Black Art Ancestral Legacy

Group show at Dallas Museum of Art. 1989 - 1990
Date: 3 December, 1989 until 25 February, 1990

Black Art Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in African-American Art was a major exhibition originated by Dallas Museum of Art in 1989. This exhibition was the first time that a major exhibition examined the impact of African culture on Black artists, from a variety of countries and backgrounds, some formally trained, others self-taught. The exhibition comprised some 157 works and was accompanied by this substantial, copiously illustrated catalogue which contained 49 biographical outlines; 320 illustrations, 170 in colour.

The 49 artists in the exhibition were, Xenobia Bailey, Richmond Barthé, Rigaud Benoit, Gabriel Bien-Aime, John Biggers, Edgar Brierre, Murat Brierre, Everald Brown, Houston Conwill, Aaron Douglas, William Edmondson, Minnie Evans, Amos Ferguson, Bessie Harvey, Mr. Imagination, Malvin Gray Johnson, Sargent Claude Johnson, Ben Jones, Loïs Mailou Jones, William “Woody” Joseph, Kofi Kayiga, Jean Lacy, John Landry, Sr.,Georges Liautaud, Ed Love, Vusumuzi Maduna, David Miller, Jr., David Miller, Sr., Ademola Olugebefola, James Phillips, David Philpot, Anderson Pigatt, Daniel Pressley, Nancy Prophet, Leon Renfro, Earl (Earle) Richardson, Sultan Rogers, Robert St. Brice, Bert Samples, Charles Searles, George Smith, Renee Stout, Matthew Thomas, Bill Traylor, Osmond Watson, Willard “The Texas Kid” Watson, Derek Webster, Hale Woodruff, and Roosevelt (Rip) Woods, Jr.

The bulk of artists in the exhibition were African American, but a number of the artists were also from Caribbean countries such as Haiti and Jamaica.

The exhibition’s itinerary was, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, 3 December 1989 - 25 February 1990; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 22 May - 5 August 1990; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 14 September - 18 November 1990; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, 28 January 1991 - 24 March 1991.