Dr. Alvia J. Wardlaw, Professor and Director of the University Museum at Texas Southern University, and Paul R. Davis, Curator of Collections at the Menil Collection, explore the iconography of a mid-18th-century European tapestry’s representation of Africa. The tapestry’s imagery conveys the histories connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
The work was added to the Menil’s permanent collection in the 1980s as part of the Image of the Black in Western Art, a research project and series of publications that investigates how people of African descent have been represented in art throughout history. The project was started by John and Dominique de Menil in 1960 and has been continued through the collaboration of Harvard University Press and the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.
The live event will stream directly on this page and on the Menil’s YouTube channel on Wednesday, September 9, at 6 p.m. CDT. No login or RSVP is required. You are invited to submit your questions for the speakers in advance and during the program to programs@menil.org.