Current
Current
Ken Ramsay, "Susan Taylor, as Model," c. 1970s, gelatin silver print; Courtesy Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions, Pasadena, CA.
January 15 – March 3, 2013
Posing Beauty in African American Culture
Sussel Gallery and Burton D. Morgan Gallery
Posing Beauty was curated by Deborah Willis and organized by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions, Pasadena, CA. This exhibition is presented at Wooster in collaboration with the College's Center for Diversity and Global Engagement and the Office of the President.
CWAM Events
- Lunchtime Gallery Walk
Wednesday, February 6, 12:00–1:00 p.m.
Presentations by Student Research Contributors, Abiose Spriggs '12
and Emily Timmerman '13
- Curator’s Lecture
Monday, February 11, 7:00–8:00 p.m.
Ebert Art Center, Rm. 223
Deborah Willis, Posing Beauty Curator
- Music in the Galleries
Thursday, February 28, 7:00–8:00 p.m.
d.scott + the beautiful quartet
CDGE Events
- Students Speak to Beauty
February 11, 2013
This student-generated digital forum, organized by the Center for Diversity and Global Engagement (CDGE), will play on multiple screens across campus.
- Postcard Conversation on Beauty
- Instruments of Beauty
January 28-February 11, 2013
Art Wall, Lowry Center
For other CDGE associated events please visit their website.
About Posing Beauty
Posing Beauty explores the ways in which African and African American beauty has been represented in historical and contemporary contexts through a diverse range of media including photography, video, fashion, and advertising.
Throughout the history of Western art and image-making, beauty has been idealized and challenged, and the relationship between beauty and art has become increasingly complex within contemporary art and popular culture. This exhibit challenges the relationship between beauty and art by examining the representation of beauty and different attitudes about aesthetics.
The first of three conceptual themes, Constructing a Pose, considers the interplay between the historical and the contemporary, between self-representation and imposed representation, and the relationship between subject and photographer. The second theme, Body & Image, questions the ways in which our contemporary understanding of beauty has been constructed and framed through the body. The final theme, Modeling Beauty & Beauty Contests, invites us to reflect upon the ambiguities of beauty, its impact on mass culture and individuals, and how the display of beauty affects the ways in which we see and interpret the world and ourselves. Posing Beauty in African American Culture also explores contemporary understandings of beauty by framing the notion of aesthetics, race, class, and gender within art, popular culture, and political contexts.
Artists and photographers in the exhibition include: Ifetayo Abdus-Salam, Henry Clay Anderson, Eve Arnold, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Thomas Askew, Anthony Barboza, Petrushka Bazin, Sheila Pree Bright, Renee Cox, Edward Curtis, Bruce Davidson, Lola Flash, Leonard Freed, Lee Friedlander, Todd Gray, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Alex Harsley, Charles “Teenie” Harris, Lyle Ashton Harris, Dave Heath, LeRoy Henderson, Jessica Ingram, Lauren Kelley, Russell Lee, Builder Levy, Philippe Levy-Stab, Elaine Mayes, John W. Mosley, Robert McNeill, David Oggi Ogburn, Ken Ramsay, Bayeté Ross Smith, Edwin Rosskam, Jeffrey Scales, Robert Sengstacke, Jamel Shabazz, Stephen Shames, Mickalene Thomas, Lewis Watts, Carrie Mae Weems, Wendel White, Carla Williams, Hank Willis Thomas, Theodore Fonville Winans, Garry Winogrand, Ernest Withers, and lauren woods.
Acknowledgements
Posing Beauty in African American Culture is presented at The College of Wooster Art Museum (CWAM) in collaboration with the College's Center for Diversity and Global Engagement (CDGE) and the Office of the President. The Muriel Kozlow Endowed Fund and the Cultural Events Committee provided additional support. I would like to thank President Grant Cornwell and the CDGE’s director, Nancy Grace, for their support in bringing not only the exhibition, but also its curator, Deborah Willis, to Wooster. We are also most grateful to Deborah Willis for her vision and sustained research on the history of black photographers and the portrayal of African Americans in photography and media.
Other collaborators on this project include student researchers in the Fall 2012 Museum Studies class taught by Jay Gates, who contributed thoughtful essays to the exhibition (with the gracious permission of the curator); faculty listed above who energetically agreed to be part of the Roundtable; and d.scott (Darius Dixon '13) + the beautiful quartet. My deepest appreciation goes to all of you for sharing your scholarship and being such great collaborators. Additionally, the CWAM museum staff did their usual superlative jobs on this exhibition—Rose Seling, CWAM Administrative Coordinator, keeps the administrative side of the museum running smoothly (with a good dose of humor), and Doug McGlumphy, CWAM Preparator, once again responded to the materials at hand and produced an installation that more than does justice to both the artist’s work and the curatorial concepts.
Finally, and most importantly, we thank the artists themselves for their vision and voice. From Fonville Winan’s evocative 1938 photograph of two “Dixie Belles” in Central Louisiana to Carrie Mae Weems pithy and pointed I Looked and Looked to See What so Terrified You to the mural-esque piece by Hank Willis Thomas comprised of Jet magazine pinups, these artists document, question, and challenge who frames the discourse about beauty in African American culture.
Kitty McManus Zurko, Director/Curator
The College of Wooster Art Museum