Queens, Gods, and Devotees

Selections from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art Curated by Susanna W. Gold, Ph.D.

Featuring over 30 paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and fiber works from ca. 1900 to the present, Queens, Gods, and Devotees foregrounds earthly and divine greatness, and their associated devotional objects and ritual practices. Spanning continents, cultures, and eras, 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, offering viewers the opportunity to find parallels and distinctions in how greatness, power, and majesty have been represented in African American art, as well as how reverence and veneration have been envisioned.