Online Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now Coffee Table Books | Met Publications

Met Museum publications make the perfect gifts for art lovers.By Akili TommasinoWith contributions by Andrea Myers Achi, Erykah Badu, Makeda Best, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Awol Erizku, Lauren Halsey, Iman Issa, Solange Knowles, Mia Matthias, Julie Mehretu, Kai Mora, JenniferNewsom, Matthew Shenoda, and Fred WilsonFrom the late nineteenth century onward, Black Americans looked to ancient Egypt as evidence of a preeminent ancient culture from the African continent. Flight into Egypt traces ancient Egypt’s influence on artists, from Edmonia Lewis’s sculpture The Death of Cleopatra (1876) to the efflorescence of Afrocentric visual art during the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and artistic tendencies of the ensuing decades. This volume explores how Black artists, writers, and musicians—and modern and contemporary Egyptian artists—have employed ancient Egyptian imagery to craft a unifying identity. Authors bring to light the overlooked contributions of Black scholars to the study of ancient Egypt, while statements by contemporary Black and Egyptian artists illuminate ancient Egypt’s continued hold on the creative imagination.Akili Tommasino is Curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art.