Magnetic FieldsExpanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today

May 5 through August 5, 2018

Mildred Thompson, Magnetic Fields (detail), 1991, Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the Mildred Thompson Estate, Atlanta, Georgia © The Mildred Thompson Estate, Atlanta, Georgia

The MFA is proud to present the first American exhibition dedicated exclusively to the formal and historical dialogue of abstraction by women artists of color. This important and beautiful exhibition includes works by twenty-one artists, born between 1891 and 1981.

In the June 2014 ARTnews article “Black Abstraction: Not a Contradiction,” Hilarie M. Sheets aptly notes, “The contributions of African American artists to the inventions of abstract [art] have historically been overlooked…”. Magnetic Fields focuses on non- representational art-making by women artists of color, reframing the art historical narrative to convey a more complete presentation of American abstraction.

The exhibition is organized by Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. It was also shown at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. The MFA is the third and final stop for the exhibition.