Renaissance, Race, and Representation in the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art

In 1987, Dr. Harmon Kelley (1945-2023) and his wife, Harriet, visited the “Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800-1950” exhibition curated by renowned artist and art historian David Driskell (1931-2020). This transformative encounter led to a life-long quest to collect and share the rich traditions of African American visual art. The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection, organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, has been presented widely over the last decade including most recently at the Fresno Art Museum and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.

As the Kelley family has sought to acquire the work of artists such as Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, and Elizabeth Catlett, they have developed a vast collection that reads like a "who's who" of works that includes paintings, etchings, lithographs, watercolors, block prints, silkscreens, and drawings.  In this year marking the centennial anniversary of the publication of “Harlem, Mecca of the New Negro” - the path-breaking special issue of the social science journal Survey Graphic in which Locke outlines his vision for Afro-modernist aesthetics, this exhibition draws on the stewardship of the Kelley family, the robust history of the Harlem Renaissance as well as selected works by Romare Bearden, Hale Woodruff, Charles White, John Wilson, Lois Mailou Jones and Emma Amos from the Hutchins Center’s permanent collection.

This exhibition was organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA in partnership with the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research and the Alain Locke Gallery exhibitions team: Dell Marie Hamilton, curator; Jessica Dow, curatorial assistant; Pablo Gonzalez, preparator, and Bob Shane of Shane Signs.  The Hutchins Center wishes to thank the Bob Bullock State History Texas Museum for granting permission to adapt their exhibition guide for "Renaissance, Race, and Representation in the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African Art."