In recent years, we have seen cultural icons opens the doors of their private art collections to the public. Recently, Sir Elton John (b. 1947) and David Furnish (b. 1962) shared a selection of work from leading photographers – from Tyler Mitchell to Zanele Muholi – in Fragile Beauty, the V&A’s largest ever temporary exhibition dedicated to the medium. Shows like this offer not only a time capsule of contemporary art from the collector’s chosen time period, but also offer insights into their unique tastes and what speaks to them on a personal level. Art has the power to move us, and private collections can reveal to us the memories, experiences and thought processes that caused someone to fall in love with a piece in the first place.
Now, High Museum of Art welcomes visitors into the collection of another famous celebrity couple: Alicia Keys and Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean. The Atlanta venue shares their curated treasures in an exhibition titled Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys. With this, High becomes the exclusive gallery in Southeastern USA to display this impressive accumulation of over 100 works, from paintings, photographs and sculptures to albums, ephemera and musical equipment. Behind these projects are a multigenerational group of artists from the Black diaspora, including 20th century legends Lorna Simpson and Gordon Parks, as well as younger creatives, such as Deana Lawson and Amy Sherald.
Giants also shines a light on marginalised voices that the art world has long overlooked. The Burns Halperin Report 2022 surveyed international auction markets and 31 museums across the US, finding that Black American women only accounted for 0.1% of auction sales (2008-mid 2022) and 0.5% of gallery acquisitions. Beatz and Keys are working to change this. The couple founded the Dean Collection in 2014 as a contemporary family possession and cultural platform, boasting the largest privately-owned body of works from esteemed photojournalist Gordon Parks (1912-2006). It’s a reflection of their ethos of “collecting and preserving the culture of ourselves, now and in the future.” Now, around displayed 115 objects trace the evolution of an ambitious archive and explore the ways in which the featured artists and their work have grappled with societal issues, embraced monumentality and left an impact on the canon.
Works on view celebrate Blackness and champion the beauty, joy and resilience within communities around the world. Over a dozen photographs by Jamel Shabazz (b. 1960) honour the everyday people walking the streets of New York from the 1980s to the present. For instance, Trio, Brooklyn, NYC (1980) introduces us to a group of boys inside a subway carriage. Turned towards the camera, the two in front pose mid fist bump, as the third stands between them with his arms crossed. We get a strong sense of the tight bond tying these friends together. Elsewhere in the museum, visitors will more encounter stylised depictions too. Here, Morroccan lens-based artist Hassan Hajjaj (b. 1961) defies stereotypical depictions of his country by the West by focusing on the presence and power of female henna artists. Henna Crew (2010) is a monochromatic print of five such creatives, posed underneath an archway. They are surrounded by Hajjaj’s signature branded border, which adds a splash of colour to the scene. The leader poses nonchalantly on her motorbike, whilst directing a confident, levelled gaze back at the viewer.
The Dean Collection is a priceless archive of cultural treasures. This exhibition invites us to experience work from African and diasporic artists who have left a significant impression on Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. It’s a testament to their love of art and drive to preserve works for the future. By displaying them at High, they are widening the number of people that get to engage with the works that resonated with them.
High Museum of Art, Giants | 13 September – 19 January
Words: Diana Bestwish Tetteh
Image Credits:
- Kwame Brathwaite (American, 1938–2023), Untitled (Radiah Frye Who Embraced Natural Hairstyles at AJASS Photoshoot), ca. 1970, printed 2018, pigmented inkjet print, The Dean Collection, courtesy of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. © Kwame Brathwaite. Photo by Joshua White/JWPictures.com.
- Ebony G. Patterson (Jamaican, born 1981), . . . . they were just hanging out . . . you know . . . talking about . . . (. . . when they grow up . . .), 2016, beads, appliqués, fabric, glitter, buttons, costume jewelry, trimming, rhinestones, glue, and digital prints, The Dean Collection, courtesy of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. © Ebony G. Patterson. Courtesy of the artist, Monique Meloche Gallery, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Photo by Adam Reich.
