A TIMELY CALL FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: ROCKWELL, WILLIAMS & CLARK SHOWS CELEBRATE IDENTITY

By Marjorie Kaye1 min read
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Left: Aaron Douglas, Untitled, 1925, at Norman Rockwell Museum. Right: Emory Douglas, Portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1993, print on paper, at Norman Rockwell Museum.

There has always been a strong thread connecting the arts and social justice. From satire via the political cartoon to the enigmatic works that expose the human condition, the tradition of awareness through visual means has always been a strong branch of art history. It is no surprise, then, in these extremely volatile times, that volumes of current exhibitions are focused on the experience of racial injustice in this country. Several Berkshire museums are a vortex of visual information this summer.

At the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, there is a monumental and comprehensive exhibition entitled “Imprinted:Illustrating Race” co-curated by Robyn Phillips-Pendleton, Professor of Visual Communications at the University of Delaware, whose extensive research motivated this collection, and Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

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