Modern art meets social justice

Charles White, Chain Gang, 1959. Pencil, graphite, and white chalk, 18 x 24 inches. Gift of Harry Belafonte, 1976.002, © Charles White Archives, Courtesy American Federation of Arts.

OKLAHOMA, OK (PNAN) – Coming on Saturday, February 18, 2023, “Art and Activism at Tougaloo College” examines the birth and development of this collection and the first in Mississippi dedicated to modern art at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and will remain on view through May 14, 2023.

Comprised of approximately thirty-five artworks by artists such as, David Driskell, Francis Picabia, Elizabeth Catlett, Alma Thomas, Pablo Picasso, Richard Mayhew, Charles White and Hale Woodruff, the exhibition gives insight into a complex American collection established at the intersections of modern art and social justice.

The collection was envisioned as “an interracial oasis in which the fine arts are the focus and the magnet” as civil rights protests swirled across the fiercely segregated state. Since its founding, Tougaloo College (www.tougaloo.edu) has made the fight for equality central to its mission. In 1963, the college became the nexus for modern art in Mississippi, when leaders of the New York art world began a rich program of art acquisitions.

More at www.okcmoa.com for current programming and a video on the museum’s history at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNIJwm2Gy18&t=16s

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