April 11, 2026 - June 24, 2026
‘Paper Weight: Prints and Works on Paper from The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection’ marks 20 years of The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection’s public work as a traveling exhibition and institutional presence. The exhibition gathers artworks from the formative decades of the Kinsey family’s collecting journey. Featuring prints and works on paper by Elizabeth Catlett, Radcliffe Bailey, Ernie Barnes, Phoebe Beasley, William Pajaud, Renee Stout, and more, it focuses on pieces acquired primarily in the 1970s through 1990s and traces how an intimate curiosity grew into a landmark collection, and ultimately, an ongoing cultural project.
The works on view speak to the family’s longstanding commitment to Black art and history, while revealing the intimacy of collecting as an act of care, conviction, and stewardship. Many of the works on view hold the traces of relationships and discoveries that helped form the Collection, while also standing on their own as powerful artworks with continuing relevance in the present. In the early decades of the Kinsey family’s collecting, these works represented both artistic excellence and a deeper engagement with Black creativity and expression.
The presentation signals a new phase for the Collection, one that broadens the meaning of stewardship, access, and legacy, marked by an intentional act of circulation. In selecting works to move from the core collection into new hands and homes, the Kinsey family frames transfer as extension. In this sense, legacy is not fixed within a private holding, it is renewed as works enter new collections, and new lineages. ‘Paper Weight’ affirms that Black cultural preservation depends not only on accumulation, but on thoughtful stewardship, shared access, and the many hands that help to hold and carry history forward.
