Soulscapes Exhibition @ Dulwich Picture Gallery, London - A major exhibition of landscape art that expands and redefine the genre

Soulscapes

Dulwich Picture Gallery, London

14 February – 2 June 2024

Mónica de Miranda 

Sunrise, 2023 

Inkjet print on cotton paper 

Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Madrid 

Isaac Julien 

Onyx Cave (Stones Against Diamonds), 2015 

© Isaac Julien / Private collection, London

Dulwich Picture Gallery presents Soulscapes, a major exhibition of landscape art that expands and redefine the genre. Featuring more than 30 contemporary works, it spans painting, photography, film, tapestry and collage from leading artists including Hurvin Anderson, Phoebe Boswell, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Kimathi Donkor, Isaac Julien, Marcia Michael, Mónica de Miranda and Alberta Whittle, as well as some of the most important emerging voices working today.

Soulscapes explores our connection with the world around us through the eyes of artists from the African Diaspora. It considers the power of landscape art and reflect on themes of belonging, memory, joy and transformation.

The exhibition is curated by Lisa Anderson, Managing Director of the Black Cultural Archives and founder of Black British Art. Anderson said: “Soulscapes grew from the periods of enforced ‘lockdown’ that millions experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the same period, the question of racial equality in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement helped ignite conversation about inclusion and social justice. These historical moments gave way to new possibilities for landscape art, which is being interrogated by artists in new and expansive ways. At a time when global consciousness has been profoundly attuned to the precariousness and power of the natural world in our lives, I hope this exhibition will challenge perceptions of our relationship with nature.”

Hurvin Anderson 

Limestone Wall, 2020  

© Hurvin Anderson. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery 

Photo: Richard Ivey

Jermaine Francis 

A Pleasant Land. J. Samuel Johnson, 

& the Spectre of Unrecognised Black Figures, 2023 

Photographic montage, 130cm x 100cm 

Courtesy of Artist Jermaine Francis

The exhibition opens by examining the theme of belonging in relation to the natural world and consider the varied ways we experience the land and how this relates to our sense of identity, connection and safety. Limestone Wall (2020), a large-scale painting by Hurvin Anderson, depicts the tropical foliage of Jamaica and explores the artist’s relationship to his ancestral homeland. In the series A Pleasant Land. J. Samuel Johnson, & The Spectre of Unrecognised Black Figures (2023), photographer Jermaine Francis considers the issues that arise out of interactions with our everyday environments, positioning the Black figure in rural settings to instigate conversations around power, identity and the history of the English Landscape.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby 

Cassava Garden, 2015 

Acrylic, transfers, colour pencil, charcoal and 

commemorative fabric on paper, 182.88 x 152.4 cm 

© Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Courtesy the artist,

Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner.

Photo: Robert Glowacki 

Reflecting on landscapes and memory, the exhibition considers how artists have used the natural world to express personal histories. Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s lush multimedia piece, Cassava Garden (2015), layers images from fashion magazines, pictures of Nigerian pop stars, and samplings from family photo albums to represent a hybrid cultural identity. The Gallery’s mausoleum is home to a site-specific installation of Phoebe Boswell’s I Dream of a Home I Cannot Know (2019), a meditative video work created over the course of six years that documents daily life in Zanzibar, a place of deep connection for the artist.

Kimathi Donkor 

On Episode Seven, 2020

Acrylic on canvas, 61 x 76 cm

Courtesy of the Artist and Niru Ratnam, London

Photo: Kimathi Donkor

Che Lovelace 

Moonlight Searchers, 2022

Acrylic and dry pigment on board panels 

Private collection. 

Courtesy of the artist, Corvi Mora, Various Small Fires 

and Nicola Vassell Gallery 

Soulscapes celebrates the power of landscapes to evoke joy and pleasure, whether through the representation of personal experiences or through its expression in composition, colour and style. Che Lovelace’s vibrant paintings, The Climber (2022) and Moonlight Searchers (2022), depict the flora, fauna, figures, landscapes and rituals of the Caribbean. Paintings from Kimathi Donkor’s Idyl series (2016-2020) depict Black subjects free to be themselves within nature, hopeful visions that might be approached through the idea of Black Joy. 

