WINTERTHUR, DE (September 29, 2025)—Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library will host a symposium, “Looking Back to the Future: Realizing the ‘Afric-American Picture Gallery,’” on November 14–15, 2025. Featuring leading scholars and conceptual artist-curator Fred Wilson, the event explores William J. Wilson’s little known but monumental 1859 essay as a framework for understanding Black visual culture, historical memory, and museum practice.
This two-day deep dive will culminate in a Q&A with Fred Wilson, an internationally recognized mixed-media and museum installation artist, whose groundbreaking 1992 exhibition Mining the Museum at the Maryland Historical Society (now the Maryland Center for History and Culture) critically examined the museum’s vast collections, unlocking long-ignored histories, and sparking new dialogues.
Alexandra Deutsch, John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw director of collections at Winterthur, will join Wilson in conversation to explore his artistic practice, history of intervention in museum spaces, and approach to interpreting collections.
Dr. Jonathan Michael Square, assistant professor of Black visual culture at Parsons School of Design and curator of Winterthur’s current exhibition Almost Unknown, The Afric-American Picture Gallery, is a co-creator and leading voice in the symposium.
Almost Unknown is Square’s interpretation of William J. Wilson’s seven-part essay, which guides readers on a tour through an imaginary collection of artworks that both celebrates and critiques the experience of free and enslaved Black Americans in the 19th century.
According to Square, Fred Wilson’s pioneering vision for the role objects can play in creating dialogues about the past, the present, and the future was one of the many influences he drew upon when selecting objects from Winterthur’s collection for his immersive, theatrical, and multisensory installation that brings the pre-Civil War essay to life.
Square juxtaposes objects like a portrait of John Singleton Copley and a slave badge, and a bust of George Washington placed on pedestal wrapped in a Kente cloth-patterned fabric. Originating in Ghana, Kente symbolizes the complex cultural heritage of the African Diaspora.
Square also brings lesser-known stories forward while examining essay themes like Black childhood. At the exit from the exhibition, he’s included a message that encourages visitors to add their own object to the gallery by filling out a blank frame with their suggestions.
According to Square, a primary objective for the November symposium is to bring William J. Wilson’s essay into wider public conversation by examining how the text intersects with American history, museum practice, and Winterthur’s own legacy.
“We hope participants leave with new insights into how historical narratives are constructed and how they can be reimagined to center African American voices and experiences,” said Square. “I’m particularly excited about the expertise our speakers bring, ranging from leading scholars to artists like Fred Wilson, who challenge us to think critically about the role of museums in shaping collective memory.
“This gathering offers a rare opportunity for museum professionals, educators, scholars, and community members to come together in dialogue, exchange ideas, and consider how we can build more inclusive interpretations of the past,” Square said. “Conversations like these help us see that history is never fixed. It is continuously reinterpreted through the questions we ask, the voices we amplify, and the connections we make between past and present.”
Symposium Day One, November 14
Day one features a powerful lineup of speakers and concludes with an evening reception from 4:30-6:00 pm at Winterthur Museum’s Galleries Reception Area. Almost Unknown, The Afric-American Picture Gallery exhibition will be open for viewing.
The Afric-American Picture Gallery and Antebellum Afro-bohemia | 9:20 am
Britt Rusert, a Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Executive Editor of the Massachusetts Review, will kick off day one following opening remarks. Rusert has been teaching and researching William J. Wilson and his picture gallery for the past 10 years.
Sketch as History: History as Sketch in the Anglo-African Magazine | 10:10 amDerrick R. Spires, Associate Professor of English at the University of Delaware
Artworks Made, Unmade, and Remade: Ephemerality and Iconoclasm | 11:30 amJennifer Van Horn, Professor of Art History and History at the University of Delaware
Almost Unknown: Colored Conventions and the Art of Memory | 1:20 pmP. Gabrielle Foreman, Professor of American Literature and Professor of African American Studies and History at Penn State
From Picture Galleries to Underground Archives in the Black Intellectual Tradition | 2:10 pmLaura E. Helton, Assistant Professor of English and History at the University of Delaware
Sarah Shimm’s Wonderful Sofa: Stitching L’Ouverture in Silk at the Cotton Centennial | 3:00 pmMariah Kupfner, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Public Heritage at Penn State University
Unseen Images in the Gardens of Atlantic Melancholy | 3:50 pmJonathan D. S. Schroeder, Lecturer in Literary Arts and Studies at the Rhode Island School of Design
Symposium Day Two, November 15
These Walls Can Talk: Reclaiming the Picture Gallery Through Black Imagination | 9:00 am
Square will open day two of the symposium exploring how Black artists, intellectuals, and curators have reimagined the gallery as a space not just for aesthetic contemplation but for historical intervention. From Fred Wilson’s Mining the Museum exhibition to Faith Ringgold’s Dancing at the Louvre and Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s modern interventions, he will consider how the gallery becomes a site of resistance, memory, and speculative possibility.
