The Menil Archive of the ‘Image of the Black’ Seminar Series
Hosted by the Warburg Institute, this seminar series addresses the topics raised by and relevant to the Menil Archive of the ‘Image of the Black in Western Art’. The archive represents a reference photographic collection of paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, manuscripts and prints documenting the representation of people of African heritage from the ancient world to the twentieth century. It was established by Dominique (1908-1997) and Jean (1904-1973) de Menil as a response to the Civil Rights movement in the US. Started in the Parisian office of the Menil Foundation in 1960, the collection and the accompanying library came to the Warburg Institute in the late 1990s.
This seminar series brings together researchers and heritage professionals from a wide range of backgrounds who are working on material relating to the holdings of the Menil Archive, and the broader themes which the collection speaks to. Those include but are not limited to: European Colonialism & Expansion, Slavery & Abolition in Europe and America, Print and Book Culture, Black Studies and archival and curatorial practices.
Organisers: Maria Golovteeva (Collection Research Assistant, The Warburg Institute) and Hannah Lee (British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, The Warburg Institute)
Image: after Marcellus Laroon or Lauron the Elder, One out of twenty-four illustrations for 'The Art of Defence', London (?), 1689 (?)
