Talks & Conversations

A Snapshot of Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955-1985

Ming Smith, Sun Ra Space II, New York, New York, 1978, gelatin silver print, Charina Endowment Fund, 2017.42.1

Join us for a 30-minute “snapshot” of Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985. We’ll orient you to the themes of the exhibition and look closely at a few images together. With this introduction in mind, explore the rest of the exhibition at your own pace.

This program takes place on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays between October 5, 2025, and January 11, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Meet at the West Building Rotunda.

For groups of 15 or more people, please schedule a group experience.

Sign-language interpreters and guides for visitors who are blind or have low vision are available for programs. Please call (202) 737-4215 or email [email protected] three weeks in advance for an appointment.

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Registration Required
This nearly abstract painting is created with flowing bands and triangular forms of mostly single colors in caramel brown, pine and spring green, apricot orange, plum purple, or fuchsia, with some bands of unpainted canvas in this horizontal painting. A wide, tan-colored band rises from the lower left corner toward the upper right. There are triangular forms in pumpkin orange to our left and another near the lower right. With the brown band, they recall hills along a valley. Pink, orange, deep purple, and fuchsia are painted in bands in the lower right corner and across the bottom. Above the tan band, a wide swath of spring and dark green may suggest hills beyond, with swirling yellow, black, pink, and blue under a patch of lavender purple that spans the top edge of the canvas, which could be the sky. The painting is signed and dated at the lower right corner, “Frankenthaler ’73.”

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This nearly abstract painting is created with flowing bands and triangular forms of mostly single colors in caramel brown, pine and spring green, apricot orange, plum purple, or fuchsia, with some bands of unpainted canvas in this horizontal painting. A wide, tan-colored band rises from the lower left corner toward the upper right. There are triangular forms in pumpkin orange to our left and another near the lower right. With the brown band, they recall hills along a valley. Pink, orange, deep purple, and fuchsia are painted in bands in the lower right corner and across the bottom. Above the tan band, a wide swath of spring and dark green may suggest hills beyond, with swirling yellow, black, pink, and blue under a patch of lavender purple that spans the top edge of the canvas, which could be the sky. The painting is signed and dated at the lower right corner, “Frankenthaler ’73.”

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