Earlier this week, First Lady of New York (and poet) Chirlane McCray hosted a panel at Gracie Mansion, focused on the retelling of black history through art. Writer Robin Coste Lewis, “Hamilton” star Daveed Diggs, and former Alvin Ailey lead dancer Alicia Graf Mack were among the artists and academics tasked with considering how their own work reshuffles the past to make history relevant today.It’s of course a worthy question to ask in the context of contemporary art — a larger theme being probed by the de Blasio administration today — as well as one reflected on the walls of Gracie Mansion itself. Late last year, 49 new artworks spanning the colonial, revolutionary, and federal times were brought in to the so-called “Little White House.” While the home’s gilded mirrors, wallpapered scenes of aristocrats, and federal-era furniture still remain intact, the new additions, curated by Kalia M. Brooks, support a broader view of the city and its past dwellers. Some of these historical figures are depicted through portraiture (Henry Bibb, the founder of the Voice of the Fugitive newspaper; Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist, orator, and writer). But there are also art objects and artifacts made by free blacks, native peoples, and the working poor themselves.Click on the slideshow to see a selection of some such art-historical objects.
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