Brooklyn Museum opens new exhibition of American art

EASTERN PARKWAY — THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM CELEBRATES ITS BISCIENT ANNIVERSARY this year and is preparing to open its completely new American art gallery complex in October.. The new installation, titled Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art, opens Friday, October 4. It boldly experiments with representation and underscores the museum’s commitment to creating a more comprehensive history of art. This collection exhibition will bring together over 400 extraordinary works of art spanning 2,000 years, including over 120 never-before-exhibited works.

As part of the museum’s reimagining of its historic collections, “Toward Joy” will showcase black feminist approaches to inclusive space design. The collection will be installed in eight galleries on the museum’s fifth floor, each dedicated to a unique curatorial framework that brings together art from all eras, cultures, and media from across North, Central, and South America. The experience begins in the elevator lobby, where Jannah and Kiyanna Handy of Brooklyn-based BLK MKT Vintage were selected to design the interiors. The lead curator of the installation is Stephanie Sparling Williams, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art. She worked with a team of seven curators from the departments of American Art, Art of the Americas, and Decorative Arts and Design.

Inspired by the spirituals of 19th and 20th century black Americans, the first frame, “Trouble the Water,” explores the connections between water and the concepts of freedom, life, and spirituality.

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