Solidary and Solitary: The Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Collection

The Nasher Museum presents a major nationwide touring exhibition that offers a new perspective on the critical contribution that artists of African descent have made to the evolution of abstract art from 1940s to the present. Solidary and Solitary: The Pamela J Joyner and Alfred J Giuffrida Collection is the first large-scale public exhibition to bring together a lineage of visionary black artists. The exhibition begins in the mid-20th century with Abstract Expressionist Norman Lewis and traces a line to some of today’s most celebrated artists, including Theaster Gates and Lorna Simpson, as well as Mark Bradford, who represents the United States at the Venice Biennale 2017.

Solidary & Solitary draws on the Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Collection, which started in 1999 with a focus on abstract work by post-war and contemporary African-American artists, from 1945 to the present. In recent years, the collection’s focus has expanded to include artists from Africa and the global African diaspora.

Solidary & Solitary opens at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans (September 30, 2017 – January 21, 2018) and will travel to the Nasher Museum (February 15 – July 15, 2018), the Snite Museum of Art at Notre Dame University (August 20 – November 25, 2018) and the Baltimore Museum of Art (March – July 2019).