Artist Kimathi Donkor, said: “My ‘Idyl’ paintings celebrate tender and contemplative moments shared by families and friends as they enjoy serene meadows, lakes, mountains, forests, rivers and beaches together. As an artist who has often focussed on ‘the struggle’, these works represent hopeful visions that honour what the fulfilment of black liberation might sometimes feel like -- even if only fleetingly.” 

Kimathi Mafafo 

Unforeseen Journey of Self-Discovery, 2020 

Hand and Machine Embroidered Fabric, 112 x 98cm 

Image courtesy of the artist / Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery 

Finally, the exhibition explores the transformative power of nature to stimulate healing, renewal and wellbeing. In Unforseen Journey of Self-Discovery (2020), a tapestry by Kimathi Mafafo, a woman emerges from a cocooned veil of white muslin, finding her way into the vibrant, colourful and healing space of the natural world. Works by Alberta Whittle manifest self-compassion and collective care as key methods in battling anti-Blackness; Whittle invites viewers to interact with her work, and to imagine different futures. 

Artist Alberta Whittle said: “Within my practice, thinking about the land and the natural world as sources of indigenous, pre-colonial knowledge(s) has become a pathway to explore different ways of dreaming new ways of being. Landscape art can gather together less recognised or forgotten relationships between humanity and the land as well as become a lightning rod for galvanising conservation, especially with devastation from climate colonialism looming against the horizon.”

Jennifer Scott, Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery, said: “Soulscapes marks a new approach to landscape art. Featuring some of the greatest artists of our day, it’s an exciting opportunity to re-present the genre within Dulwich Picture Gallery, the home of the celebrated European landscape masters of the past. This visually stunning exhibition highlights the contemporary relevance of nature in art and its universal possibilities of healing, reflection and belonging.” 

DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY

Gallery Road, London SE21 7AD

www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

On the Basis of Art: 150 Years of Women at Yale @ Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

On the Basis of Art: 150 Years of Women at Yale

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

Through January 9, 2022

Irene Weir (B.F.A. 1906) 

The Blacksmith, Chinon, France, ca. 1923

Watercolor on paper

Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Irene Weir, B.F.A. 1906 

Njideka Akunyili Crosby (M.F.A. 2011)

The Rest of Her Remains, 2010 

Charcoal, acrylic, ink, collage, and Xerox transfers on paper 

Yale University Art Gallery, Purchased with a gift

from the Arthur and Constance Zeckendorf Foundation

Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner

Yale University Art Gallery celebrates the work of Yale-educated women artists in a new exhibition.

On the Basis of Art: 150 Years of Women at Yale celebrates the vital contributions of generations of Yale-trained women artists to the national and international art scene. Through an exploration of their work, the exhibition charts the history of women at the Yale School of Art (formerly Yale School of the Fine Arts) and traces the ways in which they challenged boundaries of time and circumstance and forged avenues of opportunity— attaining gallery and museum representation, developing relationships with dedicated collectors, and securing professorships and teaching posts in a male-dominated art world. On view at the Yale University Art Gallery from September 10, 2021, through January 9, 2022, the exhibition commemorates two recent milestones: the 50th anniversary of coeducation at Yale College and the 150th anniversary of Yale University’s admittance of its first female students who, flaunting historical precedent, were welcomed to study at the School of the Fine Arts upon its opening in 1869.

On the Basis of Art showcases more than 75 artists working in a broad range of media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, print, photography, textile, and video. Objects are drawn exclusively from the Gallery’s collection and span more than 15 decades as well as a wide range of stylistic approaches—from realism to abstraction to figuration—revealing how these modern and contemporary women artists have brought their life experiences and individual styles to their careers.

