Posing Beauty in African American Culture explores the contested ways in which African and African American beauty have been represented in historical and contemporary contexts through a diverse range of media including photography, film, video, fashion, advertising, and other forms of popular culture such as music and the Internet. Throughout the Western history of art and image-making, the relationship between beauty and art has become increasingly complex within contemporary art and popular culture.

The first of three thematic sections, “Constructing a Pose,” considers the interplay between the historical and the contemporary, between self-representation and imposed representation, and the relationship between subject and photographer. The second theme, “Body and Image,” questions the ways in which our contemporary understanding of beauty has been constructed and framed through the body. The last section, “Modeling Beauty & Beauty Contests,” invites us to reflect upon the ambiguities of beauty, its impact on mass culture and individuals, and how the display of beauty affects the ways in which we see and interpret the world and ourselves.

Posing Beauty in African American Culture challenges contemporary understandings of beauty by framing notions of aesthetics, race, class, and gender within art, popular culture, and politics.

WORKS
103 photographs, 2 videos

DIMENSIONS
Various

SPACE REQUIREMENTS
Up to 350 linear ft (108 linear m)

EXHIBITOR RESOURCES
Prospectus (See below)

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Curator available for lectures

INQUIRIES
exhibitions@curatorial.org | 626.577.0044

FEE
Please inquire

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

Taft Museum of Art | Cincinnati, Ohio
(October 5, 2024 – January 12, 2025)

Kent State University Museum | Kent, Ohio
(August 17, 2023 – December 17, 2023)

Harn Museum of Art | Gainesville, Florida
(January 30, 2023 – June 4, 2023)

New Jersey State Museum | Trenton, New Jersey
(January 22, 2022 – May 22, 2022)

Flint Institute of Arts | Flint, Michigan
(January 24, 2021 – April 18, 2021)

Fort Wayne Museum of Art | Fort Wayne, Indiana
(August 22, 2020 – October 18, 2020)

Delaware Art Museum | Wilmington, Delaware
(October 28, 2019 - January 26, 2020)

Mobile Museum of Art | Mobile, Alabama
(October 6, 2017 – January 7, 2018)

SNAP! Space | Orlando, Florida
(January 6 – February 5, 2017)

Northwest African American Museum | Seattle, Washington
(April 30 – September 4, 2016)

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts | Richmond, Virginia
(April 26 – July 27, 2014)

Evansville Museum | Evansville, Indiana
(January 19 – March 16, 2014)

Spelman College Museum of Art | Atlanta, Georgia
(September 5 – December 7, 2013)

Figge Art Museum | Davenport, Iowa
(September 8 – November , 2012)

Everhart Museum | Scranton, Pennsylvania
(February 3 - April 1, 2012)

College of Wooster Art Museum | Wooster, California
(January 15 – March 3, 2012)

USC Fisher Museum of Art | Los Angeles, California
(September 7 – December 3, 2011)

Williams College Museum of Art | Williamstown, Massachusetts
(September 11 – November 21, 2010)

Art Gallery of Hamilton | Hamilton, Ontario
(January 16 – May 9, 2010)