A Look Back to the Future | 9:50 am
Square and Reed Gochberg, Curator at the Boston Athenaeum, will discuss how Gochberg introduced Square to William J. Wilson’s essay, their collaborative work through the lens of the text, and how it has shaped their scholarship, teaching, and curatorial practice.
Moving Pictures: Looking for Tom in the Picture Gallery | 11:10 am
John Ernest, Professor of English at the University of Delaware
Through Gimlet Holes: New Visions for American Art | 1:00 pm Stephanie Sparling Williams, Ph.D. Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art at the Brooklyn Museum
Building Communion: Black Place-Making, Sacred Kinships, and the Spirit of Delaware | 1:50 pm Hannah Grantham, Director of the Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage at the Delaware Historical Society
Mining the Museum . . . Again | 2:50 pm
Fred Wilson, Mixed-Media Artist Q&A with Alexandra Deutsch
Event Details & Registration
“Looking Back to the Future: Realizing the ‘Afric-American Picture Gallery’” will take place at Winterthur Museum’s Copeland Lecture Hall on Friday, November 14 and Saturday, November 15, 2025. Registration is open now at www.winterthur.org, with general admission priced at $150 and discounted rates available for members and students.
Livestream Access: Join us virtually for the two-day symposium via livestream. This $40 ticket provides real-time access to most scheduled sessions and presentations as they happen.* Please note: Livestream access is available only during the event. There will be no recordings provided afterward.
The symposiumis intended for a broad audience: educators at university and secondary levels, museum professionals, scholars, enthusiasts of African American history, and the local Wilmington community.
Speaker bios, presentation summaries, and full schedules are listed on the event website.
Co-hosted by Winterthur’s Continuing Education and Collections & Interpretation divisions, this symposium is made possible with the support of the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Additional Background
Published under the pen name Ethiop, William J. Wilson’s “Afric-American Picture Gallery” first appeared in the pages of the Anglo-African Magazine. The text guides readers on a meandering and sometimes fantastical tour through an imagined collection of artworks. Though never physically realized, his concept prefigures modern-day calls for inclusive museums and community-driven curation.
In Winterthur’s Almost Unknown exhibition, guest curator Dr. Jonathan Michael Square has assembled prints, paintings, sculptures, books, and other decorative objects to represent Wilson’s gallery and Black life in the United States and across the African Diaspora.
Almost Unknown includes 25 objects from Winterthur’s collection and four on loan from other institutions. The selected objects do not directly replicate Wilson’s descriptions. Instead, the exhibition reflects Square’s interpretation of the text, highlighting its contemporary relevance and the resonances he has drawn between Wilson’s vision and the selected works.
Prior to joining Winterthur in 2019, where she oversees exhibitions, public programming, and interpretation, Alexandra Deutsch enjoyed a long tenure at the Maryland Center for History and Culture, where the impact of Mining the Museum still lingers decades after installation.
Deutsch first collaborated with Square at the Maryland Center for History and Culture while working on the Spectrum of Fashion exhibition. At the time, Square was an instructor at Harvard University. He helped Deutsch and museum staff identify and interpret livery worn in the 19thcentury by formerly enslaved individuals at Hampton Mansion in Towson, Maryland.
* Speaker Gabrielle Foreman’s session will not be aired on the livestream. The opening reception and exhibition tour will also not be shown via livestream.
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About Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Winterthur—known worldwide for its preeminent collection of American decorative arts, naturalistic garden, and research library for the study of American art and material culture—offers a variety of tours, exhibitions, programs, and activities throughout the year. Admission includes a self-paced house tour, exhibitions, a narrated tram ride (weather and space permitting), and the Winterthur Garden.
Winterthur is located on Route 52, six miles northwest of Wilmington, Del., and five miles south of U.S. Route 1. Winterthur is committed to accessible programming for all. For information, including special services, call 800.448.3883 or visit winterthur.org. Winterthur is closed seasonally from early January through late February.
About the Terra Foundation for American Art
The Terra Foundation for American Art expands narratives of American art through our grants, collection, and initiatives. With offices in Chicago and Paris, we work with organizations to foster intercultural dialogues and encourage transformative practices, locally and globally.