Forward Together: African American Prints from the Jean and Robert Steele Collection

Forward Together celebrates HoMA’s major acquisition of prints from the Jean and Robert Steele Collection, which vastly increases HoMA’s representation of art by Black artists.  The exhibition of 50 prints by 25 artists produced over four decades explores some of the ways in which the artists and workshops represented have shaped the development of not only printmaking, but of 20th-century American art and visual culture. It also resonates with the history of the Black community in Hawai‘i, which with resilience, resistance, and achievement has helped shape the islands for more than 200 years.

The exhibition title comes from the title of a work in the collection by Jacob Lawrence, which depicts the abolitionist Harriet Tubman guiding a group of Civil War–era freedom seekers through a treacherous journey north via the Underground Railroad. The exhibition, like this historic and metaphorical reference, highlights the drive to move communities forward in a spirit of social action and shared responsibility. Likewise, the nature of printmaking—artists working closely with master printers and technicians—necessitates the passing down of knowledge through successive generations.

The artists included in the exhibition, many of whom are connected through print workshops, teaching, or mentoring, reflect the commonalities as well as the rich diversity within the African American printmaking community. Additionally, the installation focuses attention on the importance of the print medium as a tool that can facilitate deeper connections within and between diverse communities. Recurring themes in the exhibition include improvisation and collage, the influence of Africa and cultures of the African diaspora, and the reimagining and retelling of stories based on historical or literary references. 
Dr. Steele, the former director of The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, his wife Jean partially gifted a segment of their collection to HoMA in 2022. 
 
Dr. Akiemi Glenn, director of The Pōpolo Project, served as an advisor for the exhibition and conceived of the concept of genealogy as a way to discuss the themes and processes found within the show. 
See works by such artists as Ron Adams, Emma Amos, Romare Bearden, Faith Ringgold, Barkley L. Hendricks, Curlee Raven Holton, Gwen Knight-Lawrence and Valerie Maynard in two rotations. 

This exhibition is supported by Ian Lind and Meda Chesney-Lind.

Programming associated with this exhibition is made possible by the Ralph F. Glenn Lecture Series for Notable Speakers.