The Driskell Center at the University of Maryland announces a landmark, yearlong exhibition celebrating a quarter century of collecting, documenting, researching, exhibiting, and advancing Black art. The University of Maryland established the center in the name of the eminent scholar, collector, and artist David C. Driskell (1931–2020), and it continues to operate in honor of his passion and purpose. Driskell’s personal collection of African American art formed the core of the center’s collection when it was founded in 2001. Since then, the center’s holdings have been enriched and expanded by the addition of hundreds of works across media. The center’s historic collection is a microcosm of more than 150 years of Black artmaking. Jubilee proudly celebrates The Driskell Center’s legacy and previews the bright future of this trailblazing American cultural institution.
Jubilee will feature 75 works from the center’s historic art collection that reflect some of the prevalent subjects, aesthetic trends, and concerns that Black artists across the African diaspora have engaged with from the early 20th century to the contemporary moment. Themes include the many languages of abstraction, the role of nature as muse, the importance of portraiture in Black visual practice, art as a spiritual practice, the dialogue between Black art and music, and the mediation of history.
