Hank Willis Thomas, (b. 1976 Plainfield, New Jersey), Colonialism and Abstract Art, 2019, Screen print on canvas, 72 in. x 54 in. (182.9 cm x 137.2 cm), Museum purchase, The Dorothy Johnston Towne (Class of 1923) Fund 2019.1235

The Davis Museum recently purchased Colonialism and Abstract Art by Hank Willis Thomas, an American conceptual artist working with themes related to history, identity, commodification, and popular culture. Thomas earned his B.F.A. from New York University and his M.F.A from the California College of the Arts. Colonialism and Abstract Art responds to the  diagram that the Museum of Modern Art founding director Alfred H. Barr Jr. created for his 1937 exhibition and publication, Cubism and Abstract Art.   A former Wellesley professor of art history, Barr illustrated a genealogy of modern art from Impressionism to Surrealism. Thomas expands the limited scope by chronicling the century from 1870 until 1970, a  time period that encompasses much European colonization of Africa and many African nation-states’ declarations of independence from colonial rule.  In this screen print on canvas, the second of three editions, Thomas visually connects global historical, socioeconomic, and cultural movements and events, with an emphasis on Belgium and the Congo. A vital contribution to the Davis Museum collections, Colonialism and Abstract Art confronts the Eurocentric canon of art history and introduces new narratives of art historical change and influence.