The History of the Group Exhibition from the Harmon Foundation to Black Male

This chapter provides a brief history of the African American group exhibition from 1927 through 1994. It analyzes the evolving commitments of a disparate group of patrons, curators, arts institutions, and artists all of whom sought to present black art to a broader American audience. The chapter examines the Whitney Museum of American Art’s exhibition Black Male and contemporary curatorial approaches to the group exhibition. While The Negro in Art Week may have been the first exhibition to promote an entirely African American roster of artists, the New York–based philanthropic organization the Harmon Foundation cemented the popularity of the form in the 1930s. Given the foundation’s longevity as the de facto promoter of African American art in the United States, it is no surprise that they were able to display the work of a vastly more significant number of African American artists than previous group exhibitions.