“Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,” a traveling exhibition currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum through February 3, is the latest in a recent profusion of museum exhibitions that address the inadequate representation of African-American artists. Join us to celebrate the opening day of Soul of a Nation with the featured artists from the exhibition.The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is honored to have the presence of living legends help us kick off the exhibition. “Soul of a Nation” opens with art from the Spiral group, a collective of New York African-American artists who organized in 1963 and exhibited work in 1965 that was solely in black and white. It then moves on to highlight works from the Black Panther Movement, displaying political pamphlets and posters. They are framed either by geography (West coast – East coast) or approach (legible figuration – abstract expressionism). Resisting a chronological hang, ‘Soul of a Nation’ attempts an expansive reading of these diverse works, setting its sights on periodized clusters of like-minded artists. Reviews Black Power Comes to Tate Modern in an Urgent Show Charting a Movement’s Rise 'Soul of a Nation' celebrates works by African American artists, many shown in the UK for the first time. Soul of a Nation surveys this crucial period in American art history, bringing to light previously neglected histories of 20th-century black artists, including Sam Gilliam, Melvin Edwards, Jack Whitten, William T. Williams, Howardina Pindell, Romare Bearden, David Hammons, Barkley L. Hendricks, Senga Nengudi, Noah Purifoy, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Charles White and Frank Bowling. Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963–1983 This internationally acclaimed exhibition, organized by Tate Modern, celebrates art made by Black artists during two pivotal decades when issues of race and identity dominated and defined both public and private discourse. Soul of a Nation celebrates the work of Black artists working in the United States in the two decades after 1963. During this turbulent time, these artists asked and answered many questions. "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983" at the Broad Museum shows that shared struggle is more vital than shared style. Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power covers 20 years of black art, beginning with the 1963 March on Washington and the inauguration of the Spiral group in New York. Check out resources related to Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. Soul of a Nation  explores how social justice movements, as well as stylistic evolutions in visual art (such as Minimalism and abstraction), were powerfully expressed in the work of artists including Romare Bearden, Barkley Hendricks, Noah Purifoy, Martin Puryear, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Alma Thomas, Charles White, and William T. Williams.