What if Black Galleries Were Part of the Museum Acquisition Pipeline?

Nov 13, 2024

What if Black Galleries Were Part of the Museum Acquisition Pipeline?

By Chenoa Baker

"Cornrows" by Ronald Walton

“In 2024, still, we are not necessarily the decision makers when it comes to Black art.” — Richard Beavers, founder of Richard Beavers Gallery in Brooklyn

The New York Times article, “Black Gallerists Press Forward Despite a Market That Holds Them Back,” affirms this quote by Beavers. In 2020, there was only one Black gallerist in the Art Dealer Association of America. While that was nearly five years ago, the margins of Black-owned galleries recognized by mainstream art institutions are slim.

In “To Bear Witness: Real Talk About White Supremacy in Art Museums Today,” art curator and educator, Dr. Kelli Morgan writes, “Through very deliberate racist and sexist practices of acquisition, deaccession, exhibition, and art-historical analysis, museums have decisively produced the very state of exclusion that publicly engaged art historians and curators (including myself) are currently working hard to dismantle.” Acquisition, particularly in a context where museums try to distance themselves from the art market, is fraught with white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. The machine reinforces exclusion by doing business with the global minority, which, in turn, funnels financial and cultural wealth back to them.

When I interned at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, years ago, one of my tasks was writing acquisition rationales for fiber artist, Marylin Pappas; Black painter (and glassblower!), Corey Pemberton; and jeweler, Jonathan Wahl. These documents are internal records and are tangible documentation for trustees and/or collection committees to agree upon. They function like persuasive essays in support of one or multiple objects from an artist. At the point that I’m writing about these artists, the process has been a multi-year conversation. Acquisitions are often driven by works already featured in exhibitions, making the exhibition program crucial for shaping collection decisions. These acquisitions typically aim to fill gaps in the collection or enhance ongoing dialogues within it. Most importantly, objects without provenance of collectors seldom make it to the level of museum acquisition, which can be a barrier to entry.

I currently serve as an advisor to the exhibition committee at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA, where I’m involved in internal discussions about the storage of newly acquired works, managing the modest budget of a smaller regional museum, and evaluating pieces in person to determine whether they should be included in the collection. For museums like this, donations of artwork and large foundational and individual grants make it possible to acquire over the typical capacity of the budget. However, it is even an economically privileged position to give work away to a museum that many artists cannot afford.

Often, Black artists jump from one pond to the next and get picked up from museums when they work with mainstream, white-owned galleries, which keeps the arts economy skewed. Disrupting systemic inequity is crucial for empowering Black communities. For the past two decades, Richard Beavers has built a successful program that reflects this mission. He says, “It's extremely important because Black galleries are sometimes the first to identify these emerging artists that we work with and we put a lot of resources into the careers of these artists, such as artist development, the monetary aspect, introducing their work to the market, and providing them with more visibility.”

"Crowns of Zion" by Dean Mitchell

Furthermore, Black galleries specialize in fallow ground, pour into those seeds and nurture it, and often it becomes someone else’s harvest. For example, Claire Oliver, owned by a white woman, represents Gio Swaby and Bisa Butler, among others, whom she positioned in the collections of museums. Both artists circulated through Black institutions. Bisa Butler, Genesis Tremaine, Marcus Jansen, and Alexis McGrigg are some of the many Black artists that have come through Black galleries. I’m unsurprised at this phenomenon, as a major museum rejected my recommendation to add Rose Piper’s work to a show. They got squeamish at borrowing work from an HBCU’s collection because it ‘simply hasn’t been done.’ These structures cling to familiarity, which fosters a culture of exclusion.

Several chicken-or-the-egg questions emerge about perpetuating this cycle: 1) Do museums mostly recognize work in white-owned blue-chip galleries, therefore, driving the market? For example, writing into collections strategies to buy from artists directly and support underrepresented galleries could dramatically reshape the field. 2) Are artists flocking to white-owned, blue-chip galleries to acquiesce power and prestige?

Either way, a model where proximity to whiteness is the pinnacle is unsustainable and problematic. It feels like the folktale of John Henry where you can be the strongest, be ‘twice as good,’ and outwork others to gain equality only in death, which, for Henry, was hastened by overworking. That two-fold conundrum came up in a chat with Clarke Brown, former LSU Museum of Art Curatorial Fellow and current Special Projects Curator for Clark Atlanta University, who has worked on many institutional acquisitions. “Institutions should do more. Part of it depends on the artist. The more successful artists become, the more they want to be associated with blue-chip galleries. That's also part of the conversation: artists wanting… or why they don't want to be represented by Black galleries and what can be done to persuade them otherwise. Not to say that there are not good artists represented by Black galleries because there are, but, just like you said, keeping the dollars within the community.”

