Brothers and Sisters

Cover of Beauford Delaney: A Retrospective
Exhibition catalogue: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1978

Brothers and Sisters (installation view)
Photo: Adam Reich

Richard Mayhew
Spring Rain, 1968
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Gift of Carol M. Unger 80.9

Alma Thomas (1891-1978)
Space, 1966
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase and a gift from E. Thomas Williams and Audyln Higgins Williams 97.9.19

Beauford Delaney (1901–1979)
Untitled Abstraction, 1969
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Gift of Addie Herder 01.2.1
Photo: Adam Reich

Beauford Delaney (1901–1979)
Untitled Abstraction, 1964
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Gift of Addie Herder 01.2.1
Photo: Adam Reich

Cover of Beauford Delaney: A Retrospective
Exhibition catalogue: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1978

Brothers and Sisters (installation view)
Photo: Adam Reich

Richard Mayhew
Spring Rain, 1968
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Gift of Carol M. Unger 80.9

Alma Thomas (1891-1978)
Space, 1966
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase and a gift from E. Thomas Williams and Audyln Higgins Williams 97.9.19

Beauford Delaney (1901–1979)
Untitled Abstraction, 1969
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Gift of Addie Herder 01.2.1
Photo: Adam Reich

Beauford Delaney (1901–1979)
Untitled Abstraction, 1964
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Gift of Addie Herder 01.2.1
Photo: Adam Reich

Brothers and Sisters is a cross-generational exhibition that examines the relationships between a selection of Beauford Delaney’s (1901-1979) paintings and prints made between 1958 and 1969, and works in The Studio Museum in Harlem’s permanent collection. The works in this exhibition will be displayed in small groupings—"families" sharing formal and stylistic characteristics—with an emphasis on the continuation and expansion of painterly abstraction.

The exhibition includes work from some of Delaney’s contemporaries, such as Herbert Gentry (1919–2003), Alma Thomas (1891–1978), as well as contemporary artists Glenn Ligon (b. 1964), Kori Newkirk (b. 1970), Julie Mehretu (b. 1970) and Jack Whitten (b. 1939), among others.

Brothers and Sisters is organized by Jamillah James, 2012 Curatorial Fellow, as part of the Museum’s year-long curatorial fellowship program dedicated to fostering emerging curators of diverse backgrounds.