The Barnes Foundation Announces Mickalene Thomas: All About Love Related Programs

Fall programs include Second Saturday Film Series curated by BlackStar
Projects, entrəpē/ featuring Mickalene Thomas and Terri Lyne Carrington,
and Camden’s Getting Better Everyday Step Team performance

October 2024 through January 2025

Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2024—In celebration of the fall exhibition Mickalene Thomas: All About Love, the first major international tour focused on the work of pioneering artist Mickalene Thomas, the Barnes Foundation will present an engaging slate of programs inspired by the artist and her work. All About Love at the Barnes is curated by Renée Mussai, independent curator, scholar, and writer; the exhibition is on view in the Roberts Gallery from October 20, 2024, through January 12, 2025.

Mickalene Thomas: All About Love is sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal. Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund, Denise Littlefield Sobel, the Edna W. Andrade Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, Emily and Michael Cavanagh, Ralph Citino and Lawrence Taylor, Marianne N. Dean, Arthur M. Kaplan and R. Duane Perry, Sarah Morthland, Ogilvie Family Foundation, Dalila Wilson-Scott and S. Christopher Scott, Josephine and Sam Switzenbaum, Brenda A. and Larry D. Thompson, an anonymous donor, and other generous individuals.

“This fall, we are delighted to present an exciting, diverse array of programs inspired by All About Love—from film to dance and music—that reflect and honor Mickalene Thomas’s own dynamic and multidisciplinary artistic practice,” says James Claiborne, deputy director for community engagement at the Barnes. “Together with our longstanding programming partners like BlackStar Projects and Mural Arts Philadelphia, we invite the Philadelphia community and beyond to dive even deeper into the remarkable work of Mickalene Thomas and join us in celebrating and lifting up many amazing talents in the city and in neighboring Camden, Mickalene’s hometown.”

From October 2024 through January 2025, the Barnes will present a variety of All About Love–inspired talks, tours, film screenings, performances, and special programs, kicking off with Curators in Conversation on opening day, Sunday, October 20, featuring exhibition curator Renée Mussai in conversation with Mickalene Thomas. Programming continues with a three-part film series, curated by BlackStar Film Festival founder Maori Karmael Holmes, presenting feature-length and short films exploring themes of kinship, femininity, and desire; entrəpē/, a collaborative music and visual art project between Mickalene Thomas and Grammy Award–winning jazz musician Terri Lyne Carrington; special PECO Free First Sunday Family Days, featuring dance performances by the Philadelphia Jazz Tap Ensemble, honoring great women in jazz, Philly’s beloved dance troupe PHILADANCO, and the Getting Better Everyday Step Team, hailing from Thomas’s hometown of Camden, New Jersey; and a Barnes class titled Mickalene Thomas, Visual Pleasure and Activism, taught by Renée Mussai.

Honoring Thomas’s longstanding commitment to uplifting the voices and talents of fellow artists of color, the Barnes’s monthly First Friday program will also spotlight several BIPOC artists and musicians from the Philadelphia region this fall, including performances by saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, Yolanda Wisher & The Afroeaters, and singer-songwriter Black Buttafly. The Barnes’s popular Young Professionals Nighton Friday, November 15, will also be inspired by All About Love and include access to the exhibition and collection.

Full programming details are listed below:

Barnes Art Ball
Friday, October 18, 7 pm
Our annual fundraiser brings together artists, collectors, philanthropists, and community partners for a night of diverse and dynamic creative experiences. All About Love sets the tone and serves as inspiration for this dazzling evening as we celebrate Mickalene Thomas. The evening’s entertainment spotlights regional talent, including DJ Aura, a tastemaker and soundscape creator who will provide music throughout the evening in the Annenberg Court, and Black Buttafly, a pianist, composer, and beatmaker who will present a soulful set in the lower level lounge. The evening will also feature a special outdoor performance by the Getting Better Everyday Step Team from Camden, New Jersey, choreographed by Indigo Pascall, and a high-energy performance by The Illustrious Blacks, a DJ duo fusing funk, hypnotic house, and cosmic pop, on the West Terrace.

Curators in Conversation
Sunday, October 20, 1 pm
On-site and online
Join us for an engaging talk about All About Love with artist Mickalene Thomas and exhibition curator Renée Mussai.