"Flowers for Their Stripes" by Traci Mims

Richard Beavers affirms this notion:

"It becomes problematic when galleries, Black-owned galleries, are identifying these artists and they're not getting the recognition for building a market for artists. Once these artists leave our programs, that's when they start to get the attention through it from institutions, whether it be curators, board members, trustees, or acquisition departments. They just have the relationships and access that Black-owned galleries just don't have to build up your program to the point where you're able to get accepted into the fairs. That's the first hurdle. The second hurdle is, as you mentioned, the financial commitment and investment. When you finally do get to that level, display these artists, and exhibit them in your booth, to get the recognition or get the attention from these institutions is very important because it kind of legitimizes what galleries are doing. Because, at the end of the day, artists want their works to be in the collections of these private institutions."

After interviews and seeking out old and new contacts, I turned to crowdsourcing answers. I was surprised that a few museum staff and Black galleries decided not to comment. Their silence speaks volumes. Some may not want to rock the boat or threaten their sales position. Do museums collect from Black galleries? I posed this question in a LinkedIn post and on Instagram. Responses only addressed repatriation, but it seemed like many were not even aware that Black galleries not brokering sales to museums were a problem.

Blue-chip galleries are often in major cities, seen as a reliable investment for art, and have a recognized sales and exhibition program. It is the upper echelon of galleries; often Black galleries are pushed out of that category because the qualifications are so subjective and often reinforce white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. What stands out to me is the glaring lack of research about how many blue-chip galleries are Black, how many blue-chip galleries facilitate sales to museums, and the percentage of artists in museum collections whose deals have been brokered by Black galleries. Without this empirical data, it’s hard to track this type of economic disenfranchisement and keep it going.

But there are few success stories that I’ve been able to track down.

One example is how the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston purchased This Side of Night, an illustrated book with eight prints and original text by Delita Martin that the museum purchased from Galerie Myrtis. Rising star Monica Ikeguwu, also represented by Galerie Myrtis, is in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, and Muskegon Museum of Art. Richard Beavers Gallery placed Marcus Jansen in the Bronx Museum and the Rollins Museum of Art, among others. They also brokered a sale of Linthia Edwards’ work with the 21C Museum Hotels. Black Art in America has placed two works by Reginald Gammon at the Columbus Museum in Georgia and The Worcester Museum of Art. They brokered sales to the Legacy Museum of Woodrow Nash and Elizabeth Catlett. Stella Jones Art Gallery in New Orleans also has a powerhouse roster of art from Cey Adams to Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, and Charly Palmer.

"Summation Mayhew Homage" by Lillian Blades

How do we shift from the problem to solutions?

Richard Beavers strategized about how a conglomerate of collectors can co-own Black art and donate it to museums while advocating that the Black gallery working with the artist be credited in its provenance. Also, he suggests having more Black museum trustees, folks on acquisition committees and at every facet of the arts ecosystem advocating for each other like supporting the Black Trustees Alliance for Museums. Other action steps are holding museums accountable to their equity statements and push for its incorporation in collection strategy documentation.

Najee Dorsey, owner of Black Art in America (BAIA), states “While galleries have to continue to work to grow their audience, market their programs and be present as much as possible at fairs, I put more of the heavy lifting on the museums.” He continues, “They know they have gaps they're looking to fill and they have to be more intentional with where they do business. They need to make a point to visit gallery shows as well as fairs that are Black led. They should understand that the Black gallery ecosystem has been generally the first to nurture, provide exhibition space and sales opportunities for Black talent.”

The strategy that BAIA employs to counteract this hidden form of art economic racism, according to Dorsey, “has been to participate in more art fairs, present our offering on broader platforms like Artsy, and put more dollars into advertising. Reintroduce the print publication again and collaborate with our current museum partners to present more exhibitions and opportunities for our artists and lean on them to introduce us to like-minded arts professionals.”

However, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if we invest in our own instead of being at the whim of trends driving accessions of Black art. Would culturally-specific museums be a better venue for acquisitions?

If you or someone you know is interested in stopping the cycle of disenfranchisement, here’s a list of Black-owned galleries in the U.S.

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