Memorial Art GalleryPartner Story

With the support of Art Bridges’s Partner Loan Network program, the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) at the University of Rochester, received a loan of Clementine Hunter artworks from the American Folk Art Museum. Hunter is a celebrated self-taught artist from Louisiana who became one of the country’s most significant self-taught artists of the twentieth century. The artworks in this loan are all paintings, and were on show together on a feature wall within MAG’s Folk Art gallery. These artworks both reflect and enhance the MAG’s small collection of works by self-taught American artists.

The project aimed to introduce the museum’s audience to works by Hunter, while also placing these works into conversation with objects as part of MAG’s permanent collection. Another goal of MAG was to use this installation as a catalyst for reinstallation of their American Folk Art gallery to disrupt art historical narratives that have framed the contributions of BIPOC and women artists as static and limited.

Before this loan, MAG had no programing dedicated to Fork Art or self- taught artists. Their collection does include some artworks by self-taught artists. However, the majority of the collection was composed by white Euro-Americans. This loan of Clementine Hunter artworks assists the MAG in fulfilling their mission of displaying more artworks by BIPOC artists and reflecting the demographic of the local community.

We love that MAG focused on enhancing their permanent collection and mission with these loans. By placing them with their already established Folk Art galleries, visitors can see an exhibition that features an artist they may not know and encourage them to learn more about Clementine Hunter. This loan opens the narrative of Folk Art in the museum to artists not typically represented in the traditional artistic canon.