“The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC opens Nov 8. It examines for the first time the role of sculpture in understanding and constructing the concept of race in the United States over nearly three centuries.
Featuring 70 artists whose work crosses time, scale and media, the exhibition brings together American sculpture in its many forms to explore the ways in which it has shaped and reflected attitudes and understandings about race, and has served as an expression of resistance, liberation and a vital means for reclaiming identity. The exhibition includes 82 sculptures created between 1792 and 2023 ranging in size from palm-sized coins to monumental statues created from diverse media such as bronze, marble, shoes, paper and hair.
Judith Baca, Rina Banerjee, Ed Bereal, Huma Bhabha, Sanford Biggers, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Sonya Clark, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Nicholas Galanin, Raven Halfmoon, Luis Jiménez, Simone Leigh, Yolanda López, Roberto Lugo, Pepón Osorio, Betye Saar, Alison Saar and Nari Ward, among other contemporary artists, have work displayed alongside works by artists who were active in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Daniel Chester French, Sargent Johnson, Edmonia Lewis, Isamu Noguchi, Hiram Powers, Frederic Remington and Augusta Savage.
“The Shape of Power” will be on view from Nov. 8 through Sept. 14, 2025. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is the sole venue for this groundbreaking exhibition.