Interview with Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art at SAAM
Interview with Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art at SAAM
The Smithsonian curator discussed the show “We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection.”
Leslie Umberger, the curator of folk and self-taught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, was kind enough to field quite a few questions from Rough Sketch about the SAAM exhibit she organized “We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection,” on view through March 26. I had originally intended to write an essay, but given the responses, I think readers will benefit most from a Q&A. (I edited very lightly, and only for typos and style.)
(1) RS: I think viewers can understand readily that there is a problem if artists, whose work rises to the level that merits attention in the Smithsonian, are excluded merely because they were self-taught rather than art school alumni. What, however, are they to understand next? Take the Bill Traylor “Untitled (Spotted Cat with Two Eyes)” (c. 1939-42) in the show. Is the idea that the drawing is as exceptional given Traylor’s circumstances and training as is, say, Dürer’s “The Rhinoceros” (1515), which they might see at the National Gallery, given his training and circumstances? Or is such a comparison problematic from the start?
Leslie Umberger: Posing hierarchical comparisons between artists who have nothing in common is problematic. Moreover, such an approach does nothing to further meaningful understandings of the artworks or bodies of work being considered. Instead of asking if one of Traylor’s paintings is exceptional only because of his experience (implying a superficial and qualitative judgment), consider his practice as an autobiography written in pictures. Traylor’s body of work functions like an extralinguistic book; each artwork is a piece of a story.
“We Are Made of Stories” charts a history of individuals who worked independently, but whose endurance and drive to tell their own story, in their own way, collectively catalyzed profound change. The artists in the exhibition chipped away at an art world built on exclusion—exclusion that was by no means limited to factors of education, or lack thereof. Especially relevant to consider are issues of class, disability, sex/gender, and mental health; education often directly relates to these factors, but rarely overshadows them as an exclusionary issue. Still more complex factors have pertained to definitions of language and literacy, as well as of art and of quality.
The exhibition and catalog propose that the entire structure by which many people have been conditioned to read (and judge) art—comparatively across Western patriarchal culture—is problematic and outmoded. Being attuned to the art of our time, particularly with artists who shaped unique practices around their own life and experience, requires an approach that is holistic and strives for objectivity. It entails apprehending each body of work as uniquely valuable, as a bespoke language we are invited to learn.
Bill Traylor made an exceptionally important body of work; information on his art and its impact can be found in the “We Are Made of Stories” catalog. For a deeper understanding of his work and its impact, see “Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor.”
(2) RS: How, if at all, does the idea of being inclusive toward “self-taught” art also extend to those who study and curate art in museums like the Smithsonian? Is there a corresponding movement away from only hiring as curators those who have completed scholarly degrees at certain kinds of academic institutions? Or is there some reason that this aspect of museums is rather different?
Leslie Umberger: Curators are subject matter experts in any number of fields, but they are also caretakers of things and the knowledge encompassing those things, knowledge that helps the things survive and be understood in their own times and in the future. Still, bodies of knowledge are not all developed in the same way, and it’s much more common today to encounter curators whose expertise is shaped by experience, either in tandem with or apart from a specific academic degree.
Increasingly common in museums is for exhibition projects to involve multiple voices and perspectives in a project, rather than presenting a single, curatorial perspective on a given subject or body of work. This becomes especially important when artists were not or are not able to articulate their own practice or perspective beyond the body of work itself. Interpreting such art through multiple lenses can illuminate it more fully, while allowing ample space for contemplating those gaps in what we do or can know.
“We Are Made of Stories,” both in the gallery exhibition and in the accompanying catalog, incorporates the voices of the artists themselves when possible, via quotes, via music or other audio recordings, in some cases via video footage, or in photographs. Other models vary. For the Bill Traylor retrospective of 2018 (which I curated for SAAM), folklorists, musicians, Traylor descendants, experts in material culture and religion, and others shared observations or personal reflections on artworks (via audio-stops at select works) alongside my own thoughts and insights. The result was multiple points of entry to images that have no artist-prescribed meaning, as well as a conveyance of what is lost to history when artists are not listened to or valued during their lifetimes.
