Lifting the Veil: a Conversation on Race and the Museum Now

The Chazen Museum of Art works to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit works of art and present related educational programs in support of the teaching, research, and public service mission of theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison.We do this because the visual arts enrich individual human experience and because knowledge of art is essential to understanding diverse cultures, past and present.

Chazen Museum of Art

Bridget R. Cooks joins Janine Yorimoto Boldt &amp; UW students in vital dialogue around Sanford Biggers’s sculpture Lifting the Veil

Join us in the C﻿hazen Mezzanine!Bridget R. Cooks, Ph.D. (Professor of Art History and African American Studies at UC Irvine and author of Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum (University of Massachusetts Press, 2011) joins Janine Yorimoto Boldt, Ph.D. (Associate Curator of American Art at the Chazen Museum) and UW students to facilitate a vital dialogue around Sanford Biggers’s sculpture <a href="https://chazen.wisc.edu/collection/33003/lifting-the-veil/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lifting the Veil</a> on our reckoning with the institution and its objects. A﻿bout Lifting the Veil:As a child, Sanford Biggers’s father exposed him to "Lifting the Veil of Ignorance" (1922), a bronze monument to Booker T. Washington by artist Charles Keck. Biggers’s sculpture "Lifting the Veil" incorporates, critiques, and re-imagines this work and Thomas Ball's "<a href="https://chazen.wisc.edu/collection/446/emancipation-group/?search=emancipation" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Emancipation Group</a>" (1873), of which a version is in the Chazen's collection. In Biggers’s "Veil," Abraham Lincoln is positioned as the ignorant man being led to enlightenment by the standing Frederick Douglass. This sculpture, conceived alongside the Chazen's groundbreaking "re:mancipation" project (2023), is both a response to the original work, and an important milestone in Sanford Biggers's career. While he has frequently brought together classical western sculptural figures with traditional African masks (as in the "Chimera" series), this piece represents the most in depth response to a single and specific work to date.

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}

Lifting the Veil: a Conversation on Race and the Museum Now

More events from Chazen Museum of Art

Follow organizers to get events picked for you

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all events in Madison and filter by date, category, and more to find the perfect fit.

Lifting the Veil: a Conversation on Race and the Museum Now

More events from Chazen Museum of Art

Follow organizers to get events picked for you

You might also like...

Sign-In for personalized recommendations

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all events in Madison and filter by date, category, and more to find the perfect fit.