This exhibition looks at the continuum of self-taught art across time and place from the earliest days of the founding of the United States to the present. Drawn entirely from the collection of the American Folk Art Museum, American Perspectives includes an extraordinary selection of paintings, sculpture, and other objects that demonstrates the diversity of American life and experiences. Each artwork is a powerful vehicle for storytelling, and this exhibition reveals the vital role folk art plays as a witness to history, marker of cultural heritage, and a reflection of the world at large through the eyes, heart, and mind of an artist. Looking at nationhood, freedom, immigration, opportunity, and legacy, this is the first presentation of folk art in the Frick's history.

This exhibition has been organized by the American Folk Art Museum, New York, with support provided by Art Bridges.

Originally curated for installation at the American Folk Art Museum, February 11, 2020–January 3, 2021, by Stacy C. Hollander, Independent Curator. Tour coordinated by Emelie Gevalt, Curator of Folk Art, the American Folk Art Museum.

American Perspectives is also made possible by

Partners:
Bob Hernandez and Karen Blumen
Judy Horgan and Steve Pavsner

Supporters:
Elizabeth E. Barker, Ph.D.
Nancy and Robert Barry
Ellen Still Brooks
Ms. Sue Hunter

Contributors:
Weasey and Chip Babst
Barbara and David Burstin
Mr. James P. Cassaro
Bonnie and Tom VanKirk
Susanne Wilkinson

Friends:
Anonymous
Pegeen and Mohammad Eslami
Deborah James
Kelly K. Miller and Michael Miller
Cary and Richard Reed
Connie and Bob Schuetz
Dr. Janet Simon

Community Supporters:
Anonymous
Morton Brown and Traci Weatherford-Brown
Jean Clickner and Jon Pushinsky
Edith H. Fisher
Mary A. Navarro
Wylie Smith
Dawne Sohn and Pix Sohn
Susan F. Thomson
Judith Touré and Roy Briere
Betsy and Charles Watkins
Marcia Wratcher

Community Members:
Cynthia F. Cooley
Chloé Dixon
C.W. Donohue and Cynthia L. Pennington
Mrs. Sandra Finley
Kathleen S. Hann
Carol M. Kolling
Sabina and Peter Rosenfeld
Sara Weeks-Gloddy

German’s work also speaks to the potential for museums and other public spaces to function as agents for change. "This installation begins in the place of the personal. The citizen artist asking, 'how can I be whole here? How can WE be whole here? How do WE heal? What role can museums play as spaces of intentional social healing?' These are the questions that inspire this immersive installation."

The multisensory experience includes musical selections from Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked: Requiem for Rice, a contemporary classical symphonic work about the history of Africans enslaved on Lowcountry South Carolina and Georgia rice plantations. The original score is composed by three-time Emmy® award-winning composer Jonathan Wineglass based on the libretto written by Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black. The Colour of Music Festival Orchestra debuted the work in 2019 at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall.

A self-described "citizen artist," German is a nationally celebrated poet, performer, sculptor, and activist. In her Homewood studio blocks away from the Frick, she creates work that explores the transformative healing power of art and love. The Frick is honored to be hosting German as a multi-year visiting artist. Over three years, German will create a community-centered body of art using the Frick’s site and collection as a departure point. Reckoning: Grief and Light is the first of three series she envisions for her residency.

Major exhibition program support is provided by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.