“We are thrilled to join the University in celebrating and commemorating the contributions and accomplishments of women at Yale,” says Stephanie Wiles, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Gallery. “It’s an honor to present this exhibition and the accompanying catalogue, which together offer deep insight about women artist-graduates of Yale. These women brought an unwavering determination, bold experimentation, and a spirit of risk-taking to their practice, qualities that were critical to their success in the international art world.”

Wangechi Mutu (M.F.A. 2000) 

Sentinel I, 2018 

Paper pulp, wood glue, concrete, wood, glass beads, stone, 

rose quartz, gourd, and jewelry 

Yale University Art Gallery, Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund

© Wangechi Mutu

Sylvia Plimack Mangold (B.F.A. 1961)

Opposite Corners, 1973 

Acrylic on canvas

Yale University Art Gallery, Susan Morse Hilles Fund 

© Sylvia Plimack Mangold, courtesy Alexander and Bonin, New York

On the Basis of Art is curated by Elisabeth Hodermarsky, the Sutphin Family Curator of Prints and Drawings, with the assistance of Judy Ditner, the Richard Benson Associate Curator of Photography and Digital Media; John Stuart Gordon, the Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts; Keely Orgeman, the Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art; Sydney Skelton Simon, the Bradley Assistant Curator of Academic Affairs; and Molleen Theodore, Associate Curator of Programs.

“It is inspiring to highlight the extraordinary and varied work of these talented female-identifying artists,” shares Elisabeth Hodermarsky. “Although this diverse group of artists spans multiple generations, there are cross-connections in their work that engage history, feminist movements, and legacies of influence. The exhibition is the first of its kind, telling the history of the visual arts at Yale from a female perspective.” Accordingly, the exhibition is organized into six thematic sections that mix time periods and media, allowing visitors to observe these dialogues across generations.

The first section, Carving a Presence, demonstrates the persistence of the genre of portraiture and includes works by Irene Weir (B.A. 1906), Audrey Flack (B.F.A. 1952), and Njideka Akunyili Crosby (M.F.A. 2011). Sculpting Space and Place features two- and three-dimensional objects by Eva Hesse (B.F.A. 1959), Sylvia Plimack Mangold (B.F.A. 1961), Howardena Pindell (M.F.A. 1967), and others whose oeuvres consider space, perception, surface, and depth. Threading Myth, Legend, and Ritual highlights artists such as Rina Banerjee (M.F.A. 1995) and Natalie Frank (B.A. 2002), who engage tradition and storytelling in their practice. With works by artists like Lois Conner (M.F.A. 1981)and Victoria Sambunaris (M.F.A. 1999), Modeling Nature, Tracing the Human Footprint presents the different ways in which artists have depicted the natural world and have examined humankind’s relationship with nature—as both nurturer/steward and user/abuser. Drawing Identity reveals how artists, such as Wangechi Mutu (M.F.A. 2000), Mickalene Thomas (M.F.A. 2002), and Angela Strassheim (M.F.A. 2003), have challenged societal labels and offered thoughtful and powerful critiques of cultural systems. Finally, Casting History, Etching Memory explores how Maya Lin (B.A. 1981, M.ARCH. 1986), An-My Lê (M.F.A. 1993), Mary Reid Kelley (M.F.A. 2009), and others have memorialized or reflected on our past.

On the Basis of Art: 150 Years of Women at Yale

308 pages/10 x 10 3/4 inches/187 color and 52 black-and-white illustrations

Distributed by Yale University Press/Paper over board/ISBN 978-0-300-25424-2

A comprehensive catalogue accompanies the exhibition. It features an introduction by Elisabeth Hodermarsky and essays by Helen A. Cooper (PH.D. 1986), the Holcombe T. Green Curator Emeritus of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Gallery; Linda Konheim Kramer (B.F.A. 1963),former curator at the Brooklyn Museum and former Executive Director of the Nancy Graves Foundation; and Marta Kuzma, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dean of the Yale School of Art, the first woman to hold that role. It also includes catalogue entries on every artist in the exhibition and timelines that detail important milestones for women—at Yale, in the arts, and in the country.

YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY

1111 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut 

artgallery.yale.edu