Review: Tschabalala Self ’12 Solo Exhibition By My Self at the Baltimore Museum of Art

“The most intriguing artistic dialogue taking place this summer occurs at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where contemporary painter Tschabalala Self engages with Henri Matisse,” writes Chadd Scott in Forbes. “The exhibition (through September 19) presents 13 paintings by Self, completed from 2016 to the present, alongside two related sculptures, highlighting the artist’s ongoing consideration of the iconographic significance of the Black female form in contemporary culture.” Among the featured works is a new suite of three paintings of a female couple created in response to Matisse’s sculpture Two Women (1907–8) in the BMA’s collection. “Whenever you’re doing an institutional show it presents a unique opportunity, and the potential challenge, of contending with the history of the institution—the art within the institution’s collection,” says Self. “Now you’re involved in this larger conversation about art history.”

Post Date: 06-29-2021