Points of View: Radcliffe Bailey, Kara Walker and Derrick Adams at the McNay

Tarra Gaines·
San AntonioVisual Art
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The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio is using the recent acquisition of two important print suites as impetus to explore the diverse visions of three contemporary Black artists: Radcliffe Bailey, Kara Walker and Derrick Adams. On view through March 17, 2024, Prints and Drawings by Contemporary Black Artists sets up a kind of art conversation between these artists whose work has never been juxtaposed in this way.

“We intentionally did not do a show where we put on view everything by every Black artist that’s represented in the collection. We wanted to focus on these three, mainly because they are recent acquisitions but also because the voices that they bring to their art are so distinct,” explains Lyle W. Williams, McNay Curator of Prints and Drawings.

Along with sharing these new print acquisitions with McNay visitors, the exhibition showcases the breadth of subject matter and themes in these three artists’ work. “We wanted to be sensitive to the fact that Black artists do not speak with a single voice,” states Williams. “We wanted these three artists included because they represent different points of view.”

The three are not necessarily known foremost as printmaking artists. Bailey, who tragically passed away in November of 2023, created collage paintings and sculptures. Walker’s use of black paper silhouettes in murals, film and large-scale installations to tell narratives that shock and disturb has earned her acclaim, controversy and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally. A painter and sculptor, Adams’ most recent project was to create a fully functional children’s playground as an installation for an art exhibition on the U.S. National Mall.

But William makes the case for printmaking as an artform with its own rich methodology which may actually give artists a kind of freedom to explore new art making worlds. “Prints and drawings are just a different way for artists to express themselves. There’s certain things that artists can do with prints and drawings that they can’t do with oil on canvas or bronze or marble,” describes Williams and then adds that once some artists are introduced to printmaking, “It’s like a kid with a toy box. They just want to go and explore.”

Radcliffe Bailey is an example of an artist who, once introduced to printmaking, spent time experimenting and began a new chapter in his work.

“There are certain rules you have to follow and certain techniques you must master in order to create the final image. A lot of artists really respond to that. Working within those strictures can create really beautiful work,” says Williams.

And that beautiful work can take very different forms with different subject matter.

“Kara Walker deals with the horrible legacy of slavery in this country. Derrick Adams deals with the topic of joy in the Black American experience. So there are different viewpoints represented in the show,” describes Williams

“This is the public’s first opportunity to see the Derrick Adams, which are these incredibly brilliantly colored [prints] of people enjoying a pool.”

Williams says Walker’s silhouettes harken back to classic forms of shadow puppetry and 18th century silhouettes portraiture, but the stories those silhouettes tell will be very different from the scenes of joyous Black life in Adams’s prints.

“There’s something about her work when you first look at it that seems oddly familiar, and then you start looking at it more closely and it becomes a lot more disturbing.”

Set together in the same gallery, visitors will likely see a great range of points of view, yet those points do sometimes connect.

“Often times Black artists are pigeonholed into representing one viewpoint,” notes Chloe Feyock, Douglass Foundation Intern, who is working with Williams in organizing the exhibition. Feyock believes these artists and their work have very different perspectives, but fundamentally these prints explore some similar questions.

“They all are investigating the same question of: What does black art look like? And they all have different ways of portraying that.” Stressing the conversational dynamic, Feyock adds, “Our visitors will be able to pick up on how these works are talking to each other.”

The McNay made a large acquisition of Radcliffe Bailey’s prints back in 2006, which became a catalyst for adding more prints from Black American artists. This eventually led to the much more recent addition of print suites from Walker and Adams. In some ways, bringing these works together also tells the story of the McNay’s continuously evolving collection.

Williams emphasizes the importance of representation in the collection especially for San Antonio. “When our visitors come they do see representation of their community on the walls, as well as seeing great works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Cézanne and others. It’s all of a whole.”

—TARRA GAINES

Tarra Gaines

Tarra Gaines is a writer and teacher in Houston.