[Note from Rough Sketch: Several open positions linked from the SAAM website call for either doctoral- or graduate-degrees, although they allow for qualification based upon experience, or a combination of experience and education. When it comes to internships—which one assumes represents a foot in the door for many—however, SAAM states, “Applicants may be graduate students, exceptional college seniors, individuals with a four-year college degree (enrollment in an academic program is not required), or international students. Pre-doctoral candidates with little previous museum experience will be considered on an individual basis.” This seems to offer a snapshot of a preferred candidate who is not self-taught. The same goes for fellowships, about which SAAM notes: “Our definition for the fellowship program of American art is as inclusive as possible.” If one digs deeper, however, it emerges that fellows must at least have graduate degrees, and often Ph.D.’s and beyond.]
(3) RS: It strikes me that in this show, as in the permanent collection of the museum (and that of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore), there is quite a lot of work that references religious content and belief directly. I’m sure there are ways that religion informs many other works that isn’t readily obvious to viewers. Am I onto something here, or barking up the wrong tree? If the former, why is it that so many self-taught artists draw upon symbols of faith so often in their works? And are there noted differences in how they address religious content and themes than artists who have been more products of academic institutions?
Leslie Umberger: Spirituality is an important foundation for many artists. For self-taught artists, particularly with 19th and 20th century born African Americans, who faced extreme racism and classism in their lifetimes, concepts of spiritual salvation and a heavenly beyond played inestimably powerful roles in grappling with an existence that felt unendurable. Art could function as a powerful tool for processing and sharing a spiritual worldview. Artmaking offered a vehicle of self-discovery, a way to assert identity and cultural belonging, encourage others to find similar solace, and to bear witness to a challenging earthly life, in a nation that was too often inhumane and intensely hierarchical.
(4) RS: Is there a work or two in the show that touches on religion that stand/s out most to you, whether for the way the object itself is compelling or an anecdote surrounding it?
Leslie Umberger: I would recommend that you read the book sections on Elijah Pierce, William Edmondson, Sister Gertrude Morgan, and Howard Finster. These artists were overt about having a spiritually driven creative practice, but for each of them, this meant something very different.
(5) RS: What are the advantages and disadvantages for a museum, like SAAM, to have the works of self-taught artists displayed in a gallery together, rather than diffusing them throughout the entire displayed collection? Is there a hope that at some point it won’t matter to anyone how an artist trained, or is there good reason to impress that upon viewers and for it to be part of how work is understood by visitors?
Leslie Umberger: SAAM was the first major American art museum to commit deeply to self-taught artists, and to advocate for a diverse, populist voice as a central part of the American art story. From the moment SAAM acquired James Hampton’s Throne of the Third Heaven in 1970, the museum explored multiple models for helping audiences understand what was unique about art that grew organically, in homes and yards rather than in schools or professional arenas.
Artists who learned on their own, or through tradition-based pathways, have an infinite number of stories to tell. and at SAAM their work is presented in multiple ways. Sometimes it appears in galleries that focus on the common ground self-taught artists often share. Elsewhere, this material appears in galleries organized around other structures, for example by related themes, or shared moments in time and place.
The self-taught galleries at SAAM have an organizing principle of thematic relationships, i.e. “Struggle and Persistence,” “Personal Vision,” and “Protection, Salvation, Healing, and Home.” Elsewhere in the museum, for example in the “Experience America” section, trained and self-taught artists are co-mingled, and ways of learning take a backseat to imagery or subjects. In the forthcoming reinstallation of SAAM’s third floor, (opening September 2023), the entire floor will be a arranged according to theme, with a broad array of artists in each.
“We Are Made of Stories” tells a particular, historical story—that of the significant impact that American self-taught artists, over the a course of roughly a century, have had on the larger art world. It focuses on singular practices that derived from deeply personal places, and, overall, it examines issues of marginalization for untrained artists that have always been far more complex and interwoven than simply being issues of training or learning.
Collectively, the 43 artists in “We Are Made of Stories” shape a narrative—not one expressly of difference—but one revealing the gathered force of self-determination. The project charts a history of individuals who worked independently, but whose endurance and drive to tell their own story, in their own way, collectively catalyzed profound change.