Faith Ringgold’s black feminist art was an oblivion in the mainstream art world for decades until last year, when the New Museum in New York held a great retrospective explore his practice. Covering nearly six decades of her work, it was the Harlem-born artist’s largest solo exhibition since 1998.
This year, in France, the 92-year-old artist is finally recognized across the Atlantic. “Black is beautiful” at the Picasso Museum in Paris is the first presentation in France of the richness of the artist’s work. The exhibition is part of a major overhaul of the museum which marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the Spanish artist; the rehang also hopes to refresh the collection and attract a younger audience, many of whom are critical of Picasso’s treatment of women and appropriation of African art in his work.
The presentation of Ringgold’s significant work, including a range of quilts and tapestries, considers his reinterpretation of modern art history, as well as his struggles for civil rights while witnessing racial conflict in the States. -United. The exhibition presents key highlights from Ringgold’s career, including the important series “The French Collection”, which includes 12 quilts the artist made after a trip to France in 1961. Through this work, Ringgold “wanted to show that there were black people when Picasso, Monet and Matisse were making art,” the artist said in the exhibition text. “I wanted to show that African art and black people had a place in this story.”
Cécile Debray, curator of the exhibition and president of the museum, credited Ringgold with reviving the figurative lineage of the Harlem Renaissance and her great contribution to the black feminist art scene.
“Faith’s work, by its plurality, its inventiveness, and its power, is emblematic of a form of utopia, of a certain challenge, that of an art that is both committed, avant-garde and popular, which undoubtedly gives it a wide and very current resonance”, writes the curator in the catalog of the exhibition.
Below are highlights of the exhibition, which is on view until July 2.
Faith Ringgold, American People Series #18: The Flag Bleeds (1967). National Gallery of Art, Washington, Permanent Patrons Fund and gift from the Glenstone Foundation (2021.28.1). © Faith Ringgold / ARS, NY and DACS, London, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York 2022
Faith Ringgold, Black Light Series #1: Big Black (1967). Pérez Art Museum Miami, museum purchase with funds provided by Jorge M. Pérez and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. © Faith Ringgold / ARS, NY and DACS, London, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York 2022
Faith Ringgold, Picasso’s Studio: The French Collection Part I, #7 (1991). Worcester Art Museum; Charlotte E. W. Buffington Fund. © Faith Ringgold / ARS, NY and DACS, London, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York 2022
Faith Ringgold, Slave Rape #2: Run, You Might Get Away (1972). Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland. © Faith Ringgold / ARS, NY and DACS, London, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York 2022. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; courtesy of Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.
Faith Ringgold, Slave Rape #3: Fight to save your life (1972). Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland. © Faith Ringgold / ARS, NY and DACS, London, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York 2022. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; courtesy of Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.
Faith Ringgold, The Awakening and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro (1975-89). Courtesy of the artist and ACA Galleries, New York. © Faith Ringgold / ARS, NY and DACS, London, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York 2022. Photo: Ron Amstutz; Courtesy of Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland.
Faith Ringgold, United States of Attica (1972). Courtesy of the artist and ACA Galleries, New York. © Faith Ringgold / ARS, NY and DACS, London, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York 2022.
Faith Ringgold, Woman on Bridge #1 of 5: Tar Beach (1988). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Gift Mr. and Mrs. Gus and Judith Leiber, 88.3620. © Faith Ringgold / ARS, NY and DACS, London, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York 2022.
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay one step ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive breaking news, revealing interviews and incisive reviews that move the conversation forward.
