Queens, Gods, and Devotees: Selections from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art

Tawny Chatmon (b. 1979), Iconography/A Hopeful Truth (detail), 2023, 24k gold leaf, 22k moon gold, acrylic paint, semi-precious stones & other mixed media on archival pigment print, 56” x 42”. Courtesy of the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art.

Featuring over 30 paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and fiber works from c. 1900 to the present, Queens, Gods, and Devotees foregrounds earthly and divine greatness, and their associated devotional objects and ritual practices. Many of these images of exalted figures and concepts related to spirituality and worship are specific to the Black American experience, or are re-imagined in a Black cultural context. References to Greek mythology, the Judeo-Christian tradition, ancient cultures and traditional African spiritual practices appear alongside one another. 

The exhibition includes work by celebrated artists including Romare Bearden, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Richmond Barthé, John Biggers, Willie Cole, Shinique Smith, Tawny Chatmon, Imo Nse Imeh and Sharif Bey, among others. Selections in Queens, Gods, and Devotees are drawn entirely from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art. The PFF Collection is a targeted initiative to bring focus to the full range of African American visual creativity and its essential place in the history and discourse of American Art. As part of a growing and thoughtful dialogue about the African American experience through art, the PFF Collection seeks to visually represent a cross-section of themes that speak not only to the African American community, but also the broader American community.

Curated by Susanna W. Gold, Ph.D.

Opening Reception
Thursday, September 17 | 5:30 PM | Cantor Art Gallery

Artist Talk: Imo Nse Imeh, Feeding the Veins of the Earth
Thursday, October 1 | 4:30 PM | Rehm Library
Organized by The Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture

To Be Seen and Heard: Devotion in Eastern Christian Icons

On view in the Art Study Room

This selection of 18th- and 19th-century icons is generously loaned by The Icon Museum and Study Center (Clinton, MA). These objects, images of Christian figures and stories for use during prayer, offer visual parallels to the works in Queens, Gods, and Devotees, demonstrating how image-making and conceptual themes connect across time and cultures. On View beginning September 1, 2026.