Howardena Pindell, Howardena Pindell, and others
Free, White and 21
1979
Scroll
- Artist: Howardena Pindell
- Producer: Howardena Pindell
- Cinematographer: Maria Lino
- Editor: Maryann De Leo
Free, White and 21
1979
Physical Qualities
Single-channel video (color, sound), 12:15 min.
Credit Line
Gift of Garth Greenan
Object Number
2019.180
Filmed following a car accident in 1979 that left her with partial memory loss, Howardena Pindell faces the camera to recount her personal experiences with racism and bias as a young Black woman in America. Pindell also performs as a white woman who, through call and response, replies unsympathetically and antagonistically to the artist’s own experiences with discrimination.
Acquired directly from the artist
The Kitchen, New York
BMA by gift, 2019; Garth Greenan Gallery, New York
The Kitchen, New York
BMA by gift, 2019; Garth Greenan Gallery, New York
Dialectics of Isolation: An Exhibition of Third World Women Artists of the United States, A.I.R., New York, September 2–20, 1980
Stay Tuned, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, July 25–September 10, 1981
Race and Representation: Art/Film/Video. Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, January 26–March 6,1987
Art as a Verb: The Evolving Continuum, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, November 21,1988–January 8, 1989; Metropolitan Life Gallery, New York, March 6–April 8, 1989; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, March 12–June 18, 1989
Howardena Pindell, Liz Harris, Boston, January 31–March 4, 1989; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, March 25–June 18, 1989
Howardena Pindell: Autobiography, Cyrus Gallery, New York, October 5–November 18, 1989Howardena Pindell: A Retrospective 1972–1992, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, June 19, 1993;Alternative Museum, June 23, 1993; Art Gallery, Georgia State University, Atlanta, July 14–August 13,1993; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, November 6–December 19,1993
Altered Egos, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, March 15–May 9, 1997
Howardena Pindell: In My Lifetime, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, New York, June 3–August 31, 2006
America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1–September 27, 2015
Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display, Mildred Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, September 9, 2016–January 15, 2017
We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, Brooklyn Museum, New York, April 21–September 17, 2017; California African American Museum, Los Angeles, October 13, 2017–January 14,2018; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, February 17–May 27, 2018; Institute of Contemporary Art,Boston, June 26–September 30, 2018
20/20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, July 22–December 31, 2017
An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney's Collection, 1940–2017, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, August 18, 2017–August 2018
Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art and Technology, 1968–85, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts, Phildelphia, October 8–December 8, 2017
Citizen: An American Lyric, St. John’s University Art Gallery, Queens, January 15–March 14, 2018
Howardena Pindell: What Remains to Be Seen, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, February 24–May 20, 2018; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, August 25–November 25, 2018; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, February 1–May 19, 2019
Out of Easy Reach, Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago, April 27–August 4, 2018; Grunwald Gallery of Art, Indiana University, Bloomington, August 24–November 14, 2018
Histórias Afro-Atlânticas, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil, June 28–October21, 2018
Howardena Pindell: Free, White and 21, Herbert Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, August 25–December 23, 2018
We, The People, Central Slovakian Gallery, Banská Bystrica, September 18–November 3, 2018
On Protest Art and Activism: Part II, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, October 1–December 19, 2018
Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s: Works from the Sammlung Verbund Collection, Vienna, Brno House of Arts, Brno, Czech Republic, December 11, 2018–March 3, 2019; International Center of Photography, New York, January–April 2020
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, January 15–April 14, 2019; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan, September 13–December 8, 2019; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, January 17–April 12, 2020; FryeArt Museum, Seattle, May 9–August 2020; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, August 28–December 13, 2020
The Self Embodied, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, January 29–May 2019Private Body/Public Text, Art Museum of Nanjing University, China, December 7, 2019–January 6,2020
Pioneers, Part Two, Cleveland Museum of Art, December 2, 2019–March 12, 2020Mapping the Collection, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, April–August 2020
Alien vs. Citizen, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, July 11, 2020–February 7, 2021
Howardena Pindell, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, November 21, 2020–February 14,2021; Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, March 12–July 4, 2021
Stay Tuned, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, July 25–September 10, 1981
Race and Representation: Art/Film/Video. Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, January 26–March 6,1987
Art as a Verb: The Evolving Continuum, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, November 21,1988–January 8, 1989; Metropolitan Life Gallery, New York, March 6–April 8, 1989; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, March 12–June 18, 1989
Howardena Pindell, Liz Harris, Boston, January 31–March 4, 1989; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, March 25–June 18, 1989
Howardena Pindell: Autobiography, Cyrus Gallery, New York, October 5–November 18, 1989Howardena Pindell: A Retrospective 1972–1992, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, June 19, 1993;Alternative Museum, June 23, 1993; Art Gallery, Georgia State University, Atlanta, July 14–August 13,1993; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, November 6–December 19,1993
