Queens, Gods and Devotees

Queens, Gods, and Devotees presents selections from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art that foreground earthly and divine greatness, and their associated devotional practices and ritual objects. Spanning continents, cultures, and eras, many of these images of exalted figures and concepts related to spirituality and worship are specific to the Black American experience, or are re-imagined in a Black cultural context. References to Greek mythology, the Judeo-Christian tradition, ancient cultures, and traditional African spiritual practices appear alongside one another, offering viewers the opportunity to find parallels and distinctions in how greatness, power, and majesty have been represented in African American art, as well as how reverence and veneration have been envisioned.

The Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art is a targeted initiative to bring focus to the full range of African American visual creativity and its essential place in the history and discourse of American Art. As part of a growing and thoughtful dialogue about the African American experience through art, the PFF Collection seeks to visually represent a cross-section of themes that speak not only to the African American community, but also the broader American community. 

Curated by Susanna W. Gold, Ph.D.

The works in this gallery elevate Black people as sacred in their daily lives, or reference spiritual practices from a range of religious traditions. Several artists depict everyday, contemporary people in the roles of holy figures adorned with a halo, a ubiquitous symbol in the Christian visual tradition, marking them as special and valuable in response to the unique challenges and enduring impact of a history of social inequity. Others take a more literal approach to the sacred by depicting figures engaged in acts of religious ritual, or creating objects that evoke African and ancient cultures. In many of these works, abstract forms communicate perspectives on history and society, often intertwined with notions of prayer or worship.

The Black woman features prominently in this gallery, depicted in the traditional role of mother, or as specifically analogous to the Madonna and Christ Child motif familiar in Western art, but re-imagined with contemporary figures. The Black woman also appears here as the Queen of Heaven in a cloud-filled, otherworldly night sky, a holy realm that other artists in this gallery incorporate into their work as an abstract space for spiritual self-exploration, or from which angels descend to experience the world as Black men. Some of these artists fully embrace abstraction as they create their own visual language of forms and symbols that address ancient African belief systems, the cosmos, and the spirit world.

This gallery contains work depicting celebrated figures from the Bible, as well as powerful religious and mythological figures derived from African and ancient traditions. Christ, Nicodemus, Moses, and Elijah are juxtaposed with pagan gods, queens, and heroes. Many of these figures are re-imagined in the context of Black history and contemporary culture, calling attention to the universality of human experience across time and place.