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The Spelman College Collection can trace its roots back to 1899, less than twenty years after the founding of the College. Artworks in The Arc of the Collection illuminate the passion and vision of its donors and stewards and their influence on the Collection’s growth and evolution. This exhibition honors the study of art — particularly art by and about women of the African Diaspora — locally, nationally, and internationally. Chronicling contributions by artists and arts leaders at the moments of pivotal acquisitions, The Arc of the Collection pays tribute to the Spelman College Collection’s ongoing advancement and looks back on the journey thus far.
The exhibition opens with the establishment of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Coordinated Art Program in the 1960s, which was made possible by the creation of an art department for Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the Atlanta Laboratory School three decades earlier by renowned artist Hale Woodruff and, later, the influence of artist and teacher Nancy Elizabeth Prophet. This section of the exhibition highlights contributions from artists-in-residence hosted by the AUC Coordinated Art Program including Benny Andrews, Herman “Kofi” Bailey, Floyd Coleman, and Barrington Watson.
Foregrounding Black Women Artists highlights the influence of Spelman alumna (and protégé of Woodruff and Prophet) Jenelsie Walden Holloway, who served as chair of the Spelman College Department of Art for over thirty-nine years. Holloway’s precedent-setting acquisitions for the Collection included works by influential artists of the time, such as Betty Blayton-Taylor, Laurie Ourlicht, Lucille Malkia Roberts, and Claudia Widdiss.
In Building A More Stately Mission, witness how the convergence of leadership by Dr. M. Akua McDaniel, Dr. Jontyle Theresa Robinson, and Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee—facilitated by the stewardship of Spelman College President Emerita Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole—led to the founding of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 1996. This momentum inspired what is now the AUC Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective. Housed within the Department of Art & Visual Culture at Spelman College, this innovative program aims to shape the future of the art world and position the Atlanta University Center as the leading incubator of African American professionals in these fields.
A selection of recent acquisitions and gifts marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Museum in 2021 are featured in Collection Forecast. Significant works by artists including Lina Iris Viktor and the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers epitomize the Museum’s mission to focus on artworks by and about women of the African Diaspora. Collection Forecast acknowledges a significant moment in the history of curatorial practices and Collection acquisitions at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art: respecting the past, remaining mindful of the present, and looking toward the future.
The Arc of the Collection commemorates a community of artists, alumnae, professionals, and supporters of Spelman College. Interwoven within this exhibition are the efforts, spirits, and voices that have helped to shape the Spelman College Collection.
To learn more about the Spelman College Collection, visit Collection on the Road, Curatorial Studies, Story of the Collection, and the GLAM Center for the Collaborative Teaching & Learning.
Established in 1960, the Atlanta University Center Coordinated Art Program offered a diverse and enhanced arts curriculum to AUC students, providing instruction in art education, art history, ceramics, design, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, weaving, and other media. Former museum director John Davis Hatch served as a consultant to the program and acting chair of the fine arts division at Spelman from 1964 through 1970. During his tenure, Hatch raised funds for the College to acquire works by renowned African American, American, and European artists.
The Coordinated Art Program also hosted an artist-in-residence program that was spearheaded by Talladega College alumnus Hans Bhalla, who served as chair of the Spelman College Department of Art from 1967 to 1977. The extensive roster of artists-in-residence whose artworks are represented in the College’s collection include Benny Andrews, Herman “Kofi” Bailey, Floyd Coleman, Sam Gilliam, and Barrington Watson, among others.
When Donald M. Stewart, Ph.D., was named the sixth president of Spelman College in 1976, his appointment was met with protest. Social justice movements such as the civil and women’s rights movements of the sixties and seventies helped to fuel calls from students and faculty for a Black woman to lead the institution. Informed and compelled by their convictions, Stewart championed their cause. He remained fully dedicated to Spelman’s mission to educate and matriculate well-rounded Black women who were exposed to world cultures. He also made it a priority to uplift Black women’s talents and capabilities in a variety of fields and facilitated the acquisition of works by Black women artists for the College’s permanent holdings.
In 1983, Stewart raised funds to purchase several contemporary works by Black women artists. Jenelsie Walden Holloway, a Spelman alumna and former student of Hale Woodruff and Nancy Woodruff Prophet who served as the chair of the art department for over thirty-nine years, spearheaded the College’s acquisition of works by Betty Blayton-Taylor, Elizabeth Catlett, Laurie Ourlicht, Stephanie Pogue, Lucille Malkia Roberts, Betye Saar, and Claudia Widdiss, among others.
The phrase “Building a More Stately Mission” is taken from the first vision statement released by the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, written by Spelman College professor emerita and former interim museum director M. Akua McDaniel. The phrase is also inspired by Aaron Douglas’s 1945 painting Building More Stately Mansions.
When Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Ph.D., became president of Spelman in 1987, one of her priorities was establishing the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. The Museum celebrated its opening in 1996 by organizing and presenting the groundbreaking exhibition Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Artists, which included works by artists such as Beverly Buchanan, Elizabeth Catlett, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others. Curated by former associate professor of art history Jontyle Theresa Robinson, Bearing Witness went on to tour nationally. The exhibition publication includes contributions by Robinson, M. Akua McDaniel, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies Beverly Guy-Sheftall, as well as celebrated writers such as Pearl Cleage and Maya Angelou.
This major exhibition fundamentally informed the Museum’s focused emphasis on Black women artists. Throughout its history, the Museum has unapologetically foregrounded art by women of the African Diaspora, exhibiting and collecting works by emerging, mid-career, and established artists. To honor this tradition, the Museum regularly acquires at least one work from original exhibitions that it presents.
The Spelman College Collection is comprised of artworks by celebrated artists across generations and throughout the African Diaspora. The Museum has become well-regarded for its highly acclaimed exhibitions, innovative academic and public programming, and focused collection. Since its establishment, works from the Collection have been featured in local, national, and international exhibitions. Within the Spelman College gates, the Collection provides object-based learning opportunities for students and anchors the curatorial studies program and the AUC Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective.
Recent acquisitions in the Collection include works by British-Liberian artist Lina Iris Viktor—who explores the historical, cultural and material implications of blackness—and a gift from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation of quilts by the celebrated Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers, and collages and works on paper by artist Deborah Roberts. As the Collection continues to expand, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is well poised to continue claiming its charge as a vital resource and repository for significant works of art created by the women of Africa and the African Diaspora.
Our members, also known as Friends of the Museum, play an integral role in helping us fulfill our unique mission. The generous support of Friends of the Museum affirms our dedication to presenting ambitious exhibitions, organizing dynamic and empowering programs, and expanding our collection.
To inspire and enrich the Spelman College community and the general public primarily through art by and about women of the African Diaspora.
Mailing address:
350 Spelman Lane, Box 1526
Atlanta, GA 30314 29201
Phone: 404.270.5607
Email: museum@spelman.edu
February 2 – May 24, 2024
Wednesday – Saturday
12pm – 5pm
The Museum is Closed Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Holidays and Spelman campus breaks.
