Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

About Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Dr. Mindy Besaw is Curator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Nari Ward, We the People (black version) — “We the People...” Thus begins the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

Nari Ward, We the People (black version)

Gerardus Duyckinck I (attributed), six portraits of the Levy-Franks family (Franks Children with Bird, Franks Children with Lamb, Jacob Franks, Moses Levy, Mrs. Jacob Franks (Abigaill Levy), and Ricka Franks), c. 1735, oil on canvas (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) — A Jewish family in New York and London during the French Indian Wars

A Jewish Family in Early New York

Gerardus Duyckinck I (attributed), six portraits of the Levy-Franks family (Franks Children with Bird, Franks Children with Lamb, Jacob Franks, Moses Levy, Mrs. Jacob Franks (Abigaill Levy), and Ricka Franks), c. 1735, oil on canvas (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) — A Jewish family in early New York

Gerardus Duyckinck I (attributed), Six portraits of ...

Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds, Native Hosts (Arkansas), 2018, aluminum sign, series of seven, 46.7 x 92.5 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, ©Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds) — Signs that guide historical understanding

Native Hosts

Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds, Native Hosts (Arkansas), 2018, aluminum sign, series of seven, 46.7 x 92.5 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, ©Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds) — Signs to guide historical understanding

Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of ...

James Wooldridge, Indians of Virginia, c. 1675, oil on linen, 75.6 x 108.6 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art), a Seeing America video Speakers: Dr. Mindy Besaw, Curator of American Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker — Among the earliest European representations of North America

Europe’s earliest views of America

James Wooldridge, Indians of Virginia, c. 1675, oil on linen, 75.6 x 108.6 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art), a Seeing America video Speakers: Dr. Mindy Besaw, Curator of American Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker — Europe's earliest views of America

Wooldridge, Indians of Virginia

Nari Ward, We the People (black version) — Ward refuses to let viewers take the idea of “We the People” for granted.

Nari Ward, We the People (black version)

Nari Ward, We the People (black version), 2015, shoelaces, 8 × 27 feet (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas) — Hundreds of shoelaces form just three words. Here, the artist takes an abstract idea and makes it immediate.

Nari Ward, We the People (black version)

Detail, Richard Caton Woodville, War News from Mexico, 1848, oil on canvas, 68.6 × 63.5 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) — Painted for a divided US, people from North and South could identify with this image—others remain marginalized.

Before the Civil War