NATHANEAL TURNER
Pamela J. Joyner, the noted collector of African-American art, will serve as the chair of the Tate Americas Foundation starting in April. Her five-year appointment carries on from a stint as a foundation trustee since 2015 and follows a term in the position served by Jeanne Donovan Fisher.
In a statement, Tate director Maria Balshaw said, “Pamela has been a close friend and supporter of Tate, contributing significantly to our recent ‘Soul of a Nation’ exhibition and championing the work of African-American artists who are very important to Tate.”
Joyner, who with her husband Alfred J. Giuffrida has been named on the ARTnews “Top 200 Collectors” list, said she looks forward to “working with Maria Balshaw and the organization in helping it to meet its inclusive and globally collaborative vision. As one of the world’s leading art institutions, Tate plays a critical groundbreaking role in casting a spotlight on the contribution of both established and under-represented artists to the evolution of visual art in the 20th and 21st centuries.”
Prior to her start as a trustee, Joyner joined the foundation’s North American Acquisitions Committee in 2011 and presented as co-chair of its Artist Dinner in 2013 and 2016.
A traveling exhibition currently installed at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in North Carolina gathers African-American art collected by Joyner and her husband under the title “Solidary and Solitary: The Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Collection.” The exhibition includes a formidable cast of old and young artists including Norman Lewis, Jack Whitten, Sam Gilliam, Melvin Edwards, Theaster Gates, Lorna Simpson, Julie Mehretu, and Kevin Beasley.