Proof of registration, via a QR code on your phone or on paper, will be required to enter Reid Hall. Entry will be refused to those who are not registered. Please note that access will not be permitted 15 minutes after the start of the event.
This event will be held in English.
Organized by the Columbia Global Paris Center. With the support of a convening grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. With the participation of the Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University.
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This event will be livestreamed. Register here to access the Zoom.
In 1899, a young sculptor from Philadelphia arrived in Paris to study art. She came with strong letters of recommendation, a scholarship behind her, and the support of painter Henry Ossawa Tanner, who had promised her family to look after her. Upon arrival, she was turned away from the American Girls' Art Club — the building now known as Reid Hall — because she was Black. Undeterred, Meta Vaux Warrick went on to win the admiration of Auguste Rodin and French art dealer and galerist Georges Petit. She also exhibited with the American Woman’s Art Association and at the Salon des Beaux-Arts, and later became one of the most important American sculptors of her generation.
This public evening event, held in the very building that once excluded her, celebrates Fuller's remarkable life and lasting legacy. Scholars and curators will present on her Paris years and her trajectory as an artist in the United States, followed by a panel discussion with curators from the Danforth Museum — caretaker of the Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Special Collection — the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and David Fuller, Meta Vaux's grandson.
The evening opens with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m. open to all attendees.
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Program
- Introduction, Brunhilde Biebuyck
- Presentations: The Paris Years
- “Landing in Paris” (video) · Renée Ater, author of Remaking Race and History: The Sculpture of Meta Warrick Fuller
- “Connections and the Press: The Fuller Scrapbook and her Years in Paris” · Rachel Passannante, Collections Manager, Danforth Museum
- Panel Discussion: Meta’s Vaux Legacy
- “Housing Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller’s Legacy” · Jessica Roscio, Director and Curator, Danforth Museum
- "A Centennial Overview” · Crystal Moten, Associate Director, Special Collections, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
- Moderator · Maboula Soumahoro, Associate Professor, English Department, Tours University, and founder of Black History Month France
- Closing
- “My View on the Life of a Wife, Mother, and Grandmother” · David Fuller, grandson of Meta Vaux Warrick and Solomon Carter Fuller
- Q&A from audience
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This event is made possible with the support of a convening grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. The Terra Foundation, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art, through the foundation’s grant program, collection, and initiatives.
This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.
Reid Hall, the Columbia Global Paris Center, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination are not responsible for the views and opinions expressed by their speakers and guests.
