For an interesting take on Blacks in the History of Art, especially for the
18th century, have a look at the artwork of Yinka Shonibare. He's Nigerian
and British which may not be of help for the biennale exhibition but
nevertheless an interesting treatment of Black history.

There is an article on his work in the latest ARTNews magazine.
http://www.artnews.com/

Sample of some his work online at the following sites and links:
http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=1162
http://www.dareonline.org/themes/translations/shonibare.html

Hope that helps, Best of luck with the exhibition
Ziva

(Ms.) Ziva Haller Rubenstein
Dept of Image Resources & Copyright Management
the Israel Museum, Jerusalem




----- Original Message -----
From: Kathleen Goncharov <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 9:58 PM
Subject: Looking for artworks that include blacks.


> Fred Wilson will represent the U.S. in the Venice Biennale in June,
> 2003. Fred "animates" history by using paintings,furniture,
> decorative arts, etc., often juxtaposing these objects with audio or
> video. Some of you will know his "Mining the Museum" project for the
> Maryland Historical Society. For the Venice exhibition we a seeking
> to borrow paintings and/or other appropriate objects that are or look
> like they were painted in Europe from the 15th-18th Century and have
> black figures somewhere in them. Blacks do not have to the main
> subject of the work. We understand the difficulty in borrowing such
> works because of time constraints and the location and nature of the
> exhibition but we are not looking for masterworks and they do not
> have to be in perfect condition. If you have knowledge of such works
> we'd appreciate it if you would contact us.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Kathleen Goncharov
> U.S. Commissioner to the 50th Venice Biennale
> --
>
>
> Kathleen Goncharov
> Public Art Curator
> MIT List Visual Arts Center
> Wiesner Building, E15-109
> Cambridge, MA 02139
> Tel:  617.253.9478
> Fax: 617.258.7265
>
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