NEW YORK, NY.- Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North will be on view starting today until March 24, 2024. As a corrective to histories that define slavery and anti-Black racism as a largely Southern issue, this exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum offers a new window onto Black representation in a region that is often overlooked in narratives of early African American history.

Through 125 remarkable works including paintings, needlework, and photographs, this exhibition invites visitors to focus on figures who appear in—or are omitted from—early American images and will challenge conventional narratives that have minimized early Black histories in the North, revealing the complexities and contradictions of the region’s history between the late 1600s and early 1800s.

A 300-page scholarly book with contributions from Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Jennifer Van Horn, and several authors, is available for purchase.

"This exhibition at one of our most valuable institutions will provide a rare glimpse into Black life (as well as its absence) in early New England and the mid-Atlantic states. More than 70 works will be on display, including painting, needlework, and works on paper," –– Jerry Saltz on Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North for New York Magazine's fall preview.

The exhibition is co-curated by Emelie Gevalt, Curatorial Chair for Collections and Curator of Folk Art, AFAM; RL Watson, Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies, Lake Forest College; and Sadé Ayorinde, Terra Foundation Predoctoral Fellow in American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Exhibition Related Programs:

December 7, 2023: Virtual Insights: Reasserting Black Presence in the Early American North

January 11, 2024: BlackMass Responds to Unnamed Figures: Tour with Yusuf Hassan and Kwamé Sorrell

February 14, 2024: Notes on Style: A Discussion with BlackMass on Portraiture and Personhood

February 23 and March 28, 2024: “The Picture Is Still Out There”: Reframing Black Presence in the Collections of Early American Art and Material Culture | 2024 Elizabeth and Irwin Warren Folk Art Symposium

March 18, 2024: Autobiographical Landscapes: Gary Tyler in Conversation with Allison Glenn

American Folk Art Museum
Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North
November 15th, 2023 – March 24th, 2024