barat say it’s telling that other Black artists’ works that engaged themes of Black modernity were available, including a portrait of Booker T. Washington, but the museum chose not to show them. The next year, MoMA devoted its galleries exclusively to the work of Black artists. “African Negro Art,” which displayed hundreds of objects primarily drawn from West and Central Africa, was an important step in displaying African art as art not ethnography.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 22, 2020 11:03 UTC