The Whitney Museum of American ArtsEdges of Aileyexhibition is a feast for the senses.
Curated by Adrienne Edwards, Edges of Ailey was six years in the making.
More than 80 artists are represented in the show, with works spanning from 1851 to this year.
Installation view of “Edges of Ailey” (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 25, 2024-February 9, 2025). Benny Andrews, The Way to the Promised Land (Revival Series), 1994. Photographed by David Tufino.
A spirit of generosity coursed through Aileys career.
What better way to honor him than by uniting so many incredible works under one roof.
Emma Amos,Judith Jamison as Josephine Baker,1985.
Emma Amos,Judith Jamison as Josephine Baker,1985. Acrylic on canvas, 100 × 32 in. (254 × 81.2 cm). Ryan Lee Gallery. © Emma Amos. Courtesy Ryan Lee Gallery.
Acrylic on canvas, 100 32 in.
(254 81.2 cm).
Courtesy Ryan Lee Gallery.
Benny Andrews,The Way to the Promised Land (Revival Series),1994. Oil on canvas with painted fabric collage, 72 x 59 3/4 in. (182.9 x 128.9 cm). © Benny Andrews Estate; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY.
This painting by American artist Emma Amos channels two iconic Black woman dancers.
(Jamison is also depicted in the show in Karon Daviss white-plaster sculptureDear Mama, made in 2024.)
Benny Andrews,The Way to the Promised Land (Revival Series),1994.
Geoffrey Holder,Portrait of Camen de Lavallade,1976. Oil on canvas with artist frame, 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm). Courtesy James Fuentes Gallery.
Oil on canvas with painted fabric collage, 72 x 59 3/4 in.
(182.9 x 128.9 cm).
Benny Andrews Estate; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY.
Clementine Hunter,Cane River Baptism,c. 1950-1956. Oil on paperboard, 19 x 23 7/8 in. The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
it’s possible for you to feel the raw emotion in the artist and activist Benny Andrewss stylized paintings.
The stark whites, shadows, appliqued fabric, and elongated lines elicit an intense longing.
The performance never materialized, but the artworks remain beautiful examples of Beardens vivid imagination.
Jacob Lawrence,Tombstones,1942. Opaque watercolor on paper, 30 7/8 × 22 13/16 in. (78.4 × 57.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 43.14. © 2024 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Geoffrey Holder,Portrait of Camen de Lavallade,1976.
Oil on canvas with artist frame, 60 x 40 in.
(152.4 x 101.6 cm).
Kerry James Marshall,Souvenir IV,1998. Acrylic, glitter, and screenprint on paper on tarpaulin, with metal grommets, 107 5/8 × 157 1/2in. (273.4 × 400.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Painting and Sculpture Committee 98.56. © Kerry James Marshall; courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Courtesy James Fuentes Gallery.
Clementine Hunter,Cane River Baptism,c.
Oil on paperboard, 19 x 23 7/8 in.
Faith Ringgold,United States of Attica,1971. Offset lithograph, 21 3/8 × 27 3/16 in. (54.3 × 69.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of ACA Galleries in honor of Faith Ringgold 2017.163. © 2024 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Self-taught folk painter Clementine Hunter was born in 1887 in Louisiana.
She worked and lived on a plantation and never received a formal education.
Lynette Yiadom Boakye,A Knave Made Manifest,2024. Oil on linen, 78.7 x 70.8 x 1.4 in. (200 x 180 x 3.6 cm). Courtesy the Artist, Corvi-Mora, London, and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Hunters absorbing depictions of Black life in the South, like this baptism scene, were painted from memory.
Jacob Lawrence,Tombstones,1942.
Opaque watercolor on paper, 30 7/8 22 13/16 in.
(78.4 57.9 cm).
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 43.14.
2024 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Jacob Lawrence captured the streets and stoops of Harlem in many of his paintings from the 1940s.
Kerry James Marshall,Souvenir IV,1998.
Acrylic, glitter, and screenprint on paper on tarpaulin, with metal grommets, 107 5/8 157 1/2in.
(273.4 400.1 cm).
Kerry James Marshall; courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
It is one in a seriesKerry James Marshallpainted in dedication to Civil Rights figures who died in the 1960s.
Senga Nengudi began her sand-filled pantyhose sculptures after giving birth to her first child.
The stretched fabric instantly calls to mind a dancers legs.
Faith Ringgold,United States of Attica,1971.
Offset lithograph, 21 3/8 27 3/16 in.
(54.3 69.1 cm).
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of ACA Galleries in honor of Faith Ringgold 2017.163.
2024 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
It is dedicated to the men who died at Attica prison in 1971 for protesting against the despicable conditions.
Across the map, Ringgold notes other uprisings and cases of imperial injustice.
Lynette Yiadom Boakye,A Knave Made Manifest,2024.
Oil on linen, 78.7 x 70.8 x 1.4 in.
(200 x 180 x 3.6 cm).
Courtesy the Artist, Corvi-Mora, London, and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
As with her other work, her subjects are imagined people, amalgamations that represent a deeper truth.
Lush swaths of green and blue pop against her muted background.
What these four dancers think of as they ready themselves to perform, we can only guess.
Edges of Aileyis on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art through February 9, 2025.
