Ornamental Blackness & the Decorative Arts

Storyteller Denise Valentine and art historian Adrienne Childs offer new perspectives on historical representatives of black people in the context of slavery. This talk is the Eda G. Diskant Memorial Lecture.

Denise Valentine opens the program with a story based on her research of Philadelphia histories of slavery. Adrienne Childs will survey depictions of black people in European decorative arts. In what societies, and according to what ideas of beauty, were they produced?

A moderated discussion on race and representation will follow.

This event is part of the lecture series Untold Stories, which asks questions about the works of art we think we know.

Photo: Beaker (detail), c. 1770, made in Bohemia, Czech Republic, 1988-27-60; credit: Philadelphia Museum of Art