The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University will present an exhibition of African-American art from the collection of NBA basketball player and Duke graduate Grant Hill, beginning March 4.
"Something All Our Own: The Grant Hill Collection of African American Art" is on view through July 16.
The Nasher Museum of Art is a major new arts center on Duke's campus that serves the university, Research Triangle area and surrounding region with exhibitions and educational programs.
"Something All Our Own" includes 46 paintings, collages, sculptures and works on paper by the most important African-American artists of the 20th century. The exhibition includes collages, prints, sculptures and paintings by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett and John Biggers. Alongside those works are moody, solitary paintings by Hughie Lee-Smith, paintings by self-taught artist John Coleman and sketches and paintings by the late Arthello Beck Jr.
"I am especially pleased to bring art and basketball together at Duke during the museum's inaugural year --- and at the start of March Madness," said Kimerly Rorschach, the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the NasherMuseum. "Mr. Hill's exhibition is an exciting opportunity for the museum to reach new audiences."
"Something All Our Own" will coincide with "Conjuring Bearden," a new exhibition that explores artist Romare Bearden's career-long fascination with the "conjur" woman, also opening March 4 at the Nasher Museum. Both shows will be accompanied by a range of interdisciplinary programs, including a two-day scholarly symposium on Bearden, a film series, jazz concert and Family Day event.
The Nasher Museum is the final venue for the national tour of the exhibition, which originated at the Orlando Museum of Art in November 2003 and has traveled to New Orleans, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston and the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
Hill and his wife, five-time Grammy nominee Tamia Hill, collected works over the past nine years to build "Something All Our Own." Hill, a six-time NBA All-Star now playing with the Orlando Magic, says his love of art and sports was inspired by his father, former Dallas Cowboys running back Calvin Hill.
"I wanted to be like my father," said Hill, an integral part of two Duke national championship teams. "As a child, our home was filled with paintings, sculptures and artifacts from places throughout the world, but especially what my father calls 'Third World' art. It had a profound impact on me and shaped my own thinking about collecting African-American art and sharing my collection."
"Something All Our Own" was organized by Hill and Alvia J. Wardlaw, Ph.D., director/curator of the UniversityMuseum at Texas Southern University and curator of modern and contemporary art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The exhibition is sponsored by Wachovia Corporation.
Duke University Press has published a full-color catalogue to accompany the exhibition, featuring essays by Grant and Calvin Hill, guest curator Alvia Wardlaw, Duke professor emeritus John Hope Franklin and Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. A 20-minute video including conversations between the Hill family and Catlett, as well as commentary from Wardlaw, also accompanies the exhibition.
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The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays.
Suggested admission is $5 adults, $4 for seniors and members of the Duke Alumni Association, $3 for non-Duke students with I.D. and free for children 16 and younger. Admission is free to Duke University students, faculty and staff with Duke I.D. Admission is also free to Durham residents who present a valid I.D. with proof of residency, courtesy of the Herald-Sun.
Additional information is available at www.nasher.duke.edu.
The $24 million Nasher Museum of Art, designed by Rafael Vinoly, is located at 2001 Campus Drive at Anderson Street. The new museum, which opened Oct. 2, 2005, also includes a cafe and gift store.