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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.

Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Good Shepherd, 1917, oil on canvas, 25-1/2 x 32 inches (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) — Painted after the end of World War I and amid pressure to "represent his race" as a Black man, Tanner brings biblical scenes into the modern world

Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Good Shepherd

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Beth Harris

Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Good Shepherd, 1917, oil on canvas, 25-1/2 x 32 inches (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) — Painted after the end of World War I and amid pressure to "represent his race" as a Black man, Tanner brings biblical scenes into the modern world

Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Good Shepherd

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Beth Harris

Asher B Durand, Kindred Spirits, Crystal Bridges — One of the most recognized paintings in American history, this painting is an ode to friendship and nature

Asher B. Durand, Kindred Spirits

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker

Asher B Durand, Kindred Spirits, Crystal Bridges — One of the most recognized paintings in American history, this painting is an ode to friendship and nature

Asher B. Durand, Kindred Spirits

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker

Edmonia Lewis, The Old Arrow Maker, modeled 1866, carved c. 1872, marble, 50.8 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art). — Edmonia Lewis, an artist of Black and Indigenous heritage, uses a neoclassical style to depict Indigenous subjects from a popular novel around the time of the U.S. Civil War

Edmonia Lewis, The Old Arrow Maker

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Beth Harris

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)

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Beth Harris

A Jewish family in New York and London during the French Indian Wars

A Jewish Family in Early New York

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Beth Harris

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 ...

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Beth Harris

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

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Beth Harris

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 ...

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Beth Harris

James Wooldridge, Indians of Virginia, c. 1675, oil on linen, 75.6 x 108.6 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) — Among the earliest European representations of North America

Europe’s earliest views of America

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker

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

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker

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)

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker

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)

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Dr. Steven Zucker

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.

War News from Mexico

by Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Thomas Folland