Posing Beauty in African American Culture

The New Jersey State Museum is pleased to present “Posing Beauty in African American Culture,” a touring exhibition opening January 29, 2022. The exhibition explores the contested ways in which African and African American beauty have been represented in historical and contemporary contexts.  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.   This will be the first new exhibition at the Museum since the shutdown and hope that visitors will find the topics both timely and thought-provoking. The photographers in the show are renowned, and three of the artists featured – Anthony Barboza, Gordon Parks and Wendell A. White – are also represented in the State Museum’s Fine Art collection. Presented in the Museum’s main first floor gallery through May 22, 2022, the exhibition was organized by the Department of Photography & Imaging at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and curated by Deborah Willis, PhD, University Professor and Chair of the Department. At the New Jersey State Museum, the exhibition has been made possible by the Lucille M. Paris Fund of the New Jersey State Museum Foundation.