Tell Me Your Story: 100 Years of Storytelling in African American Art

Tell Me Your Story starts with the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem in the 1920s saw a flurry of activity by African American authors, musicians, and theatre makers, resulting in a vibrant visual arts scene. Black culture is currently enjoying another renaissance, and African American artists are more visible than ever in the United States. Tell Me Your Story, at Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands (08.02.–17.05.2020), places contemporary artists in the context of their predecessors. The exhibition was organised as part of Kunsthal KAdE's 2020 trilogy on the United States, inspired by the upcoming presidential election on 3 November. 

Published to accompany the exhibition, Tell Me Your Story focuses on five chronological periods: the Harlem Renaissance, Post Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Renaissance, and the Bloom Generation. The artists in each of these distinct periods shared one common characteristic: the need to express themselves and safeguard the vital African tradition of storytelling.

Exhibited artists: Carl van Vechten, Winold Reiss, James van der Zee, Horace Pippin), Palmer Hayden, Augusta Savage, Aaron Douglas, Hale Woodruff, Richmond Barthé, William H. Johnson, Beauford Delaney, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, John Biggers, Robert Colescott, Betye Saar, Benny Andrews, Gordon Parks, Wadsworth Jarrell, Faith Ringgold, David Driskell, Bob Thompson, Aminah Robinson, Gerald Williams, Emory Douglas, Carrie Mae Weems, Kerry James Marshall, Todd Gray, Alison Saar, Henry Taylor, Whitfield Lovell, Lyle Ashton Harris, Radcliffe Bailey, Kara Walker, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Hank Willis Thomas, Umar Rashid, Kehinde Wiley, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Jordan Casteel, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Dáreece Walker, Devan Shimoyama, and Cameron Welch.

Published by Harry N. Abrams, 2021, hardcover, 256 pages, 10.3 x 8.3 inches.