Last Chance To Catch John Wilson's Art At The Met

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – "Last Chance To Catch John Wilson's Art At The Met"

Host: Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Guests: Jennifer Farrell (Co-curator, The Met); Leslie King Hammond (Co-curator and Founding Director, Center for Race and Culture at the Maryland Institute College of Art)
Date: February 6, 2026
Exhibit Discussed: Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson
Duration Covered: [00:09]–[06:15]

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Overview

This episode spotlights the final days of "Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Host Alison Stewart speaks with co-curators Jennifer Farrell and Leslie King Hammond about John Wilson — a pioneering African-American artist whose six-decade career explored family, identity, justice, and the lived experience of Black Americans in the US, especially amid wartime and the Civil Rights movement.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origins and Collaboration Behind the Exhibit

• Jennifer Farrell explains the unique origin story of the joint exhibition between the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Met:
  • Both Boston and New York curators independently proposed John Wilson shows, not knowing about each other’s efforts.
  • After learning of the overlap, the institutions collaborated, tailoring the Boston exhibition more towards Wilson’s relationship with his hometown, while New York introduced Wilson to an audience perhaps less familiar with his full range.
  • “If we don’t do it, someone else will.” — Jennifer Farrell [01:31]

2. Family as a Foundation in Wilson's Work

• Wilson’s emphasis on family — especially Black parents and children — is not just thematic but deeply personal:
  • Portraits of his own family feature in the first room of the show: siblings, himself, his Roxbury neighborhood.
  • Wilson subverted prevailing art traditions, particularly the predominance of white mothers and children, by showcasing Black fathers, sons, and broader family units.
  • Jennifer Farrell: “He would often tell [his family] to stop what they're doing and pose… really a challenge to this kind of representations in art, where so often it’s mother and child, so often it’s the white mother and the white child. And here he’s showing not only Black parents…but he’s also showing fatherhood.” [02:30]
  • Wilson also contributed illustrations to children's books that highlighted the strength of Black American families.

3. Standout Works That Capture Wilson’s Impact

• Host Alison Stewart asks which single piece each curator wants the public to contemplate for a few extra seconds:
  • Leslie King Hammond is most moved by Wilson’s rare depictions of Black fathers and sons:
    • “He is one of the few, especially African American artists, who ever did father and son. Rare, rare, gifted. Just—I stand in front of it and I get palpitations every time…it reminds me of him talking about reading, sitting on his father’s lap when he’s a young boy and sharing that moment.” [04:13]
    • This theme runs through Wilson’s sculpture and prints, including public art, like the “Father and Child Reading” sculpture outside Roxbury Public Library.
  • Jennifer Farrell selects “Adolescence,” shown in both drawing and print in the exhibit:
    • Represents a young boy’s alienation and connection to community, highlighting both the importance of education and the inequities facing Black communities.
    • The work was quickly recognized, being acquired by Smith College and MoMA shortly after its creation.
    • “He refers to it as a self-portrait…I think that that resonates with so many feelings people have today within their community.” [04:55]

4. Wilson's Broader Legacy and Relevance

• Wilson was not only an artist but a teacher for decades, influencing generations, and using his work to comment on themes of labor, community, and social justice.
• His art continues to speak powerfully to current discussions on representation, identity, and equity.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jennifer Farrell on bringing the show to NYC:
  “If we don’t do it, someone else will.” [01:31]

• On subverting traditions in art:
  “He’s showing not only Black parents…but he’s also showing fatherhood. And that was on the cover of the Reporter, one of the Father and Children [images].” — Jennifer Farrell [02:30]

• On the emotional potency of “Father and Son”:
  “I am just driven by the fact that he is one of the few…who ever did father and son. Rare, rare, gifted…every time because it reminds me of him talking about reading, sitting on his father’s lap when he’s a young boy and sharing that moment.” — Leslie King Hammond [04:13]

• On “Adolescence” and universal resonance:
  “Of the young boy, both alienated and connected…he refers to it as a self-portrait…I think that that resonates with so many feelings people have today within their community.” — Jennifer Farrell [04:55]

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Important Timestamps

• The exhibit background and curatorial partnership: [01:05]–[02:18]
• Discussion of family and Black parent/child representation: [02:18]–[03:58]
• Curators’ picks for must-see works in the exhibit: [04:08]–[06:15]

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Final Note

This episode offers an urgent invitation to witness the power, intimacy, and social depth of John Wilson’s art — and preserves curatorial insight into why his work is pivotal both for art history and for today’s ongoing conversations about representation, family, and community in America.

