Currently Showing in the Dadian Gallery:

October 15 - December 15

Visual Exegesis: Religious Images of African American Artists from the Jean and Robert E. Steele Collection

Dr. Steele will give a gallery talk on Tuesday, October 21, at noon. All are invited.

This exhibition is organized by the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Stephanie Pogue, Jonah in the Whale, 1972
embossed color etching, 3/20

The Dadian Gallery of the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary is delighted to present Visual Exegesis: Religious Images by African American Artists from the Jean and Robert E. Steele Collection. The 22 works in the current show were part of a larger exhibition by the same title shown at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music earlier this year as part of an interdisciplinary conference. In the forward to the catalogue for that event, Steven Cameron Newsome, Director of the Prince George’s Arts Council, Maryland and Founding Director of the Prince George’s African American Museum and Cultural Center of North Brentwood, Maryland, writes 

“Jean and Robert Steele have thoughtfully assembled a diverse visual chorus of African American praise songs, hymns, and shouts. Each piece has the power to cause the viewer to pause, reflect, and indeed pray… . Visual Exegesis provides an important opportunity for increased understanding of African American art forms. . . [creating] a unique safe and sacred space in which the African American identified and defined visions of divinity can be explored, expressed and celebrated.” 

Rather than presenting a unified voice, the works in this exhibition suggest a conversation in which the questions of faith and identity are asked and answered in many registers, ranging from wry irony and sadness to profound hope and delight. The fourteen artists represented in this exhibition include such well-known names as Jacob Lawrence, Allan Rohan Crite, Faith Ringgold, and David Driskell. Others, including Benny Andrews, John Biggers, Annette Fortt, Michael Harris, Curlee Holton, Margo Humphrey, Reginald Jackson, Paul Keene, Stephanie Pogue, and John Scott, may not be as familiar to many, but their works are equally powerful.  This exhibition is organized by the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park. It is made possible through the support of a special fund from the Office of the president, University of Maryland; the Yale University’s Middle Passage Conversations on Black Religion in the African Diaspora; and major support from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Deborah Sokolove
Curator, Dadian Gallery

Dadian Gallery Hours:
Monday - Friday 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Closed on Holidays