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Afro-Atlantic Histories

Past Exhibition

April 10 – July 17, 2022
West Building, Main Floor, Galleries 72–79

For centuries, artists have told and retold the complex histories of the African Diaspora. Explore this enduring legacy in the exhibition Afro-Atlantic Histories, which takes an in-depth look at the historical experiences and cultural formations of Black and African people since the 17th century. More than 130 powerful works of art, including paintings, sculpture, photographs, and time-based media by artists from Africa, Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean, bring these narratives to life.

This exhibition was initially presented as Histórias Afro-Atlânticas in 2018 by the Museu de Arte de São Paulo and the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in Brazil.

Audio Tour

Hear the artists tell their stories.

Listen to artists, curators, and scholars discuss works from the exhibition and the enduring legacy of the African Diaspora.

Listen to the audio guide

Video

Two-Minute Tour

Join exhibition curators Kanitra Fletcher, Steven Nelson and Molly Donovan on a two-minute tour of Afro-Atlantic Histories.

Watch the video

Selected Works

Afro-Atlantic Histories

Zanele Muholi, Ntozakhe II, (Parktown), 2016, photographic wall mural from digital files, sheet: 355.6 x 254 cm (140 x 100 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2021.88.1, © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson, New York, and Stevenson Cape Town/Johannesburg
Afro-Atlantic Histories

David C. Driskell, Current Forms: Yoruba Circle, 1969, acrylic on canvas, overall: 112.4 x 86.36 cm (44 1/4 x 34 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington, Purchased with support from the Ford Foundation, Estate of David C. Driskell. Courtesy DC Moore Gallery, NY
Afro-Atlantic Histories

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Eko Skyscraper, 2019, acrylic and colored pencil on panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Purchased with support from the Ford Foundation, © Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner
Afro-Atlantic Histories

Dalton Paula, Zeferina, 2018, oil on canvas, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand–MASP, Gift of the artist in the context of the Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibition, 2018, MASP.10808. © Dalton Paula
Afro-Atlantic Histories

Aaron Douglas, Into Bondage, 1936, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Museum purchase and partial gift from Thurlow Evans Tibbs, Jr., The Evans-Tibbs Collection), 2014.79.17. © 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Afro-Atlantic Histories

Samuel Fosso, Self-Portrait (as Liberated American Woman of the ’70s), 1997, printed 2003, chromogenic print, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Nina and Michael Zilkha, 2004.809. © Samuel Fosso, Courtesy Jean Marc Patras Galerie, Paris
A man and a woman with black skin stand in a sage and olive-green boat that comes toward us on a wavy, dripping band of cobalt blue that spans the lower edge of this loosely hanging, square canvas. The word “WANDERER” is written in white capital letters along the bow of the boat. Closer to us, in the boat, a woman is seen from the hips up. An oval, cloud-like form covers her torso, shoulders, and the area behind her head. It is white with rose-pink swirls, and has a few black lines creating scallops around the edge. A black shape at her waist, just over a cobalt-blue skirt, could indicate that at least one arm is bent behind her back. The penis, thighs, and knees of a man are seen between the boat and the triangular, pale lilac-purple sail. The sail is painted with long, curling strokes of violet purple up its center. A long, white pennant with two gold stars flutters from the boat’s burgundy-red mast, which has a crosspiece just below the pennant. The water is painted with strokes of royal blue, which partially drip over a white skull at the lower center. The boat is set against a background layered in washes of white, shell pink, and baby blue, with swirls and thin strokes of brick red scattered across it. A yellow sun outlined in deeper gold peeks above the horizon in the lower left, and is repeated with more orbs that together make an arc that curves to the upper right corner. A few geometric line drawings hover next to the woman, on our left, such as a compass-like cross with a crosshatched oval at each end. A black number
Afro-Atlantic Histories

Kerry James Marshall, Voyager, 1992, acrylic and collage on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the Women’s Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art), 2014.79.52
Afro-Atlantic Histories

Barrington Watson, Conversation, 1981, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Gift of Workers' Savings & Loan Bank. © Estate of Barrington Watson
Afro-Atlantic Histories

Frank Bowling, Night Journey, 1969–1970, acrylic on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Maddy and Larry Mohr, 2011, 2011.590.2. © 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London
Afro-Atlantic Histories

Lois Mailou Jones, The Green Door, 1981, watercolor over graphite on wove paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, William A. Clark Fund), 2015.19.2951

Explore & Share

Feature

Black Art & Artists in Our Collection

Explore art and artists in our collection, along with exhibitions, events, and resources for educators.

Blog

“Afro-Atlantic Histories” Belong to All Black Folk Everywhere

“Afro-Atlantic Histories,” plural, helps us collectively, deliberately remember the varied experiences of Black people across time and geography.

Blog

John Philip Simpson’s “The Captive Slave”

Simpson’s painting, which appears in the “Afro-Atlantic Histories” exhibition, both draws on and subverts artistic traditions, seemingly to send an abolitionist message.

Video

Exhibition Overview

Take an in-depth look at the works of art, historical experiences, and cultural formations of Black and African people since the 17th century.

Blog

Afro-Atlantic Histories: Where Do I Start?

Learn more about art and artists that make up the Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibition.

For Teachers

Afro-Atlantic Histories Teacher Resources

Explore classroom activities with in-depth questions and exercises centered around selected works of art.

Organization
This exhibition is co-organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Museu de Arte de Sāo Paulo in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

The US tour is curated by Kanitra Fletcher, associate curator of African American and Afro-Diasporic art at the National Gallery of Art. At the Museu de Arte de São Paulo and at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, the exhibition was curated by Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director, MASP; Ayrson Heráclito, guest curator; Hélio Menezes, guest curator; Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, adjunct curator of histories, MASP; and Tomás Toledo, chief curator, MASP. At the National Gallery, the curatorial team also includes Molly Donovan, curator of contemporary art, and Steven Nelson, dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts.

Other venues
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 24, 2021–January 17, 2022
Los Angeles County Museum of Art , December 11, 2022–April 30, 2023
Dallas Museum of Art, October 22, 2023–February 11, 2024

Sponsors
Major support for this exhibition is provided by the Ford Foundation.

Additional funding is provided by the Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art and the Annenberg Fund for the International Exchange of Art.

Passes
Admission is always free and passes are not required

Banner detail: Zanele Muholi, Ntozakhe II, (Parktown), 2016, photographic wall mural from digital file, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2021.88.1, © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson, New York, and Stevenson Cape Town/Johannesburg