Transcript

[A]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart with a last call to catch a powerful exhibit at the Met. It's called Witnessing Humanity, the Art of John Wilson. And it's open only through this coming Sunday, February 8th, so go see it while you can. Born in 1922 in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, the late artist John Wilson dedicated his life and career to capturing certain hypocrisies that black Americans have faced, particularly double standards during the wars and the Civil Rights movement of the 60s. Witnessing humanity, the Art of John Wilson is a collaboration between the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Met here in New York. And when it first opened here at the Met, I spoke with co curators Jennifer Farrell and Leslie King Hammond, who is also the founding director for the center of Race and Culture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. I started by asking Jennifer why she wanted to bring this show from Boston to New York.

[B]

Well, it's actually very funny because the curators from Boston and I had separately proposed the show to our respective directors, and we hadn't known about the other show because it wasn't official. So we were probably around the same month or so Edward said, maybe even the same week that we proposed our exhibitions. And I remember telling Max, if we don't do it, someone else will. And then we found out about each other and we decided to join forces. We decided that Boston was really able to delve into Wilson's relationship with the city. Being born in Roxbury and living for many decades in Brookline and studying at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, as you mentioned, at Tufts and then later teaching at Boston University. Whereas for people in New York, it might be more of an introduction or an in depth look at an artist for whom maybe they only know one section of an his work and not the full range over the course of over six decades. So it's a little bit different focus in the two venues and we overlap a lot on the works that were included, but there are some different works in this show.

[A]

Wilson also made a lot of art about parents and their children, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, black families. Jennifer, why do you think this was an important subject for him?

[B]

Well, his father had a key role in his life. He came from a very supportive, very tight knit family. A lot of portraits in the first room are of his brothers, of his sister, as well as of himself and Roxbury, which he describes as a portrait of a neighborhood. But the family was really foundation. And so he, as Leslie said, would use his family as subjects, he would often tell them to stop what they're doing and pose. But it was, I think, really a challenge to this kind of representations in art, where so often it's mother and child, so often it's the white mother and the white child. And here he's showing not only black parents, such as in the incident and with Mother and Child, but he's also showing fatherhood. And that was on the COVID of the Reporter, one of the Father and Children. He made it in sculpture, he made images in drawing. He made them very large. Father and Child reading, which is outside of the public library at the Roxbury. We only have a small maquette in the show. And it really is showing this incredible connection within his family and within his community. And he also wrote or he also did illustrations rather, for children's books that speak about families as these incredible, incredibly strong units within the black American family.

[A]

Alright, if there's one piece of art, one piece in the show that you'd like people to spend five extra seconds in front of, not your favorite, but one that you think maybe you should.

[C]

Take in a little longer, what piece would that be?

[D]

I am just driven by the fact that he is one of the few, especially African American artists who ever did father and son. Rare, rare, gifted. Just I stand in front of it and I get palpitations every time because it reminds me of him talking about reading, sitting on his father's lap when he's a young boy and sharing that moment. And that's why we have those images in sculpture, in prints. And, you know, while I love everything, that one emotionally resonates with me.

[B]

How about for you? I would say adolescence. We have both the drawing and the print. So you see him, his technical process, but of the. Of the young boy, both alienated and connected to his environment, with the books under his arm. As Leslie said, the importance of education. John was also a teacher for many decades at Boston University, in addition to the work at the high school and middle school schools in New York City. But that idea, the way he addresses a viewer, the fact he refers to it as a self portrait, and I think that that resonates with so many feelings people have today within their community. Also, as you talked about labor of the inequities that are present in certain communities. And that all comes through in that piece. For me, it actually was incredibly successful. Shortly after he made it, he sold it to Smith College, who also purchased and displayed My Brother, which is our signature image while he was still in school. And moma also bought the print for adolescence, so it really struck a lot of people at the time it was made. But I think it continues to be an incredibly relevant piece of that was.

[A]

My conversation with Jennifer Farrell and Leslie King Hammond, co curators of the exhibition Witnessing the Art of John Wilson, and this is your last chance to see it at the Met. The show's last day is this Sunday.

[E]

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[C]

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