In Focus Gallery Talks: Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
On-site, free with admission
Monday, October 21, 3–3:30 pm
Monday, November 18, 3–3:30 pm
Monday, December 16, 3–3:30 pm

Exhibition Tours: All About Love
Daily, beginning October 24, 1 pm
Take an in-depth exhibition tour to learn more about Mickalene Thomas’s work and practice.

Private Exhibition Tours: All About Love
Daily, beginning October 24, 1 pm
Book a private exhibition tour for up to eight guests to learn more about Mickalene Thomas’s work and practice.

Class: Mickalene Thomas, Visual Pleasure and Arts Activism
Thursdays, October 24–November 21, 2–3:30 pm
Dive deeper into the work of Thomas and other artists with whom she shares affinities and explore the politics of curatorial activism with All About Love curator Rénee Mussai.

First Friday
November 1, December 6, January 3; 6–9 pm
Enjoy an evening of art, live music, and light fare on the first Friday of each month, with access to the collection and All About Love. The November event features saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins; Yolanda Wisher & The Afroeaters perform in December and singer-songwriter Black Buttafly in January.

PECO Free First Sunday Family Day
November 3, December 1, January 5; 10 am–5 pm
On the first Sunday of every month, the Barnes partners with PECO to offer a free day of family fun. Along with art making, educational activities, and featured performances, the event includes complimentary access to the Barnes collection and All About Love. November’s program features the Philadelphia Jazz Tap Ensemble, and the beloved Philadelphia dance company PHILADANCO will join us in December for an unforgettable performance. The Getting Better Everyday Step Team, a step-and-dance team from Thomas’s hometown of Camden, New Jersey, will perform in January.

All About Love: Second Saturday Film Series
November 9, December 14, January 11; 2 pm
Join us for a special three-part film series inspired by All About Love. Curated by BlackStar Film Festival founder Maori Karmael Holmes, this program includes feature-length and short films that explore themes of kinship, femininity, and desire. Each screening is followed by a discussion with featured artists.

• November 9: Screening features seven short films centered on desire, including An Ecstatic Experience directed by Ja’Tovia Gary.
• December 14: This program presents Nefertiti Nguvu’s feature-length film, In the Morning.
• January 11: Screening features six short films centered on kinship, including Mickalene Thomas’s Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman, a documentary portrait of the artist’s mother.

Young Professionals Night: All About Love
Friday, November 15, 7–11 pm
This fall’s edition of Barnes Young Professionals Night celebrates the emerging creatives who fuel Philly’s vibrant cultural scene and includes access to All About Love.

entrəpē/
Thursday, December 19, 7–9 pm
The Barnes is pleased to present entrəpē/, a collaborative music and visual art project between Mickalene Thomas and Grammy Award–winning jazz musician Terri Lyne Carrington. Together, these luminary artists create a uniquely futuristic and provocative experience, layering Thomas’s dynamic visual aesthetic with a progressive sonic landscape shaped by Carrington’s ensemble. The performance will be followed by a discussion, along with access to All About Love and the Barnes collection.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Mickalene Thomas: All About Love is the first major international tour focused on the work of pioneering American artist Mickalene Thomas, whose influences range from 19th-century painting to popular culture. Co-organized by the Hayward Gallery, London, and The Broad, Los Angeles, and in partnership with the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, and Les Abattoirs, Musée–Frac Occitanie Toulouse, All About Love is being shown as a series of independent presentations, with further venues to be confirmed.

All About Love, titled in homage to cultural critic, intellectual, and writer bell hooks, marks its East Coast debut at the Barnes with approximately 50 works made by Thomas over the past two decades. Showcasing a body of vivid and multifaceted artworks—paintings, collage, photography, video, and site-specific installation—this exhibition celebrates her distinctive artistic practice.

Thomas’s work is characterized by spectacularly staged, rhinestoned, large-scale painted tableaux and bold, intimate compositions, decisively foregrounding Black femininity in abundant realms of visual pleasure, agency, and kinship. Whether in imaginative dialogue with canonical works from the history of art or playfully reckoning with popular culture and erotica, Thomas’s exuberant portraitures offer an empowered vision of beauty and desire, formulated through a sensual, Black feminist lens.

Concurrent with the exhibition, the Barnes will also present a monumental four-panel artwork by Thomas titled Noir est beau (Joséphine Baker 3) on the east end of the Annenberg Court. Originally created for Dior’s 2023 couture runway show, the embroidered panels feature archival images of iconic Black performer and activist Josephine Baker who served as muse to Dior artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri for the 2023 show. The work is among 13 portraits that were created for the runway’s scenography, all featuring women who inspire Thomas and who, she states, “with the odds set against them, persevered with confidence, elegance, beauty, and talent.”

