“Early American Portraiture and the Value of Flesh”

Addressing works in the collections and exhibitions of the Georgia Museum of Art as well as related works elsewhere, this talk explains how and why early American portraiture has served as a means to negotiate racial identities in both the past and the present. Elder is assistant professor of art history at American University, where she specializes in North American art from the colonial period to the present, including African American art and the history of photography. Her current research and courses examine the mutually constitutive relationship between art and race throughout modern American history. This lecture is supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.