Lineage Exhibition Opening
We hope you will join us for the public exhibition opening of Lineage, a Beyond Glass Cases exhibition curated by Mark Thomas Gibson. Through four large scale paintings, Mark Thomas Gibson’s Lineage examines the proposition of “the future of humanity” proposed by Samuel Jennings’ 1792 painting Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences (or The Genius of America Encouraging the Emancipation of the Blacks).
The paintings are informed from Library Company holdings depicting the figure Liberty and listening sessions with Philadelphia high school history teachers; high school students from the social justice media program POPPYN; community leaders attending the political education program Du Bois Movement School for Abolition & Reconstruction; and volunteers from the Paul Robeson House and Museum. The works represent the session participants’ envisioned futures for humanity. Gibson’s paintings are composed within the western narrative painting tradition and seek to reorient viewers to understand our fictional relationship with our perception of history and potential outcomes.
Beyond Glass Cases: The Library Company of Philadelphia’s “Collections Lab,” supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, represents the Library Company’s ongoing commitment to boldly, honestly, and thoughtfully interpret challenging, and at times harmful, collection items. Three projects in 2024 and a culminating exhibition in 2025 form the scope of Beyond Glass Cases. Click here for more information about the Beyond Glass Cases series.
