New Center to Exhibit Art Collected by John Hope Franklin

Friday, February 2, 2001

Artwork collected by historian John Hope Franklin and his late wife Aurelia will go on display starting Feb. 9 at Duke's new center for interdisciplinary and international studies, which bears Franklin's name. The exhibit is part of a weeklong celebration marking the formal opening of the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies. The exhibit will be held in the first-floor gallery and run through March 9. It is free and open to the public. Highlights of the exhibit include a 1966, oil-on-canvas portrait of Franklin by Aaron Douglas, titled "Inspiration," and a 1993 pencil rendering, also a portrait of Franklin, drawn by David Levine, who is famous for his illustrations. The earliest piece in the exhibit is a Currier and Ives color lithograph, titled "John Brown Goes to His Hanging." The lithograph, created in 1863, captures the aftermath of the insurrection at Harper's Ferry, Va., where Brown led an attack on the town's armory. The documentary photos, both color and black and white, include images such as former President Clinton conferring upon Franklin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, in 1995. Also among the photos are images of Franklin with other members of the Advisory Board to the President's Initiative on Race. Chaired by Franklin, the advisory board helped lead Clinton's effort to advance racial understanding and unity across the United States.

Additional information about the Franklin Center, as well as about events associated with its opening, is available at http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/Human/frankli2.htm.

Written by Noah Bartolucci.