Something about “Trouble Ahead” bugged Terrie Rouse.
After walking down the ramp to the third-floor gallery of the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Rouse made a quick left, strolled over to the painting by Columbus Knox and carefully straightened it.
“I want the museum to be known for being the best of the best,” Rouse would say a few moments later.
It’s coincidental, but more than appropriate, that Black History Month marks Rouse’s six-month anniversary as the museum’s executive director.
The museum is taking steps to become, as Rouse says, a professional showcase of African-American art and culture – at a time when more collectors of African-American art are themselves maturing and looking for the best of the best.
When blacks began collecting black art in the late 1970s – some spurred by paintings displayed on the walls of the Huxtable household in “The Cosby Show” – they favored low-end pieces, said Mercer Redcross, co-owner of October Gallery on N. 2nd Street. Now those same buyers “want to know where the top is,” he said.
A good example of that desire was evident last weekend at the National Black Fine Arts Show in New York. Featuring works from 41 galleries from around the world, the event drew 8,000 to 10,000 people, organizers said. People stood shoulder to shoulder viewing and purchasing original works by such African-American artists as Romare Bearden and Henry Ossawa Tanner.
“It was great,” Rouse said. “You saw African-Americans doing the range of art,” from realism to abstract. And Rouse was pleased that her winter exhibition, “Rejuvenating a Collection: Ford Foundation Artists and Acquisitions,” which opened in January, reflected the same range.
The museum is also one of nine across the country participating in the “Perspectives in African American Art” program sponsored by Seagram’s gin. The program provides grants to museums for artists-in-residence programs and commissions to “emerging artists.”
Mixed-media artist Martina Johnson-Allen of Philadelphia has been commissioned to do a piece for the Philadelphia museum.
“The Seagram’s program has been growing,” Rouse said. “To have artists selected by various communities and have them put forth is a wonderful thing.”
Sande Webster, whose gallery at 20th and Locust streets specializes in African-American art, has been in the business for 30 years. She realized early on that there were African-American artists “of comparable quality and ability of Caucasian artists, who were not receiving anywhere near the kind of recognition they should’ve been.” “There’s a real interest in people having access to material that represents themselves,” Rouse said.
To spur that interest, Rouse, 45, has given her 23-year-old institution a new look.
The museum building’s gray concrete interior has been repainted white. Some gallery walls have been painted brown, to set off photographs by jazz bassist Milt Hinton; other walls got the “ice storm blue” treatment to complement paintings and sculpture.
“Exhibits should look a certain way,” Rouse said. “Museums are all about the creation of feelings and illusions.”
The lighting in the lobby is brighter. “It was always dark,” Rouse said, giving the museum “a sense of foreboding.”
Then there’s the collection.
Webster has seen it evolve over the years. The museum “didn’t own anything” when it opened in 1976, Webster said. “As the collection has grown, it has developed a point of view. A lot of artists in the collection are well-established now. It shows the museum had some foresight in its purchases.”
In 1990, the museum used a Ford Foundation grant to purchase works by Moe Brooker, Paul Keene, Syd Carpenter, Howardena Pindell, Charles Searles, Richard Mayhew and John E. Dowell Jr.
With a 1993 Ford grant, the museum bought works from Pat Ward Williams, James Brantley, Charles Burwell, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Martina Johnson-Allen and Louis Sloan.
The museum is tracking attendance, has inserted programs geared to the community, published a calendar and changed its name. It was formerly the Afro-American Historical & Cultural Museum.
All of this comes as Rouse dreams of getting the museum accreditation and making it “feel like Disneyland, but only for a lot less money.”
Rouse, a museum professional for 19 years, said she wants to bring the African American Museum in Philadelphia into the “museum world.”
“There are standards in our business,” she said. “There are things we have to adhere to,” such as making sure objects are well-lit, that information about a display is easily available, that historical documents are properly displayed.
But “institutions go through cycles,” she said. “We tend to be too hard on ourselves. This institution is going through development, as it should be.”
Nona Martin, the museum’s director of education, notes the museum is more than just a place to hang pictures.
“It’s not about displaying African-American art,” Martin said. “It’s about interpreting and displaying African-American culture.”
“Visitors need to walk away feeling that this was a wonderful experience,” Rouse said. “That’s what will bring them back.”