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Permanent Collection on Display

A Recent Acquisition

Ekua Holmes
Goree, 2008,
mixed media

This simple yet elegant composition combines abstract and representational elements to evoke the loneliness of a solitary enslaved African near the island of Goree in the harbor of Dakar, Senegal. In the background is the “door of no return.” that is on the western or Atlantic side of the infamous House of Slaves. Goree was the point of departure for tens of thousands of Africans shipped to the Americas during the era of transatlantic slavery.

Holmes was born in Roxbury, and studied at the Massachusetts College of Art and the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is a painter, graphic designer and gallery curator and owner.

Mahler Ryder (1939-1992)
Untitled, l978
mixed media  

Ryder, who was also a sculptor, enjoyed creating abstractions that recalled his love of jazz music. This is such a work, hinting at dynamic improvisation along diagonal axis of the picture while still accepting the discipline of an overarching static geometry.

Ryder was born in Columbus, OH, and studied at the Columbus College of Art and Design, the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York. At the time of his death, he was Professor of Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design

Kofi Kayiga (1944-)
Double Power, l994
pastel on paper

These overlapping masks use dots, zigzags and other decorative markings to evoke a sense of African design energy. Kayiga was very aware of African elements in his own works.

Born in Jamaica, West Indies, Kayiga studied at the Jamaica School of Art, Royal College of Art in London, and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. He is Professor of Art at the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston.

Kofi Kayiga (1944-)
Spirit Love Mask, l994
pastel on paper

Spiritual themes predominate Kayiga’s art, which he regards as intuitively created by him and the forces that animate life.

New Mexico Ritual, l980
pastel on paper

Mask-like shapes and mythic animals emerge within the sophistication of this forcefully stated composition.

Pheoris West
Untitled, c.1980
oil on canvas

At the beginning of the l980s, West was intrigued with highly animated shapes often based on black urban figures. These works express heightened black subjectivity as well as a sense of being “on the move.” The impression of haste is underscored by the swirling brushwork and the emphasis of curved linear elements in the composition.
Born in Albany, NY, West studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art and Yale University. He is Professor of Art at Ohio State University.

Margo Humphrey (1942-)
Marble Box
color lithograph

Wit is an important aspect of Humphrey’s art. Here a nominal teenager’s marble box is inhabited by copulating zebras and other surprises.
Humphrey was born in Oakland, CA, and studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts and Stanford University. She is a Professor of Art at the Maryland College of Art.

Calvin Burnett (1929-2007)
Two Months, 1993
mixed media

Two Months focuses on the politically sensitive months of February and March. The panel on the left has written in its margin, “Feb. is African-American History Month & Mar. is Women’s Heritage Month, so what month is now? On the right panel is written “. . . so one history and one heritage month. . .  so far. . .” Satiric comments such as these are an important part of Burnett’s work.
Burnett was born in Cambridge, MA, and studied at the Massachusetts College of Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Boston University. Until his retirement, he was Professor of Art at the Massachusetts College of Art.

Bryan McFarlane
Eating Paint, l984
oil on canvas

Do you like what you do well enough to eat its symbols? McFarlane is shown eating from his tubes of paint.
Born in Jamaica, West Indies, McFarlane graduated from the Edna Manley College of Art and the Massachusetts College of Art. He is Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA.

Evangeline J. Montgomery (1933-)
Sanctuary, l997
mixed media

Produced at the Brandywine Print Workshop in Philadelphia, this print is part of a series of abstract themes produced by Montgomery who previously was active as a silversmith and jewelry-maker.
Montgomery studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts. She has been active as  an independent curator and she is presently Program Development Officer for the Arts America Program for the United States Information Agency.

Jack Whitten (1939-)
Untitled, l968
oil on canvas

Whitten is an important abstract artist who came to prominence in New York in the late l960s.
Born in Bessemer, Alabama, Whitten studied at Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA, and Cooper Union in New York. He resides in Queens, New York.

Robert Freeman
Passage of Temptation, l989
oil on canvas

Passage of Temptation is a meditation on the story of Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden, except the setting is now a suburban garden party, and there are multiple Adams and Eves.
Born in Washington, D.C., Freeman studied at Boston University and is active in Boston, though he travels widely.

Milton Derr (1932-)
Untitled (Figure in landscape), l975
oil on canvas

Derr often worked using bright greens and oranges generally creating highly abstracted compositions anchored by figurative elements.
Born in Milwaukee, WS, Derr studied at the Layton School of Art, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Independent Group of Painters and Sculptors in Tokyo, Japan. Until his retirement, he was Professor of Art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Milton Derr (1932-)
Man in a kimono, nd
oil on canvas

Throughout the l960s and 70s, Derr spent part of the summer in Japan. Many of his works recall this period in subject matter or through formal Japanese design elements or motifs.

Marcia Lloyd
South Dakota Highway Series, mid-l980s
pastel on paper

In this series, Lloyd recalls the vastness of the sky in the American West. Hints of houses--perhaps farmsteads, nestle in the low growth that flanks the highway outlining itself against sunsets at eventide.
Born in Philadelphia, Lloyd studied at Pembroke College and University of Pennsylvania.

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