Imprinted: Illustrating Race
Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA
June 11 — October 30, 2022
Taking Care, detail, 2019
Print, Cover illustration for The New Yorker, April 22, 2019.
© 2019 Loveis Wise. All rights reserved.
Norman Rockwell Museum presents Imprinted: Illustrating Race. This special exhibition examines the role of published images in shaping attitudes toward race and culture. More than 150 works of art and artifacts of widely circulated illustrated imagery are on view, produced from 1590 to today. The exhibition explores harmful stereotypical racial representations that have been imprinted upon us through the mass publication of images and the resulting noxious impact on public perception about race. It culminates with the creative accomplishments of contemporary artists and publishers who have shifted the cultural narrative through the creation of positive, inclusive imagery emphasizing full agency and equity for all.
“Published images hold powerful sway on shaping our cultural attitudes. Images can uplift, as Norman Rockwell’s work did, and they also can be deployed to establish negative and demeaning attitudes, as often happened with intention during formative centuries of published images in the United States. As our nation redresses a renewed era of racial reckoning, it is important to examine how systems of publishing were used to form commonly held beliefs and attitudes. Published illustration had a role in framing the United States racial attitudes – it is also a powerful tool for reframing stereotypes and celebrating this country’s strength in many cultural identities. We are grateful for the support of many partners, who are making this exhibition possible, from outstanding scholar contributors to our sponsors,” noted director/CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt.
Illustration has been at the forefront of significant, defining events in the United States from the Civil War and Reconstruction Era to the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s and today. The exhibition focuses on artwork commissioned by publishers and advertisers and created by illustrators, engravers, and printers, as well as the work of contemporary creators that will spark dialogue and raise awareness about the role of published art in reflecting and shaping beliefs and attitudes about race.
Imprinted: Illustrating Race is co-curated by guest Curator Robyn Phillips-Pendleton and the Museum’s Deputy Director/Chief Curator, Stephanie Haboush Plunkett. Phillips-Pendleton is the Interim Director of the MFA in Illustration Practice program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and University of Delaware Professor of Visual Communications; she has written and spoken widely on the theme of this exhibition. They are joined by a distinguished panel of national advisors including 10 academic scholars, curators, and artists with expertise related to the focus of the exhibition’s thesis.
Exhibition catalogue
Artwork © 2022 Emory Douglas
Accompanying the exhibition is an extensive exhibition catalogue featuring essays by noted scholars and curators and designed by Hollis King. Robyn Phillips-Pendleton and Stephanie Haboush Plunkett present an exhibition overview and selections from the exhibition, preceded by a foreword by Museum Director/CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt. Additional chapters and authors include:
Michele Bogart, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Department of Art History, SUNY Stonybrook
Artwork and the Cream of Wheat Campaign
Heather Campbell Coyle, Ph.D.
Chief Curator and Curator of American Art, Delaware Art Museum
Historical Fictions: African Americans within Historical Narratives, 1880s to 1920s
Karen Fang, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of English, University of Houston
Asian Americans in Published Imagery: The Nineteenth Century Chinese Exclusion and World War II
William Foster, III
Professor Emeritus, Department of English, Naugatuck Valley Community College
Independent Black Comic Book Artists and Publishers
Colette Gaiter
Professor, Departments of Africana Studies and Art & Design, University of Delaware
Imagery and the Black Panther Party
Theresa Leininger-Miller, Ph.D.
Professor of Art History, University of Cincinnati
Are They Equal in the Eyes of the Law?: African American Soldiers in World War I Illustrated Sheet Music
Andrea Davis Pinkney
New York Times bestselling author of Martin Rising: Requiem for a King, and Regina Medalist recipient
Embossed, Erased, Embraced: How Racial Representation Impacts the Minds and Hearts of Children
Cherene Sherrard-Johnson, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of English, Pomona College
Illustration, Publishing, and the Female Artists of the Harlem Renaissance Jazz Age
Michelle Joan Wilkinson, Ph.D.
Curator, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture
African American Artists in Contemporary Illustration
Published interviews with contemporary illustrators such as Hollis King, Jerry Pinkney, James Ransome, and others who discuss their art and experiences are also included.
NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM
9 Route 183, Stockbridge, MA 01262
