Colour and museums

How is a museum segregated?

“Segregation is driven by the supremacist fear of racial and ethnic contamination through touch and contact, even indirect.” (Jennifer Allen, Colour Theory/ Frieze 2009)

History has lots to show and teach. In the history of art, segregation played a contradictory role in the development of styles. I was amazed to read this morning about this particular time when American art galleries were racially segregated. "Negro Day" was supposed to highlight the importance and to guarantee the universality of the white culture. I knew about similar discrimination in dancing clubs and TV shows etc, but limiting culture to such extent - in museums even !?

It is fundamental to acknowledge the intensity of these measures. In those times (1960s) the focus was more on the art: who made it and what it represented, and NOT on the viewing public. Jennifer Allen's article is a great account of an era full of references to racial discrimination applied to artists and artisans.

Students under arrest at Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee, 1960