'David C. Driskell & Friends' on view at Penn's Arthur Ross Gallery through Sept. 15

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania has a free exhibition, celebrating Black art and the power of friendship.

The exhibition is called 'David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration & Friendship.'

It was curated by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, faculty director for the Arthur Ross Gallery in the Fisher Fine Arts Library.

"David Driskell was a painter and a curator," says Shaw. "He was really interested in the history of African American art and he worked with artists, with art historians throughout his lifetime."

More than 20 of those artists are featured alongside Driskell, including Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden and Keith Morrison, a Philadelphia artist.

"All of the works in the exhibition are by African American artists whose careers began in the '50s, '60s and '70s," she says.

Driskell played a key role in bringing African American art into the mainstream through an exhibition he did in the 1970s called 'Two Centuries of Black American Art.'

"It produced a catalog that was one of the key works that really taught people about the presence of Black artists throughout the history of American art," says Shaw.

This current exhibition at the Arthur Ross Gallery has about 40 works.

"There's work from across time, and subject matter and style," she says. "They run the gamut from the 1940s to the early 2000s."

The art was part of Driskell's personal collection.

"He was hugely supportive of many, many different Black artists and they were good friends. Instead of being competitive, they were collaborative," she says.

Driskell worked in different styles.

"He was a real experimenter," says Shaw.

And different themes highlight the relationships he had with other artists.

"We see themes of family, themes of the Black church and religion. In other parts of the gallery, we see African American history. And then in other spaces, we see abstraction and working with color, and space and shape," she says.

With the diversity of artwork, there's something for everyone.

"Relationships between artists can be about making a beautiful world together," says Shaw.

'David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration & Friendship' is on view through September 15 at the Arthur Ross Gallery in the Fisher Fine Arts Library on Penn's campus.

'David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration & Friendship' | Free Tickets
Arthur Ross Gallery
220 S. 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104