‘Whitfield Lovell: Passages’ Reveals Hidden Histories of America’s Collective Heritage

Immersive exhibition showcases aspects of Black history, raising universal questions about identity and memory

SAN ANTONIO, TX (August 6, 2024) – The McNay Art Museum presents “Whitfield Lovell: Passages,” the most comprehensive exhibition of the contemporary artist to date. The exhibition, organized by the American Federation of Arts in collaboration with artist Whitfield Lovell, will be on view at the McNay Oct. 23, 2024–Jan. 19, 2025 in the Tobin Exhibition Galleries.

Consisting of two immersive installations and approximately 30 additional works, “Passages” features Lovell’s hyperrealist Conté drawings based on found photos of unknown African Americans, in addition to expansive and emotionally stirring installations. Visitors are immersed in lesser-discussed aspects of Black history, which raise questions about the necessity of identity and memory, and meditate on the enduring tenuousness of American heritage.

Whitfield Lovell is originally from Bronx, New York and is a 2007 MacArthur Foundation fellowship recipient. Lovell creates exquisite drawings inspired by his own collection of vintage photographs of unidentified African Americans taken between the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). By pairing his intimate drawings with seemingly innocuous found objects, Lovell renders art and the quotidian enduring companions in his three-dimensional storytelling, bringing Black history to life through intricate and ardent symbolism.

“Visitors to ‘Whitfield Lovell: Passages’ will experience an immersive journey into African American history and heritage, moved by the ordinary lives and extraordinary journeys of anonymous individuals,” said Matthew McLendon, director and CEO of the McNay. “This exhibition shines a light on America’s collective heritage, helping advance our mission to engage a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts.”

The exhibition includes works from Lovell’s past series, “Kin” (2008-2011), and his newest, “The Reds” (2021-2022). Audiences will bear witness to works created on luscious, deep crimson paper that evokes warmth, passion, and the sanguine. “Passages” also brings together two of Lovell’s major installations for the first time. The exhibition features “Deep River” (2013), an installation that documents the perilous journey freedom-seekers took by crossing the Tennessee River to “Camp Contraband” in Chattanooga, TN during the American Civil War.

With the use of projections, the sound of lapping water, and a soil mound covered with vintage objects and surrounded by 56 circular wooden foundry molds bearing hand-drawn depictions on an unidentified African American individual, viewers are immersed in the gallery and invited to contemplate the larger human quest for equality and the pursuit of a better life that spans time and geography.

“Passages” culminates in a second installation, titled “Visitation: The Richmond Project” (2001). Visitors will enter an intimate domestic interior with wood paneled walls. Through immersing into this 19th century tableau, visitors will materially and atmospherically encounter the impact of the first major African American entrepreneurial community in Jackson Ward, Richmond, VA.

“We are pleased to bring together the multisensory installations, evocative Conté crayon drawings, and other assemblages by Whitfield Lovell,” said René Paul Barilleaux, head of curatorial affairs at the McNay. “We are particularly proud to have ‘Cake Walk,’ which was acquired for the McNay’s collection in 2010 by the McNay Contemporary Collectors Forum, included in this powerful exhibition.”

The McNay is the last of six stops for the national exhibition tour of “Whitfield Lovell: Passages,” presented by the American Federation of Arts. Curators-in-charge at the McNay Art Museum are René Paul Barilleaux, head of curatorial affairs, and Lauren Thompson, curator of exhibitions.

Lead funding is most generously provided by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992. Additional support is provided by Semmes Foundation, Inc., and Frost Bank Charitable Foundation. Major support for the national tour and exhibition catalogue are provided by National Endowment for the Arts and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Upcoming Programming:
Annual Patrons Party in celebration of “Whitfield Lovell: Passages”
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Member Tour and Early Access to “Whitfield Lovell: Passages”
Sunday, October 27, 2024
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Images available here.

Media Contact:
Yolanda Urrabazo
Head of Communications and Marketing
yolanda.urrabazo@mcnayart.org

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About McNay Art Museum
The McNay Art Museum engages a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts. Built in the 1920s by artist and educator Marion Koogler McNay, the Spanish Colonial Revival residence became the site of Texas’ first modern art museum when it opened in 1954. Today, 200,000 visitors a year enjoy works by modern masters including Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 45,000-square-foot Jane & Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions, designed by internationally renowned French architect Jean-Paul Viguier, features major exhibitions annually. The 25 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds include sculptures by Willie Cole, Robert Indiana, Luis A. Jiménez Jr., Alejandro Martín, George Rickey, Joel Shapiro, Kiki Smith, Tom Wesselmann and others. For more information about the McNay, visit www.mcnayart.org.

The McNay is open Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday from Noon to 5 p.m.

About the American Federation of Art
The American Federation of Arts is the leader in traveling exhibitions internationally. A nonprofit organization founded in 1909, the AFA is dedicated to enriching the public’s experience and understanding of the visual arts through organizing and touring art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishing exhibition catalogues featuring important scholarly research, and developing educational programs.