Opens July 22
The Darryl Atwell Collection of African American Art
Curated by Dr. Michael D. Harris.
The debut of one of the most expansive collections of abstract and contemporary African-American art.
Image credits: Darryl Atwell sitting in front of Good Vibrations, 2013, Rashid Johnson, courtesy Darryl Atwell. Photo credit: Kevin Broome
Insights From a Conversation with Collector
Darryl Atwell at the National Gallery of Art
How He Got Started
Atwell’s interest in art developed while he was living in Cleveland. With little to do socially, he started going to the museum because it had jazz on Saturday nights. As he walked through the galleries he was struck by the beauty of the art. He purchased his first works from Malcolm Brown Gallery, a (now-defunct) black-owned gallery and began studying the history of African American art by reading books such as “Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas”
