Spelman College Museum of Fine Art: Art By and About Women of the African Diaspora

Kaniah Pearson , Spelman College Student; SEMC Intern, Fall 2022 and Winter 2023

The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is the only museum in the nation dedicated to art by and about women of the African diaspora. The museum is located on the campus of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia on the first floor of the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D., Academic Center. The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art captures the essence of black life and artistry, and engages everyone from a Picasso enthusiast to a mathematician, underscoring that art is for everyone, and can be enjoyed by all.

Established in 1996, the museum houses a series of collections that range from sculptures to prints from the African Diaspora. Notable artists on display include Theaster Gates, Deborah Roberts, and Lava Thomas. The Museum has been recognized for groundbreaking and scholarly exhibitions which amplify art by Black women artists with a current emphasis on acquiring works by emerging, mid-career, and established artists. Recent acquisitions to the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art are a painting by Calida Rawles, a Spelman College alumna, two works by Augusta Savage, and a photograph of Spelman Alumna Stacey Abrams by Sheila Pree Bright.

Currently on display is, Black American Portraits, a traveling exhibition co-curated by Spelman College Museum of Fine Art’s Executive Director Liz Andrews and Tate’s Britton Family Curator-at-Large Christine Y. Kim (both formerly of LACMA). The exhibition reframes portraiture to center Black American subjects, sitters, and spaces, placing Black women portrait artists center stage.

Exhibition: Black American Portraits

Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

Dates: February 8 – June 30, 2023