In The Notion of Family, artworks from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries chart a trajectory of African American family and togetherness over generations. In a selection of historical sepia-tone photographs, groups of individuals echo a dignified and enduring sense of fellowship, while Miguel Covarrubias’s illustration Negro Mother (1927) and Jacob Lawrence’s The Birth of Toussaint (1986) reflect the timeless bond between mother and child. Traditions and gatherings to create, celebrate, play, and eat—which form an important part of the African American experience—are captured in Faith Ringgold’s The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles (1997) and Kadir Nelson’s Stickballers (2016). Throughout the exhibition the notion of family is expressed in numerous mediums, including photographs by James Van Der Zee, Carrie Mae Weems, and Lyle Ashton Harris; paintings by William E. Pajaud and others; and prints by Romare Bearden and John Biggers. As a whole, these empowering images illustrate that the African American family is a model for thriving, even amid hardship. They suggest a sense of levity while also reflecting agency, love, strength, diversity, and unity from an African American perspective.

The majority of works in The Notion of Family are from the permanent collection of the California African American Museum, with additions from the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.  The exhibition is curated by Vida L. Brown, Visual Arts Curator and Program Manager.