A Force for Change
African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund
February 8—August 16, 2009
A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund is the first exhibition to explore the legacy of the Julius Rosenwald Fund created by the Chicago businessman and philanthropist to foster black leadership through the arts, literature, and scholarship. From 1928 to 1948, the Fund awarded stipends to hundreds of prominent and emerging African Americans artists, writers, and scholars across such disciplines as history, sociology, literature, and the visual and performing arts. A Force for Change will present the artistic and scholarly products of Julius Rosenwald’s support, and will include more than sixty paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by twenty-two Rosenwald fellows, as well as a selection of documentary and archival materials.
Artists include: Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas, Katherine Dunham, Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks, Rose Piper, Augusta Savage, Charles White, and Hale Woodruff, among others. This exhibition is organized for Spertus Museum by guest curator Daniel Schulman and will travel to the Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania and the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey following Spertus' presentation.
Exhibition Related Programs
Special Opening Weekend Tour
Sunday, February 8 at 3 pm
Free with museum admission.
Guest curator Daniel Schulman leads a tour of the new exhibition.
African American Art and Patronage
A Lecture by Dr. Richard J. Powell
Sunday, February 8 at 4 pm
In conjunction with the exhibition’s opening, Dr. Richard J. Powell, the John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History at Duck University, presents an illustrated lecture on African American art and patronage in the Rosenwald era.
Tickets $10 | $8 Spertus members | $5 students
Call 312.322.1773.
Teacher Open House
Educator Reception and Workshop
Focus on Printmaking in the Classroom
Thursday, 4:30 to 6:30 pm
Teachers are invited to join Spertus Museum educators to tour the new exhibition and participate in an interactive print-making workshop with Master Printer Thomas Lucas.
Free. Reservations required. Call 312.322.1773 or email museum@spertus.edu.
A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund has been made possible by a generous grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Major support for this project has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Righteous Persons Foundation, and The Judith Rothschild Foundation.
Artists include: Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas, Katherine Dunham, Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks, Rose Piper, Augusta Savage, Charles White, and Hale Woodruff, among others. This exhibition is organized for Spertus Museum by guest curator Daniel Schulman and will travel to the Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania and the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey following Spertus' presentation.
Exhibition Related Programs
Special Opening Weekend Tour
Sunday, February 8 at 3 pm
Free with museum admission.
Guest curator Daniel Schulman leads a tour of the new exhibition.
African American Art and Patronage
A Lecture by Dr. Richard J. Powell
Sunday, February 8 at 4 pm
In conjunction with the exhibition’s opening, Dr. Richard J. Powell, the John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History at Duck University, presents an illustrated lecture on African American art and patronage in the Rosenwald era.
Tickets $10 | $8 Spertus members | $5 students
Call 312.322.1773.
Teacher Open House
Educator Reception and Workshop
Focus on Printmaking in the Classroom
Thursday, 4:30 to 6:30 pm
Teachers are invited to join Spertus Museum educators to tour the new exhibition and participate in an interactive print-making workshop with Master Printer Thomas Lucas.
Free. Reservations required. Call 312.322.1773 or email museum@spertus.edu.
A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund has been made possible by a generous grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Major support for this project has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Righteous Persons Foundation, and The Judith Rothschild Foundation.