WILLIAMSBURG, VA.- More than thirty paintings, drawings, works on paper and sculptures by some of this country's most renowned artists are being featured in Building on the Legacy: African American Art from the Permanent Collection, on view now at the Muscarelle Museum of Art. The selection embraces a panoply of approaches, ranging from the 19th century realism of Henry Ossawa Tanner to the contemporary conceptualism of Martin Puryear. The subjects include portraiture by realist and folk artists, black-and-white abstractions and colorful landscapes, all drawn from the Muscarelle Museum of Art's young but flourishing holdings of this material. Comprised of a variety of media, styles and time periods, this exhibition exemplifies the plurality of vision among these accomplished artists.

The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see many of the Museum's African American works on paper, which – due to their fragile nature and sensitivity to light – are displayed only periodically. Notable in this category is a bold abstract collage by Sam Gilliam, probably the greatest living black artist. Of local interest are several portraits and figure studies drawn by A.B. Jackson, who lived and taught for decades in nearby Norfolk, Va.

A number of the works in Building on the Legacy have not previously been exhibited, as they have only recently entered the Muscarelle collection. Significant acquisitions since 2010 include earlier important black artists like Augusta Savage and Margaret Burroughs as well as such notable young talents as Kara Walker, Fred Wilson and Steve Prince. In 2015, the Muscarelle was able to acquire the two powerful portraits that are the “symbols” of this show: John Wilson’s etching of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 2002, and a rare photograph of the poet Maya Angelou, 1993, by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe. The portrait of Maya Angelou was purchased from her estate soon after her death in 2014. “We are so fortunate to have acquired this image of Maya Angelou and to honor her in doing so for our alma mater of the nation,” Muscarelle Director Aaron De Groft said. “Angelou transcends time and place as both a poet of our nation and in her tireless work for decades on behalf of civil rights.”

Building on the Legacy: African American Art from the Permanent Collection is a special exhibition organized as part of this year’s commemoration by the College of William & Mary of the fiftieth anniversary of the first African American students in residence.