Whitfield Lovell
37 x 29 1/2 x 5 inches framed
In his series “Kin”, Whitfield Lovell creates exquisite, carefully-drawn figures that confront the turbulence of America’s past with a dignified delicacy of tone and evokes reverence. Using vintage photographs of unidentified Black Americans, Lovell sought to express the quintessentially human qualities of his subjects, creating an intense sense of intimacy that is both solemn and celebratory. The inclusion of objects adds to the visual poetry of his work, referencing a collective memory and embedded meaning held in everyday, timeworn objects. Lovell reminds us with explicit concreteness that these individuals once lived on this earth and are intertwined with a difficult shared history.
Exhibitions
2022, Whitfield Lovell: Marks in Time, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2021, Art Miami, Arthur Roger Gallery, Miami, FL
2020, Art in the Time of Empathy, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA2019-20, African/American: Two Centuries of Portraits, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME (November 7, 2019 - February 9, 2020)
2018,Talisman in the Age of Difference, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK (June 5 – July 21, 2018)
2018,Tick-Tock: Time in Contemporary Art, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY (February 20- May 5, 2018)
2016-17, Whitfield Lovell: The Kin Series and Related Works, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (October 8, 2016 - January 8, 2017)
2015, Whitfield Lovell: Distant Relations, Selections from the Kin Series, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY (February 19 – March 21, 2015)
2014, Annual 2014: Redefining Tradition, National Academy Museum, New York, NY (June 9-September 7, 2014)
Literature
Sandler, Irving, Sarah E. Lewis, Julie L. McGee, Klaus Ottmann, Kevin Quashie, Elsa Smithgall, Whitfield Lovell. Whitfield Lovell: Kin, New York: Skira Rizzoli in association with The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, 2016, illus. p. 53.
Tick Tock: Time in Contemporary Art, Exh. Cat., Bronx, NY: Lehman College Art Gallery,2018, p. 62, illus.