“POSING BEAUTY IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE”: A touring exhibition, opening January 29 at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, challenges contemporary understandings of beauty by framing notions of aesthetics, race, class, and gender within art, popular culture, and politics.
The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton will present a touring exhibition, “Posing Beauty in African American Culture,” opening January 29. The exhibition explores the contested ways in which African and African American beauty have been represented in historical and contemporary contexts. Throughout the Western history of art and image-making, the relationship between beauty and art has become increasingly complex within contemporary art and popular culture.
Presented in the State Museum’s main first floor gallery through May 22, the exhibition was organized by the Department of Photography and Imaging at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and curated by Deborah Willis, Ph.D., university professor and chair of the department.
“Posing Beauty in African American Culture” challenges contemporary understandings of beauty by framing notions of aesthetics, race, class, and gender within art, popular culture, and politics.
New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way said, “This important and visually stunning exhibition has been travelling the country, and we are so pleased to be able to present it to New Jerseyans and provide them with the opportunity to explore the ideas presented.”
Margaret O’Reilly, State Museum executive director and curator of fine art added, “This powerful exhibition explores the beauty and complexity of Black culture, while also discussing beauty as a political act. This will be our first new exhibition since the shutdown, and we know that visitors will find the topics both timely and thought-provoking. The photographers in the show are renowned and we are particularly pleased that three of the artists featured — Anthony Barboza, Gordon Parks, and Wendell A. White — are also represented in the State Museum’s Fine Art collection.”
Artists in the exhibit also include, among others, Carrie Mae Weems, Charles “Teenie” Harris, Sheila Pree Bright, Leonard Freed, Jamal Shabazz, Renee Cox, Edwin Rosskam, Hank Willis Thomas, Bruce Davidson, Mickalene Thomas, and Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe.
The New Jersey State Museum is located at 205 West State Street in Trenton and is open Tuesday through, Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. General admission is free, and donations to the New Jersey State Museum Foundation gratefully accepted. All visitors to the Museum over the age of 2 are required to wear face coverings over the nose and mouth. For more information, visit statemuseum.nj.gov.