Renowned Cafritz art collection on exhibit at Duke Ellington School
Follow
WASHINGTON – Duke Ellington School of the Arts co-founder Peggy Cooper Cafritz died in February, but her contributions to the school and world at large live on. She bequeathed about 250 pieces – one-third of her acclaimed art collection – to the school, making it one of the biggest gifts ever of contemporary works by artists of African descent.
“In My Shoes: The Peggy Cooper Cafritz Art Collection” opens at the Ellington Gallery with a reception and fundraiser on Thursday, Nov. 7, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The minimum suggested donation is $20 and accepted at the door via cash or check. The exhibit remains on display at the gallery (3500 R Street NW) through Friday, Dec. 13.
Cafritz’s inventory of primarily African-American art was among the largest in the nation. Ellington received pieces by Hank Willis Thomas, BK Adams, Louise Bourgeois and Mark Thomas Gibson. “She was always very clear that her collection was not only important to her, but it had to live beyond her,” says Thomas, a 1994 alum.
“A person’s collection says everything about where their heart and head live,” Ellington School CEO Tia Powell Harris says. “By keeping her collection alive, we can peer into what inspired her. These pieces have traveled with the rest of Peggy’s collection, and now they’re home.”
