1

Christian Weaver

MUSM 302-01

11 February 2022

Word Count: 1000

The Philadelphia Museum of Art: Finding the Space

Nestled atop the iconic “Rocky Steps” at the West end of Benjamin Franklin Parkway

and the East side of Fairmont Park, the Philadelphia Museum’s classical façade invites the world

below into the city’s cultural center. Beyond the modern geographical location, the museum sits

upon stolen ancestral lands of the Lanape peoples–– Lënapehòkink––which it openly

acknowledges. This is only one of PMA’s recently adopted practices of reconciliation with its

past. Since the opening in 1928, the museum has expanded its campus tremendously to

accommodate and reflect the ever-changing needs and forever evolving demographics of

Philadelphia. Most recently, the main building was expanded with an addition of 20,000 sq. ft. of

additional gallery space and 90,000 sq. ft. of new public spaces1. These renovations, spearheaded

by Frank Gehr, serve to bring the institution up to ADA compliance while fostering more

opportunities for community engagement. PMA’s architecture is one of the more notable

features of the institution, so the decision to alter an already iconic facility to accommodate the

community is a huge step into the future.

Beyond facilities, the expansive nature of The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s permanent

collections also warrants a unique sense of notoriety. From Rubens to Duchamp and Nick Cave

to artifacts from Duke Zhao’s Ming Dynasty palace, the collection truly has something to offer

everyone. Recently, the museum’s collections of American and contemporary art have become

1
Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Location & Hours,” accessed February 7, 2022, https://www.philamuseum.org/.
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main attractions that ultimately motivated the gallery space expansion which boasts an added

61% more space for American art and 37% more space for contemporary art. 2 This massive

diversification boldly asserts and physically manifests the museum’s goals to accelerate towards

a more inclusive and accessible future. To further solidify these ambitions, PMA continues to

advance its collections as tangible reflections of its community––offering a boundlessly more

transparent edition of art history.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s contemporary collection is currently in a distinctive

state of flux that facilitates the incorporation of more Philadelphia-affiliated artists as well as

traditionally marginalized and self-taught artists. These incorporations more closely align the

institution with its public facing mission of inclusion. Regarding its most recent acquisitions to

their contemporary art collection, PMA acknowledges:

The museum is evolving as an institution, and so too is our collection. The works in our
collection reflect who we are, where we have been, and where we want to go, and each
has its own story to tell. These recent acquisitions have added depth and texture to a great
collection, setting the stage for future conversations, new narratives, and fresh
perspectives on art and culture.3

An important series of acquisitions began in 2017 with the museum’s accessioning of multiple

Gee’s Bend quilts from artists Mensie Lee Pettaway, Mary Lee Bendolph, and Annie Mae

Young. These quilts are handmade by a group of women and their ancestors in the isolated and

predominantly African American city of Gee’s Bend, Alabama along the Alabama river. They

are complex, abstract, and deeply integral to the history of America for the many stories they tell

and family histories they keep. Looking to Mary Lee Bendolph’s 2005 Blocks, Strips, Strings,

and Half Squares (Figure 1), the infinite intricacy of the patterns within display a distinctive

2
Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Transformation,” accessed February 7, 2022, https://www.philamuseum.org/.
3
Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Collections,” accessed February 7, 2022, https://www.philamuseum.org/.
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expressionism and meticulous craftsmanship throughout. Often, textile work like this is not seen

as “high” or “fine” art and the study of traditional women’s work and non-verbal vernacular

rhetoric through needlework is often dismissed. 4 Because of this, the presence of pieces like

Bendolph’s open a dialogue to particular demographics that are often left out of art history and,

in this way, pushes the collection’s broad goal of diversification to a less abstract place of

recontextualization.

Further highlighting the immense array of identities present in art, The Philadelphia

Museum’s 2021 exhibition Painting Identities expands on the long history of portraiture in

human history through the lens of minoritized artists in America during the twentieth century.

Curated by Jessica T. Smith, the exhibition displays the freedom of portraiture painting in a

world where photography had become the primary means for recording physical likeness and

history. Artists like Jacob Lawrence, Barkley Hendricks, Chuckie Williams, and Edith Neff

grace their canvases with the likenesses of those not often seen, expressions not often considered,

and histories that are too often erased or overlooked. In this way, the American spirit is captured

in new light and with a different momentum than the traditionally acknowledged identities of

non-figurative abstract work of post-war America.

One of the most considerably iconic of these figurative works installed in The

Philadelphia Museum’s 2021 exhibition Painting Identities is Barkley Hendricks’ 1969 painting

Miss T (Figure 2). This painting is over life-sized, standing at 66.125 in. x 48.125 in., and exudes

coolness. The subject, Hendrick’s former girlfriend Robin, is dressed in a black bell-bottomed

suit, gold-rimmed glasses, and a matching gold chain belt. What makes this piece more iconic is

4
Vanessa Kraemer Sohan, “But a Quilt is More…: Recontextualizing the Discount(s) of the Gee’s Bend Quilts,”
College English 77, no. 4 (2015): 295 - 296, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24240050.
 4

its origin in Hendricks’ mind. After spending some time abroad in Europe where he fell in love

with Mannerism and Greek icons and wanted to capture that same essence in his own work with

Black figures at the center. 5 The museum purchased this work in 1970, a year after its

completion, and its presence in this modern context stresses continued relevance.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a relatively young institution––just under 100 years

old–– with a rich history. To survive in this modern world, the institution has moved swiftly to

“turn and face the strange,” confronting its past to establish a more inclusive future. With

expansion in collections, facilities, and exhibitions, PMA is manifesting the future while

reconciling the past.

5
Auriella Budick, “Barkley Hendricks’ Black Portraits,” The Financial Times, December 6, 2008, https://0-
advance-lexis-com.library.scad.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:4V33-38R0-TXDK-S1BG-
00000-00&context=1516831.
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Figure 1: Mary Lee Bendolph, Blocks, Strips, Strings, and Half Squares, 2005, Pieced cotton
plain weave, twill, corduroy, nylon twill, and cellulose acetate knit, 7 feet × 6 feet 9 inches,
Gee’s Bend, Albama, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
www.philamuseum.org/collection/.
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Figure 2: Barkley Hendricks, Miss T, 1969, oil and acrylic on canvas, 66.125 in x 48.125

in, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, www.philamuseum.org/collection/.

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Bibliography

Budick, Auriella. “Barkley Hendricks’ Black Portraits.” The Financial Times, December 6,
2008. https://0-advance-lexis
com.library.scad.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:4V33-38R0-
TXDK-S1BG-00000-00&context=1516831.
Sohan, Vanessa, Kraemer. “But a Quilt is More…: Recontextualizing the Discount(s) of the Gee’s Bend Quilts.”
College English 77, no. 4 (2015): 294 – 316. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24240050.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Accessed February 7, 2022.
https://www.philamuseum.org/.