Altered Egos, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, March 15–May 9, 1997
Howardena Pindell: In My Lifetime, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, New York, June 3–August 31, 2006
America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1–September 27, 2015
Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display, Mildred Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, September 9, 2016–January 15, 2017
We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, Brooklyn Museum, New York, April 21–September 17, 2017; California African American Museum, Los Angeles, October 13, 2017–January 14,2018; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, February 17–May 27, 2018; Institute of Contemporary Art,Boston, June 26–September 30, 2018
20/20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, July 22–December 31, 2017
An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney's Collection, 1940–2017, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, August 18, 2017–August 2018
Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art and Technology, 1968–85, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts, Phildelphia, October 8–December 8, 2017
Citizen: An American Lyric, St. John’s University Art Gallery, Queens, January 15–March 14, 2018
Howardena Pindell: What Remains to Be Seen, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, February 24–May 20, 2018; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, August 25–November 25, 2018; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, February 1–May 19, 2019
Out of Easy Reach, Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago, April 27–August 4, 2018; Grunwald Gallery of Art, Indiana University, Bloomington, August 24–November 14, 2018
Histórias Afro-Atlânticas, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil, June 28–October21, 2018
Howardena Pindell: Free, White and 21, Herbert Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, August 25–December 23, 2018
We, The People, Central Slovakian Gallery, Banská Bystrica, September 18–November 3, 2018
On Protest Art and Activism: Part II, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, October 1–December 19, 2018
Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s: Works from the Sammlung Verbund Collection, Vienna, Brno House of Arts, Brno, Czech Republic, December 11, 2018–March 3, 2019; International Center of Photography, New York, January–April 2020
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, January 15–April 14, 2019; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan, September 13–December 8, 2019; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, January 17–April 12, 2020; FryeArt Museum, Seattle, May 9–August 2020; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, August 28–December 13, 2020
The Self Embodied, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, January 29–May 2019Private Body/Public Text, Art Museum of Nanjing University, China, December 7, 2019–January 6,2020
Pioneers, Part Two, Cleveland Museum of Art, December 2, 2019–March 12, 2020Mapping the Collection, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, April–August 2020
Alien vs. Citizen, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, July 11, 2020–February 7, 2021
Howardena Pindell, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, November 21, 2020–February 14,2021; Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, March 12–July 4, 2021
Beckwith, Naomi and Valerie Cassel Oliver. Howardena Pindell: What Remains to be Seen. Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 2018: 43, 170, 172, 181–192, 252.
Brooklyn Museum. We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, New Perspectives. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 2018: 90–91.
Casteel, Jordan. “Artists’ Artists.” Artforum 56, no. 4 (2017): 77.
Choi, Connie. Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem. New York: American Federation of Arts, 2019: 163.
Chamberlain, Colby. “Howardena Pindell at Garth Greenan Gallery.” Artforum 58, no. 5 (2020): 211.
Cooke, Lynne. Outliers and American Vanguard Art. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2018: 97,358.
Cotter, Holland. “Art in Review: Howardena Pindell.” New York Times, July 28, 2006.
Cotter, Holland. "To Be Black, Female and Fed Up With the Mainstream." New York Times, April 21,2017: C25.
English, Darby and Charlotte Barat. Among Others: Blackness at MoMA. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2019: 360.
Failing, Patricia. "A Case of Exclusion." Art News 88, no. 3 (1989): 128.
Glueck, Grace. "Gladly Glassy-Eyed at American Craft Museum." New York Observer 7, no. 23 (1993):22.
Goodrich, John. “The Uncertain Line Between Art and Advocacy.” New York Sun, July 20, 2006.
Greenberger, Alex. “Full Circle: Howardena Pindell Steps Back Into the Spotlight with a Traveling Retrospective.” Art News 116, no. 4 (2017): 82.
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center. Altered Egos. Buffalo: Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, 1997:23.
McCombie, Mel. “Howardena Pindell.” Arts Magazine 64, no. 1 (1989): 77.
Mitter, Siddhartha. “Revolutionary Sisters.” Village Voice 62, no. 13 (2017): 22.
Morris, Catherine and Rujecko Hockley, eds. We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum: 2017: 222–223.
Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo Assis Chateaubriand. Historias Afro-Atalanticas. Sao Paulo: Museo de Artede Sao Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, 2018: 312.Panero, James. “Seeing Her Worldview in a Circle.” Wall Street Journal, September 4, 2018: A13.
Perreault, John. “Artbreakers: New York’s Emerging Artists.” SoHo News 7, no. 51 (1980): 43.
Pindell, Howardena. “Making Space for Ourselves.” Art in America 106, no. 1 (2018): 41.
Reilly, Maura. Curatorial Activism: Towards and Ethics of Curating. Thames and Hudson: London, 2018:84.
Rifkin, Ned. Stay Tuned. New York: New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1981: 16.
Schuetze, Christopher F. “Film Carves Out Its Place at Art Basel in Miami.” New York Times, December2, 2015.
Temin, Christine. “Fighting Racism in the Art World.” Boston Globe, February 7, 1989.
Verdino-Sullwold, Carla Maria. “Howardena Pindell: Volcanic View of the Self.” Crisis 97, no. 1 (1990):13.
Wilson, Judith. “Howardena Pindell.” Ms. 8, no. 11 (1980): 70.
Explore the Collection Further
