Winfred Rembert | African American Pulitzer Winner & Artist
A captivating scene on hand-tooled leather by Rembert is the first by this artist to join the collection.
Quote from Mr. Winfred Rembert's website:
"I want Black people to be proud of what their families sacrificed and how they survived. I want people who have lived in the South to talk about their history."
—The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced its poignant acquisition of this work to expand its American art holdings. The expressive work by Black artist Winfred Rembert, was created with unusual media—dyed, tooled, and carved leather—and is titled The Beginning (2002). It is the only work he produced showing an intimate scene from his infancy: the moment his mother gave him up for adoption. Rembert’s remarkable biography includes surviving an attempted lynching, time spent on a Georgia chain gang, a journey to Connecticut, and a successful art career started at age 51 despite significant forces of racism working against him. This is the first work by Rembert to enter Mia’s collection, expanding its holdings of historically underrepresented artists in the museum.
Winfred Rembert was born in 1945 and had a tumultuous life in which he experienced the full force of racism and white supremacy. When he was 19, he narrowly survived an attempted lynching at a civil rights demonstration and spent seven years incarcerated, laboring on a chain gang, and turned to art to tell his story. Upon his release, he married his wife Patsy and had eight children, making art of vivid scenes from his own and shared community experiences. They settled in New Haven, Connecticut, and he started experimenting with leather and dyes.
“We are excited by this riveting acquisition, the first from artist Rembert to join the collection. It offers a gripping scene to get lost in: a peek into the intimate and affecting biography of Winfred Rembert," said Katie Luber, Nivin and Duncan MacMillan Director and President of Mia. “There is something more to discover at each glance.”
The acquired painting, The Beginning (2002), shows the moment his mother handed the 3-month-old Rembert over to his great aunt, Lillian Rembert, to raise. This is the only work he created about his adoption; he was the result of an affair and his mother believed that she could not raise him. The figures in the painting are dressed in their Sunday best, including suits and hats. The scene is nearly symmetrical, as Rembert’s family members flank the central figures, adding a touch of formalism to this emotional moment.
Rembert’s work was noticed in New Haven, and by 1998 he had a solo exhibition at York Square Cinema in town. In the years following, Rembert had museum exhibitions and his work entered major collections and was acquired by collectors across the United States. His memoir, CHASING ME TO MY GRAVE: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South with a foreword by Bryan Stevenson, was published in 2021, the year he died, and Rembert posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for it in 2022.
Rembert’s work was noticed in New Haven, and by 1998 he had a solo exhibition at York Square Cinema in town. In the years following, Rembert had museum exhibitions and his work entered major collections and was acquired by collectors across the United States. His memoir, CHASING ME TO MY GRAVE: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South with a foreword by Bryan Stevenson, was published in 2021, the year he died, and Rembert posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for it in 2022.
For more information please feel free to connect with The Minneapolis Institute of Art website.
About the Minneapolis Institute of Art Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) inspires wonder, spurs creativity, and nourishes the imagination. With extraordinary exhibitions and one of the finest art collections in the country—from all corners of the globe, and from ancient to contemporary—Mia links the past to the present, enables global conversations, and offers an exceptional setting for inspiration. General admission to Mia is always free. Some special exhibitions have a nominal admission fee.
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