| On Juneteenth, 19 June 1936, visitors to the Hall of Negro Life at the Texas
Centennial Exposition in Dallas entered through an elegant, octagonal lobby
inscribed with the names of cultural icons such as Booker T. Washington, Sojourner
Truth,
and Paul Laurence Dunbar, and surmounted by four murals by the African American
painter, muralist, printmaker, and illustrator Aaron Douglas. Selected by exhibition
curator Alonzo J. Aden of Howard University, Douglas was commissioned to chart
the progress of the Negro in American culture, from slavery to present. Of
these remarkable, uplifting paintings, only two remain. Long believed lost,
Into Bondage
came into the Corcoran’s collection in 1997. A year later the Fine Arts
Museums in San Francisco purchased its companion piece, Aspiration. . . .
:: Susan Badder, Senior Curator of Education
Corcoran Gallery of Art |
Text excerpted from A Capital Collection: Masterworks from
the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
:: Purchase A Capital Collection online
:: The Curator's Journals Project
:: Also see the past exhibition Celebrating the Legacy III: African-American Art
at
the
Corcoran
:: View
more American Art |
