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New York Historical Society

New York, New York, USA, United States of America
Official website: New York Historical Society

Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery was an exhibition that took place at New York Historical Society, June 16, 2006 - January 7, 2007. The exhibition brought together examples of work by artists such as Faith Ringgold, Carrie Mae Weems, Fred Wilson, Whitfield Lovell, Mel Edwards, Lorenzo Pace, Betye Saar, Marc Latamie, and Willie Birch.

From the preface to the exhibition’s catalogue, by Louise Mirrer, President and CEO, and Linda S. Ferber, Vice President and Museum Director, New York Historical Society: “We are proud to present Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery, the largest and most important exhibition organized to date on this timely and significant topic. The project is inspired by the New-York Historical Society’s pair of groundbreaking exhbitions that investigate the history of slavery in New York. The aclaimed Slavery in New York drew record attendance during its recent run; Civil Wars: New York and Slavery 1815 - 1870 promises to be a landmark presentation as well. Legacies brings into the present the issues raised in these two exhibions by demonstrating how a generation of eminent contemporary artists has contemplated the way in which the history of racially-based slavery has shaped our society.”

The exhibition presented a fascinating and compelling range of works, though the artists tended to come from African-American or African Diaporan backgrounds, suggesting that it was such artists alone who were able to make cogent work reflecting on various aspects of slavery, the slave trade and the legacies thereof.

Related items

click to show details of Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery

»  Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery

Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 2006

Exhibitions at this venue

People who have appeared at this venue - view 5

»  Fatima Allotey

Born, 1981

»  Malcolm Bailey

Born, 1947

»  Willie Birch

Born, 1942 in New Orleans

»  Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons

Born, 1959 in Matanzas, Cuba

»  Barbara Chase-Riboud

Born, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

»  Renée Cox

Born, 1960 in Colgate, Jamaica

»  Leonardo Drew

Born, 1961

»  Ellen Driscoll

Born, 1953

»  Melvin Edwards

Born, 1937 in Houston, Texas, USA

»  David Hammons

Born, 1943 in USA

»  Eli Kince

Born, 1953

»  Leslie King-Hammond

Born, 1944

»  Marc Latamie

Born, 1952 in Fort-de-France, Martinique

»  Joseph Lewis, III

Born, 1953 in New York

»  Glenn Ligon

Born, 1960 in New York

»  Whitfield Lovell

Born, 1959 in New York City, New York, USA

»  José J. Mapily

Born, 1941

»  Kerry James Marshall

Born, 1955 in Birmingham, Alabama

»  Bradley McCallum

Born, 1966

»  Algernon Miller

Born, 1945 in New York, USA

»  Lorenzo Pace

Born, 1943

»  Faith Ringgold

Born, 1930 in Harlem, New York

»  Betye Saar

Born, 1923 - 1929 (probably 1926) in Los Angeles, California

»  Joyce J. Scott

Born, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland

»  Lorna Simpson

Born, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, USA

»  Cedric Smith

Born, 1970

»  Jeff Sonhouse

Born, 1968

»  Jacqueline Tarry

Born, 1963

»  Kara Walker

Born, 1969 in Stockton, California

»  Carrie Mae Weems

Born, 1953 in Portland, Oregon

»  Fred Wilson (b. 1954)

Born, 1954