Dear Friends,

“Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson,” the retrospective exhibition opening February 8 in the MFA’s Torf Gallery, brings a long overdue focus on major American artist John Wilson (1922–2015), whose work, life, and teaching has had an impact on countless others. For more than six decades, Wilson called attention to the injustices he witnessed in post-war America. As an esteemed artist and teacher, Wilson’s generosity as a mentor and dedication to producing positive change inspired generations of art students in Boston. His work is specific in time, place, and lived experience as well as universal—speaking to our shared history and to our present moment.

The exhibition and accompanying publication are produced in partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Wilson’s roots are here in Boston, where he was born and where, after studying and working in Paris, Mexico City, Chicago, and New York, he returned in the 1960s. Much earlier as a student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Wilson began to consider themes that would develop throughout his career as an artist and educator.

The prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, and illustrated books on view in “Witnessing Humanity” speak to Wilson’s life as a Black American artist and his ongoing quest for racial, social, and economic justice, from early self-portraits to depictions of anti-Black violence, the civil rights movement, labor, and tender scenes of family life. The exhibition also includes sculpture commissioned later in his career.

“Witnessing Humanity” presents an opportunity to showcase his work (a significant number from the MFA’s collection), bringing Wilson to the center of the dialogue of artists and history in postwar America and sharing his art with new generations. It is thanks to the strength and resonance of his voice and the poetry of his work, that visitors find it here, accessible to all, with the hope that as Wilson himself intended, everyone who visits the Museum feels seen, welcomed, and included. We invite you to join us in honoring the legacy of this remarkable artist and teacher.

Matthew Teitelbaum
Ann and Graham Gund Director

Select Past Director’s Messages

• Letter from Boston Museum Directors in Support of the NEA
• MFA Director on Black Lives Matter