The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University presents an installation of paintings, works on paper and sculpture in collaboration with the 50th anniversary of the first black undergraduates enrolled at Duke. The installation, all recent gifts and purchases for the permanent collection, reflects the museum's ongoing focus on artists of African descent. Artists include Radcliffe Bailey, Barkley L. Hendricks, Thomas Hirschhorn, Zanele Muholi, Robert Pruitt, Nari Ward, Carrie Mae Weems and Kehinde Wiley, among others.
The gallery is anchored by "Necklace CNN," an 8-foot sculpture by Hirschhorn that was installed in 2002. The monumental work, made of cardboard and gold wrapping paper, is juxtaposed with Ward's 2011 mixed-media work, "Album," made of basketball trading cards. Fahamu Pecou's 2011 painting, "Nunna My Heros: After Barkley Hendricks' 'Icon for My Man Superman,'" is presented near a portrait from 1975 by Hendricks. The installation is on view through the spring semester.
"We are very pleased to support Duke's important anniversary with this installation," said Trevor Schoonmaker, Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art, who organized the installation. "Our growing collection includes exciting works by some of today's most significant artists."