On June 28, the Speed Art Museum will unveil Louisville's Black Avant-Garde: William M. Duffy. It is the second installment in a series of exhibitions that explores the artists of the Louisville Art Workshop, a radical creative collective founded in the 1960s. The Louisville Art Workshop focused on career development of and community building among Black artists in Louisville at a time when Black artists were excluded from museums and galleries. The series was inaugurated in June 2023 with a survey of artist, educator, and scholar Dr. Robert L. Douglas.
Louisville's Black Avant-Garde: William M. Duffy will span more than four decades, displaying only the sculpture for which Duffy is known, but also a full spectrum of his multidisciplinary practice, from drawing to painting to digital art.
The retrospective is curated by fari nzinga, Curator of African and Native American Collections at the Speed Art Musuem, with support from Sarah Battle, Coordinator of Academic Programs and Publications at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts in the National Gallery of Art. Battle's oral history research project, "Painting a Legacy: the Black Artistic Community in Louisville, 1950s–1970s" provided a scholarly foundation for the exhibition.
The exhibition examines Duffy's contributions as both an artist and a community leader who has inspired generations of local artists to develop their skills and pursue their passions. Duffy draws his own inspiration from familial relationships and everyday moments of beauty.
The retrospective will also include commercial works commissioned by community groups and works that Duffy made over the course of his career as an educator in the Jefferson County Public Schools — including some that were created in collaboration with his students.
This is not the first time Duffy's works has been on view at the Speed. He had a solo exhibition in 1988 and says he is honored to return to the museum. "I've been an artist my whole life because I needed to be — there was no way I couldn't be, with the urge I felt to create. I'm excited to reflect back on decades of my work with the community that has meant so much to me and has continued to inspire me."
"In life and in his work, he has been a connector and a community builder, making space for all," nzinga says. "Mr. Duffy has inspired generations of artists, through his own work and his career as a teacher, so it is an exciting opportunity for us to present the progression of his role as an artist and mentor of great importance to our community."
Speed Art Museum Director Raphaela Platow shares this sentiment. "As a leader of a vital artistic movement whose influence is still felt today, this retrospective of his work exemplifies how art has been and continues to be used as a tool to build connections in our community."
Louisville's Black Avant-Garde: William M. Duffy will be open until Sunday, September 29.
