Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection highlights the works of masters, pioneers, and trailblazers who anchor the collection of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. The nearly forty works in the exhibition represent a variety of mediums and techniques including painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed-media collage, prints, and photographs. The works are divided into five sections that focus on the Spiral Group, abstraction, early figuration, contemporary photography, and contemporary figuration.

The exhibition features works by a range of artists including Amalia Amaki, Emma Amos, Benny Andrews, Firelei Báez, Herman “Kofi” Bailey, Romare Bearden, Betty Blayton, Beverly Buchanan, Selma Burke, Elizabeth Catlett, Floyd Coleman, Renee Cox, Myra Greene, Sam Gilliam, Glenn Ligon, Howardena Pindell, Lucille Malkia Roberts, Deborah Roberts, Faith Ringgold, Nellie Mae Rowe, Lorna Simpson, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Lina Iris Viktor, Carrie Mae Weems, Charles White, and Hale Woodruff.

Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman College has long been an important cultural hub. The historically Black liberal arts college for women began collecting objects in 1899, and in 1996 the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art opened with the mission to uplift art by and about women of the African diaspora. This goal directly reflects Spelman College’s dedication to academic excellence in education of women of African descent. In honor of the museum’s 25 years and the college’s much longer legacy of collecting art, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art organized the anniversary exhibition Silver Linings with a selection of works from the 1900s until now from the permanent collection.

Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection is organized by Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia. The exhibition is curated by Liz Andrews and Karen Comer Lowe with initial contributions from Anne Collins Smith.

Generous support provided by Art Bridges.

The local presenting sponsors for this exhibition are James and Sara Toussaint with additional support provided by Marcia Isaacson; Visit Gainesville, Alachua County; Laura L. Berns; David Etherington and Jeffery Dunn; and other generous donors.