Great American Mural Series Travels to Kansas City on National Tour

Kansas City, MO. Sept. 15, 2015

Nelson-Atkins to Display Woodruff Murals Before Their Return to Talladega

Recently restored murals by acclaimed artist Hale Aspacio Woodruff have been traveling the country for the first time since their creation and will make their final stop at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City on September 25. Commissioned by Alabama’s Talladega College in 1938, the two cycles of murals, The Mutiny on the Amistad and The Founding of Talladega, are vibrant depictions of events symbolizing the centuries-long African American struggle for civil rights. These monumental murals will be on view in the exhibition Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College, in the Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins from September 25, 2015 through January 10, 2016.

“These dynamic works serve not only as magnificent examples of the art of mural painting, but also as dramatic depictions of highly symbolic events in history,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Menefee D. and Mary Louise Blackwell CEO & Director of the Nelson-Atkins. “Seventy-five years after they were painted, these murals are vivid reminders of the struggle for human justice and brotherhood–a struggle that continues to this day.” Hale Aspacio Woodruff was born in Cairo, Illinois, and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, by his widowed mother, Augusta, a domestic laborer who recognized and encouraged her son’s gift for art. In 1927, after formal art study in the United States, Woodruff moved to Paris where he trained at

the city’s progressive art academies. Woodruff returned to the United States in 1931 and established the first art school for African Americans in the southeast at Atlanta University. During the depression, he participated in government-sponsored public art programs, painting murals (many of which no longer exist) with black cultural themes. This increased focus on effective social commentary in public art fortified Woodruff for what would become his most high-profile project, the Talladega commission.

The Amistad mural cycle, painted first and completed for the 1939 opening of the Savery Library on Talladega’s campus, chronicles the mutiny aboard the infamous ship, the trial of the surviving slaves, and their subsequent repatriation after their release. Painted in 1942, the Founding mural cycle illustrates the continued struggles for blacks even after the end of the Civil War. Scenes from the Underground Railroad, the founding of Talladega College and the building of Savery Library, illuminate the lasting effects slavery had on freedom, education and equality.

For the traveling exhibition Rising Up, the High Museum of Art collaborated with Talladega College on the removal of the murals from the walls of Savery Library, where they had hung for nearly 70 years. The two institutions partnered for the extensive conservation treatment of the paintings, as well as the multi-city tour that presents these six murals to a national audience for the first time.

The celebration of Woodruff’s life and accomplishments will reach beyond the doors of the Nelson-Atkins to become a collaborative effort between cultural organizations including The American Jazz Museum, The Black Archives of Mid-America, and Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center. Opening September 26, 2015 at The American Jazz Museum, “All Hail to Hale” Homecoming: the Hale Woodruff Family Collection showcases over 25 original Woodruff paintings along with a collection of personal items of the artist that have never been on public view. For a full list of programming associated with the American Jazz Museum please visit americanjazzmuseum.org.

“Although painted for a local audience, Woodruff’s murals reached beyond Talladega’s campus to attract national attention as an artistic triumph, a statement of pride, and an emblem of hope for racial equality,” said Stephanie Fox Knappe, Samuel Sosland Curator, American Art. “Today these murals remain symbols of the centuries-long struggle for civil rights. We are honored to showcase them in Kansas City before they return to the walls of Savery Library at Talladega College and delighted that their presentation at the Nelson-Atkins coincides with the tribute to Woodruff mounted by The American Jazz Museum.”

The Nelson-Atkins will also offer an installation of works to complement Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College. Opening Nov. 11 in Gallery 214, American Art—In Preparation includes preparatory works drawn from the Nelson-Atkins’ permanent collection, featuring mural studies that were enlarged and transferred by some of Woodruff’s contemporaries, such as Aaron Douglas, Peter Hurd, and Thomas Hart Benton. This exhibition is Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow Issac Logsdon’s curatorial debut.

“The wide-ranging examples of preparatory works on view will trace the trajectory of the artists’ thoughts and offer insight into the artistic process of translating precise drawings into monumental murals,” said Logsdon.

Programs offered at the Nelson-Atkins in conjunction with Rising Up are:

Rising Up: An Evening in Song 
Friday, October 16
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Atkins Auditorium

Enjoy a musical evening as the acclaimed vocalists, The Divas, present a concert inspired by Hale Woodruff’s murals.

Rising Up: Spoken Word 
Friday, October 23
6-7 p.m.
Atkins Auditorium

Led by Glenn North, Director of Education at the Black Archives of America, award-wining poets José Faus, Natasha Ria El-Scari and Sheri “Purpose” Hall respond to Rising Up.

Rising Up: Clips and Conversation 
Friday, November 13
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Atkins Auditorium

Engage in a conversation with Delia C. Gillis, Professor of History and Director, Center of Africana Studies at the University of Central Missouri, and Adrienne Walker Hoard, Director, Black Studies Program and Professor of Fine Art at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, as they explore the myths and realities of the historic Amistad court case depicted in the Oscar-nominated film and the Hale Woodruff murals.

Special Presentation 
American Treasures: Hale Woodruff and the Talladega Murals 
Thursday, December 3
6-7 p.m.
Atkins Auditorium

Enjoy an evening with esteemed artist, collector and scholar, David Driskell, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Maryland, as he shares insights about Hale Woodruff and discusses the High Museum of Art’s conservation and exhibition of the Talladega Murals with the High Museum’s Stephanie Heydt, Margaret and Terry Stent Curator of American Art, and Philip Verre, Chief Operating Officer.

Exhibition Credit Line: Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, in collaboration with Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama. 

In Kansas City, the exhibition is supported by the Donald J. Hall Initiative. 

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art 

The Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America’s finest art museums. The Nelson-Atkins serves the community by providing access and insight into its renowned collection of more than 33,500 art objects and is best known for its Asian art, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture, and new American Indian and Egyptian galleries. Housing a major art research library and the Ford Learning Center, the Museum is a key educational resource for the region. The institution-wide transformation of the Nelson-Atkins has included the 165,000-square-foot Bloch Building expansion and renovation of the original 1933 Nelson-Atkins Building.

The Nelson-Atkins is located at 45th and Oak Streets, Kansas City, MO. Hours are Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday/Friday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Admission to the museum is free to everyone. For museum information, phone 816.751.1ART (1278) or visit nelson-atkins.org/.