Gateways: African American Art from the Key Collection

A dynamic, personal, and poignant collection of over 90 works from Eric Key’s extensive collection of art by American artists of African descent, spanning the Harlem Renaissance to the twenty-first century. Since he started collecting in the 1990s, Eric Key’s intent has always been to help preserve America’s Black experience in the arts, and to benefit the many communities of which he has been a part–opening gateways for artists, African Americans, and conversations about race, identity, and America. Featured in the volume are selected works by some of the most recognizable contemporary African American artists, including Sam Gilliam, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, William Artis, Samella Lewis, and Renee Stout. Together, these artists work to dispel the many stereotypes and misunderstandings about African American art and people, but also remain a form of personal narrative. As Eric Key states, the works in his collection are an extension of himself, a Black man in a still mostly white art world; they are an extension of the country in which he lives and an extension of the artists who created them.