No. 684: Flight into Egypt, The Dance of Life

Episode No. 684 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features curators Akili Tommasino and Mark Mitchell.

Tommasino is the curator of “Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876-now” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The exhibition examines how Black artists and other cultural figures have engaged with ancient Egypt from the American centennial, through the Harlem Renaissance, to the present. “Flight into Egypt” is on view through February 17, 2025. The fascinating catalogue was published by the Met. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $45-50.

Artists in the exhibition who are previous MAN Podcast guests include:

Lauren Halsey;
Julie Mehretu: Episode No. 82, No. 255; No. 417;
Robert Pruitt;
Betye Saar;
Lorna Simpson; and
Fred Wilson.

Exhibition objects not reproduced below, including book, album, and magazine covers, can be found on the Met’s exhibition page.

Mitchell curated “The Dance of Life: Figure and Imagination in American Art, 1876-1917,” which is at the Yale University Art Gallery through January 5, 2025. The exhibition looks at how two generations of post-Civil War artists adopted the human figure as their focus (partly in response to the mass death of the Civil War era). “The Dance of Life” particularly focuses on studies related to artistic commissions for major US public sites such as the Boston Public Library, the Library of Congress, Washington, and the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. YUAG published a valuable catalogue It’s available from Amazon and Bookshop for $50-60.

Instagram: Akili Tommasino, Tyler Green.

Air date: December 12, 2024.

Fred Wilson, Grey Area (Brown version), 1993.

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Flight into Egypt, 1923.

Loïs Mailou Jones, The Ascent of Ethiopia, 1932.

Loïs Mailou Jones, Egyptian Heritage, 1953.

Jas Knight, The African Origin of Civilization, 2023.

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Ethiopia Awakening, ca. 1914-21.

Louis Draper, Untitled (Girl with Egyptian Mural), ca. 1965.

George Washington Carver, Dr. Carver’s Egyptian Blue 9th Oxidation, 1930s.

Mildred Thompson, Stele, ca. 1963.

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Study for the Annunciation, ca. 1898.

John La Farge, Visit of Nicodemus to Christ, 1880.

John Singer Sargent, Egyptian Woman, 1890-91.

Edwin Austin Abbey, Study of the captive virtues, for “The Castle of
the Maidens,” the ninth in a series of fifteen
murals illustrating “The Quest and Achievement
of the Holy Grail,” for the second-floor Book
Delivery Room of the Boston Public Library, nd.

Edwin Austin Abbey, Figure Study, for The Spirit of Vulcan, Genius of
the Workers in Iron and Steel, Rotunda,
Pennsylvania State Capitol, Harrisburg, ca. 1902-08.