Description

FIGGE ART MUSEUM
Davenport, IA
William L. Hawkins: An Imaginative Geography
$100,000
 
An exhibition of work by the self-taught African American painter William L. Hawkins (1895-1990) will offer a long-awaited reappraisal of his artistic production.  Guest curator Susan M. Crawley (formerly of the High Museum) will explore Hawkins’s biography and his unlikely entry into the public sphere when, in the last decade of his life, his work was placed on view at the Ohio State Fair.  A World War I veteran and longtime resident of Columbus, Ohio, Hawkins lived in poverty and relied on found objects and images to stoke his imagination.  A selection of 67 works will offer a window onto a practice that was at once vigorous and playful.  A confirmed, four-venue tour includes stops at the Columbus Museum of Art (OH), the Mingei International Museum (San Diego), and The Columbus Museum (GA).
 
Approved by Board: November 2, 2017