Juneteenth highlight: The Kelley Collection of African American Art at the Fresno Art Museum
.By Heather Parish
This Juneteenth, celebrate Black culture, creativity, and excellence by visiting Fresno Art Museum’s exhibition “The Harmon & Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works on Paper.” This remarkable traveling exhibition, on view through June 29, offers an exciting and rich window into the artistic expression of Black artists from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Heather Parish / The Munro Review The Kelley Collection runs through June 29 at the Fresno Art Museum.
The 65 works on view — drawings, etchings, lithographs, watercolors, pastels, acrylics, gouaches, linoleum cuts, and color screen prints — represent only a small segment of the extensive Kelley Collection, recognized by art historian David Driskell as “one of the finest that has been assembled tracing the history of African American art.”
Walking through the gallery, I found both the historical context and the artistry on display remarkably stimulating. Many of the works were produced during the 1930s and 1940s — a period when the WPA supported Black artists — adding depth and breadth to their stories of resistance, creativity, and community. Among the highlights for me were Elizabeth Catlett’s ‘Sharecropper’ (1952), wherein the subject’s clear gaze and human dignity is so powerful it stopped me in my tracks, and Lionel Lofton’s 1992 lithograph ‘Embracing,’ which exudes such a sense of warmth and connection I got lost in the details.
Organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions in Los Angeles, this robust and vivid showing honors the work done by Harmon and Harriet Kelley in gathering such an important collection. it is an important testament of the artistry of these artists, but also an opportunity to reflect upon their stories and the ongoing struggles for justice and Black representation in America.
The Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works on Paper closes on June 29 at the Fresno Art Museum. In celebration of Juneteenth, admission is free on June 19
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