Curated for the Barnes by Renée Mussai, independent curator, scholar, and writer, All About Love is on view in the Roberts Gallery from October 20, 2024, through January 12, 2025.
Further details are included in the press release.

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION
Mickalene Thomas: All About Love is co-organized by the Hayward Gallery, London, and The Broad, Los Angeles, and in partnership with the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, and Les Abattoirs, Musée–Frac Occitanie Toulouse. The presentation at the Barnes is curated by independent curator, scholar, and writer Renée Mussai.

SPONSORS
Mickalene Thomas: All About Love is sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal.

Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund, Denise Littlefield Sobel, the Edna W. Andrade Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, Emily and Michael Cavanagh, Ralph Citino and Lawrence Taylor, Marianne N. Dean, Arthur M. Kaplan and R. Duane Perry, Sarah Morthland, Ogilvie Family Foundation, Eileen Rosenau, Dalila Wilson-Scott and S. Christopher Scott, Josephine and Sam Switzenbaum, Brenda A. and Larry D. Thompson, an anonymous donor, and other generous individuals.

Ongoing funding for exhibitions comes from the Christine and Michael Angelakis Exhibition Fund, the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Exhibition Fund, the Lois and Julian Brodsky Exhibition Fund, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Christine and George Henisee Exhibition Fund, the Aileen and Brian Roberts Exhibition Fund, and the Tom and Margaret Lehr Whitford Exhibition Fund.

In addition, funding for all exhibitions comes from contributors to the Barnes Foundation Exhibition Fund:

Joan Carter and John Aglialoro, Julia and David Fleischner, Victoria McNeil Le Vine, Leigh and John Middleton, Jeanette and Joe Neubauer

John Alchin and Hal Marryatt, Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Lois and Julian Brodsky, N. Judith Broudy, Elaine W. Camarda and A. Morris Williams, Jr., Eugene and Michelle Dubay, Penelope P. Harris, Jones & Wajahat Family, Lisa D. Kabnick and John H. McFadden, Victor F. Keen and Jeanne Ruddy, Marguerite Lenfest, Maribeth and Steven Lerner, Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, The Park Family, Wendy and Mark Rayfield, Anne and Bruce Robinson, Adele K. Schaeffer, Katie and Tony Schaeffer, Donna and Jerry Slipakoff, Dr. and Mrs. Eugene E. Stark, Joan F. Thalheimer, Bruce and Robbi Toll, van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Kirsten White, Randi Zemsky and Bob Lane, Anonymous.

ABOUT THE BARNES FOUNDATION
The Barnes Foundation is a nonprofit cultural and educational institution that shares its unparalleled art collection with the public, organizes special exhibitions, and presents programming that fosters new ways of thinking about human creativity. The Barnes collection is displayed in ensembles that integrate art and objects from across cultures and time periods, overturning traditional hierarchies and revealing universal elements of human expression. Home to one of the world’s finest collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern paintings—including the largest groups of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne in existence—the Barnes brings together renowned canvases by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Vincent van Gogh, alongside African, Asian, ancient, medieval, and Native American art as well as metalwork, furniture, and decorative art.

The Barnes was established by Dr. Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts and horticulture.” A visionary collector and pioneering educator, Dr. Barnes was also a fierce advocate for the civil rights of African Americans, women, and the economically marginalized. Committed to racial equality and social justice, he established a scholarship program to support young Black artists, writers, and musicians who wanted to further their education. Dr. Barnes became actively involved in the Harlem Renaissance, during which he collaborated with philosopher Alain Locke and Charles S. Johnson, the scholar and activist, to promote awareness of the artistic value of African art.

Since moving to Philadelphia in 2012, the Barnes has expanded its commitment to diversity, inclusion, and social justice, teaching visual literacy in groundbreaking ways; investing in original scholarship relating to its collection; and enhancing accessibility throughout every facet of its programs.

The Barnes is situated in Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape people. Read our Land Acknowledgment.

Hours and ticket prices are listed on our website.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION
Deirdre Maher, Director of Communications
215.278.7160, press@barnesfoundation.org
Online press office: barnesfoundation.org/press