Lessons of the Hour at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art will exhibit Sir Isaac Julien's 2019 immersive, multi-screen installation, Lessons of the Hour.

Co-curated by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, and presented in collaboration with The Amistad Center for Art & Culture, the exhibition brings together rare nineteenth-century daguerreotypes—on public view for the first time—saluting the studio practices of the African American photographers of Douglass’s era, as well as the many compelling sitters who sought to have their images captured and remembered. Juxtaposing these historic images with Julien’s contemporary work, the presentation represents a dialogue between local and international, between Douglass’s encounters with the citizenry of Hartford, Connecticut, and the continuing international reach of his unfinished movement for social justice.

Lessons of the Hour opens May 18 and closes September 24, 2023