Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and the Last Gullah Islands | Art & Artists

Dec 5, 2024–May 1, 2025

Exhibition works

3 total
 From the Collection
Read more

 From the Collection

A woman in a pink blouse and yellow skirt holds a bucket, standing on steps. A child in blue stands nearby. A tree and red roof are in the background.
A woman in a pink blouse and yellow skirt holds a bucket, standing on steps. A child in blue stands nearby. A tree and red roof are in the background.

Eldzier Cortor, Day Clean, c. 1945-1946. Oil on linen, 35 1/8 × 30 1/8in. (89.2 × 76.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Elizabeth Hess in memory of Dr. George Ornstein 2023.63 

 From the Collection

American artists have long engaged with the South Carolina and Georgia Sea Islands through their work, drawn to it by personal or ancestral connections, or by the region’s complex cultural and environmental history. Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems’ show the interplay of Gullah spiritual traditions with the natural environment, while Erin Jane Nelson’s ceramic sculpture functions as a kind of time capsule, encompassing Daufuskie Island’s unique geological history and forecasting its uncertain future in the face of climate change. Explore these works and others from the Whitney’s Collection here.

Etching of a large tree with hanging moss, a person standing nearby. The scene is serene, with detailed shading and a signature at the bottom.
Etching of a large tree with hanging moss, a person standing nearby. The scene is serene, with detailed shading and a signature at the bottom.

Alfred Hutty, Edisto Live Oak, 1944. Drypoint, 7 × 7 5/8in. (17.8 × 19.4 cm) Plate: 2 1/2 × 3 3/4in. (6.4 × 9.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund 96.68.164

Alfred Hutty, Edisto Live Oak, 1944

A patterned fabric hangs between trees in a dense forest, creating a contrast with the natural surroundings.
A patterned fabric hangs between trees in a dense forest, creating a contrast with the natural surroundings.

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled, Sea Island Series, 1992. Gelatin silver print. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Carrie Mae Weems and P.P.O.W. 97.97.1

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled, 1992

A wooden swing hangs from a tree branch in a quiet, grassy yard surrounded by trees.
A wooden swing hangs from a tree branch in a quiet, grassy yard surrounded by trees.

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled, Sea Island Series, 1992. Gelatin silver print. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Carrie Mae Weems and P.P.O.W. 97.97.1

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled, 1992

A rural scene with trees, a dirt path, scattered hubcaps, and a mailbox on a post.
A rural scene with trees, a dirt path, scattered hubcaps, and a mailbox on a post.

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled, Sea Island Series, 1992. Gelatin silver print. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Carrie Mae Weems and P.P.O.W. 97.97.1

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled, 1992

A little brown house sculpture made of wood and tin.
A little brown house sculpture made of wood and tin.

Beverly Buchanan, Tom’s House, 1995. Wood and tin, 15 × 9 1/2 × 16 1/4 in. (38.1 × 24.1 × 41.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Alexandra Wheeler 2019.427. © Estate of Beverly Buchanan

Beverly Buchanan, Tom’s House, 1995

A person wearing a white dress swimming in a body of water.
A person wearing a white dress swimming in a body of water.

D'Angelo Lovell Williams, Nah, 2018. Inkjet print: sheet (sight): 44 1/2 × 29 1/2in. (113 × 74.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Photography Committee 2020.130. © D'Angelo Lovell Williams

D'Angelo Lovell Williams, Nah, 2018

Amorphous stoneware sculptures with shells and photographs of trees.
Amorphous stoneware sculptures with shells and photographs of trees.

Erin Jane Nelson, Daufuskie Muscat, 2018. Pigment prints, shells, and resin on glazed stoneware, 20 × 30 × 3 in. (50.8 × 76.2 × 7.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Avo Samuelian and Hector Manuel Gonzalez 2019.386a-b. © Erin Jane Nelson

Erin Jane Nelson, Daufuskie Muscat, 2018

Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection

View 13 works

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Frank WANG Yefeng, The Levitating Perils #2

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.