Dewey Crumpler: Life Studies features works on paper and large-scale mixed-media paintings. The exhibition coincides with the announcement of The Crumpler Collection, a gift by artist and educator Dewey Crumpler to The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora. The collection contains sketches and sketchbooks; flyers and posters; correspondence with other artists, museums, and galleries; writings; audiovisual material (including interviews and conversations with other artists; recordings of lectures given and classes taught); exhibition catalogs; periodicals; newspaper clippings; records of awards and commissions; photographs; Keynote presentations; reference materials and books used in teaching; and records related to Crumpler’s career at the San Francisco Art Institute, Mills College and University of California, Berkeley.

Selections from The Crumpler Collection illuminate Crumpler’s creative practice as one of careful study and reflection. Assistant Director of Exhibitions & Programs, Dr. Abby Eron notes, “Dewey Crumpler’s work rewards close looking and critical thinking. Forms reveal themselves to be symbolic indicators of larger concepts, and details provide moments of wry humor. Crumpler’s work not only deepens our ability to see and interpret art, enhancing our skills as viewers, but his practice as both artist and researcher–highlighted in this show by his sketchbooks and studies–can help those of us creating art do so with greater meaning and purpose.”

Dewey Crumpler: Life Studies has been guest curated by Dr. Sampada Aranke, Associate Professor of Art History and Comparative Studies at The Ohio State University, in collaboration with The Driskell Center staff. The exhibition will be accompanied by a digital publication with essays by Dr. Aranke and Benjamin L. Jones, as well as full-color images of the works, courtesy of the artist, Andrew Kreps Gallery, and The Driskell Center archives.

For more information, please visit driskellcenter.umd.edu