Andrea Barnwell Brownlee is an American art
curator
A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...
and author. She is the current CEO of the
Cummer Museum. She is the former director of the
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is a museum located on the Spelman College campus in Atlanta. Since its inception, the museum has been housed in the Camille O. Hanks Cosby Academic Center named after philanthropist Camille Cosby, who had ...
. Her work has historically focused on the promotion of female African-American artists. She has published four books on artists.
Early life and education
Brownlee was born in
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...
. Her father is a retired Army officer. She entered
Spelman College
Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...
in 1989, focusing on English and the arts. During her junior year, she studied at the
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...
. She earned her master's in art history from
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
in 1997, and Ph.D. in art history in 2001.
Career
Andrea Brownlee was contacted by Spelman College during her time working in the MacArthur Curatorial Fellowship at
The Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatoria ...
, asking her to consider serving as the director of the college's new Museum of Fine Art. Though she initially declined, she would later accept the directorship in 2001.
In December 2020, Brownlee joined the
Cummer Museum of Art as th
George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and Chief Executive Officer
Brownlee has written four books. Her first was ''Charles White: The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art, Volume I'', an analysis of the life and times of the 20th-century African-American artist
Charles White. In 2005, she wrote with ''Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons, and the Blues'', a similar compilation piece about artist
Amalia Amaki and contemporary African-American art. This was followed in 2008 by a broader analysis of
African-American women in film in ''Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970'', which also acts as an adaptation of one of her exhibitions by the same title.
Brownlee collaborates with other contemporary artists for her exhibitions, which share a focus on introducing unfamiliar artists to a wider audience. In 2009, she collaborated with Karen Comer Lowe to curate ''Undercover: Performing and Transforming Black Female Identities'', an exhibition held in the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. The exhibit explored the reason black women artists, have a tendency to hide away or manipulate their self-image. The exhibition ''AFRICA FORECAST: Fashioning Contemporary Life'', which she co-curated wit
Erika Dalya Massaquoiopened in 2016 and focused on art that documents African women's history and emotions towards clothing and fashion.
The exhibition adaptation of ''Cinema Remixed and Reloaded'' was exhibited at the
Havana Biennial
The Bienal de La Habana was a traditional Latin, Caribbean event, originated in Havana, Havana, Cuba, that aims to raise awareness to promote contemporary art and giving priority to Latin Americans, Latin-American and Caribbean artists.
The eve ...
, becoming the first time a curatorial team from the United States was invited to the event.
Awards and honors
Brownlee won the
Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award
The Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award was established under the presidency of Lee Ann Miller (1978–80). Joan Mondale, artist and wife of vice-president Walter Mondale, helped to secure approval for a national award honoring women ...
in 2005. In 2013, she received the David C. Driskell Prize for her achievements in advancing the field of African-American art and art history, and in 2015, she was awarded the James A. Porter Award for her advancement in these efforts.
In 2018, Brownlee was promoted by
Atlanta Magazine
''Atlanta'' is a monthly general-interest magazine based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by Hour Media Group, LLC. Its staff has featured notable writers such as Hollis Gillespie, Anne Rivers Siddons, and William Diehl, and it has included cont ...
as being the "Best Curator of the Year".
Selected works
*''Charles White: The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art, Volume I''
* ''Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons, and the Blues''
*''Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlee, Andrea Barnwell
21st-century American women writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century African-American women writers
Spelman College alumni
Duke University alumni
Living people
American curators
Writers from Jacksonville, Florida
Year of birth missing (living people)
American women curators