COURTESY STEPHEN PITKIN/PITKIN STUDIO
The New Orleans Museum of Art has acquired ten works from the Atlanta-based Souls Grown Deep Foundation. The acquisition is part of the foundation’s “strategic gift/purchase program” that strives to increase the representation of African-American artists from the South in museums across the country.
The acquisition includes works by Thornton Dial, Ronald Lockett, Joe Minter, and Mary Proctor as well as five quilts made by the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. All will feature in future installations of NOMA’s permanent collection.
In a statement, Susan Taylor, NOMA’s director, said, “This acquisition builds upon the museum’s enduring commitment to championing emerging and underrepresented voices in American art, and marks the second time NOMA has had the opportunity to collaborate with the Souls Grown Deep Foundation.”
Maxwell L. Anderson, the foundation’s president, added, “The mission of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation is to collaborate with museums across the country, like the New Orleans Museum of Art, to incorporate work by these important artists into their collections and reshape the narrative of contemporary American art. NOMA has long played a pivotal role in highlighting this work, and so we are pleased to partner with them in this program.”