Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection
Saturday, September 30, 2023 - Sunday, January 28, 2024
Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman College has long been an important cultural hub. The historically Black liberal arts college for women began collecting objects in 1899, and in 1996 the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art opened with the mission to uplift art by and about women of the African diaspora. This goal directly reflects Spelman College’s dedication to academic excellence in education of women of African descent. In honor of its 124-year-old legacy, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art organized this anniversary exhibition with a selection of works, from the 1900s until now, from the permanent collection.
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center has a similar history as a museum started in 1864 at a women’s college founded in 1861. This academic year, we are celebrating two anniversaries—30 years in this building designed by Cesar Pelli and completed in 1993 and 160 years of collecting at Vassar, which was the first college in the country to include an art museum as part of its original plan. By presenting this exhibition, the Loeb recognizes Spelman College while also honoring its own history, aspirations, and plans for the future of the collection. The exhibition highlights the works of masters, pioneers, and trailblazers who anchor the Spelman collection. The nearly forty works in the exhibition represent a variety of mediums and techniques including painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed-media collage, prints, and photographs. The works are divided into five sections that focus on the Spiral Group, abstraction, early figuration, contemporary photography, and contemporary figuration.
The exhibition was organized by Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia and curated by Liz Andrews and Karen Comer Lowe with initial contributions from Anne Collins Smith. Wall text and labels were written by Charmaine Branch, Vassar class of 2014. Generous support was provided by Art Bridges and the Friends of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center Exhibition Fund. There are works that appeared in this exhibition that were loans to the Loeb and therefore do not appear on this website.
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center has a similar history as a museum started in 1864 at a women’s college founded in 1861. This academic year, we are celebrating two anniversaries—30 years in this building designed by Cesar Pelli and completed in 1993 and 160 years of collecting at Vassar, which was the first college in the country to include an art museum as part of its original plan. By presenting this exhibition, the Loeb recognizes Spelman College while also honoring its own history, aspirations, and plans for the future of the collection. The exhibition highlights the works of masters, pioneers, and trailblazers who anchor the Spelman collection. The nearly forty works in the exhibition represent a variety of mediums and techniques including painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed-media collage, prints, and photographs. The works are divided into five sections that focus on the Spiral Group, abstraction, early figuration, contemporary photography, and contemporary figuration.
The exhibition was organized by Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia and curated by Liz Andrews and Karen Comer Lowe with initial contributions from Anne Collins Smith. Wall text and labels were written by Charmaine Branch, Vassar class of 2014. Generous support was provided by Art Bridges and the Friends of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center Exhibition Fund. There are works that appeared in this exhibition that were loans to the Loeb and therefore do not appear on this website.
Venues
Temporary Exhibition Galleries