Two-day symposium brings together scholars, curators, archivists, and members of Fuller's family for an in-depth exploration of her life.

One of the most significant yet underrecognized artists of the twentieth century, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877–1968) spent her formative years in Paris at the turn of the century — including time at the very building where this symposium will be held. A sculptor of extraordinary power and originality, Fuller studied under Auguste Rodin, exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts, and went on to become a defining voice of the Harlem Renaissance. Her work gave form to Black experience, resilience, and identity at a time when Black artists were marginalized in both the art world and society at large.

This symposium brings together scholars, curators, archivists, and members of Fuller's family for an in-depth exploration of her life, art, and legacy. Sessions will examine her Paris years, her major works, her place among her contemporaries, and the ongoing efforts to preserve and steward her legacy. The symposium takes place at Reid Hall, formerly the American Girls' Art Club. Upon her arrival to Paris in 1899, the Club refused to house Fuller because "she was not white,” making it a particularly resonant setting for this gathering.

Symposium Overview

May 4
7 p.m. Modeling Resilience: The Art and Legacy of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller - Public evening event (ticketed separately) - Preceded by a cocktail reception at 6 p.m.

May 5
10 a.m. - Spotlighting Meta Vaux’s Artworks
11 a.m. - Meta Vaux’s Contemporaries
3 p.m. - Curating and Archiving Meta Vaux’s Legacy
7 p.m. - Wandering Artists and Scholars: African Americans Abroad - Public evening event (ticketed separately)

Agenda
10 a.m. Presentation: Spotlighting Meta Vaux’s Artworks
- Denise Murrell, “After Paris: A Modernist Aesthetics and the US Civil Rights Movement”
- Erika Schneider, “From Jamestown to The Slave Ship: Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller’s Monuments to Enslavement”
- Catherine Hahn, “Warrick Fuller and the Materialisation of Feeling”

11 a.m. Presentation: Meta Vaux’s Contemporaries
- Jessica Roscio, “Sculptor as Subject: Self-Image and the Making of a Professional Woman Artist”
- Kelly Christina Grant, “From Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller to Loïs Mailou Jones: Artistic Lineage in Black Women’s Transatlantic Practice”
- Robert O’Meally, “What is the Visual Art Lesson: Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Osawa Tanner, and Romare Bearden”
- Kellie Jones, “Augusta Savage Loves Paris”

12h30 p.m. Lunch break - Catering will not be provided. Attendees are welcome to find lunch at any number of restaurants in the Montparnasse neighborhood.

3 p.m. Presentation: Curating and Archiving Meta Vaux’s Legacy
- Heather Nickels, “Intimate Archives” (15 mn)
- Erika Schneider, “Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Catalogue Raisonné” (15mn)
- Tammi Lawson, “Curating the Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Collections” (15mn)

7 p.m. Public Event (ticketed separately): Wandering Artists and Scholars: African-Americans Abroad

The symposium is open to the public. Both evenings feature public events, ticketed separately.

This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.

Speakers
Renée Ater, author of Remaking Race and History: The Sculpture of Meta Warrick Fuller
David Fuller, grandson of Meta Vaux Warrick and Solomon Carter Fuller
Kelly-Christina Grant, PhD candidate in art history at Université Paris-Nanterre
Catherine Hahn, Lecturer in Art History at the University of Kent, England
Kellie Jones, Professor in Art History and Archaeology and the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS), Columbia University
Tammi Lawson, Curator of Arts and Artifacts, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Crystal Moten, Associate Director, Special Collections, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Denise Murrell, Curator at Large for 19th- and 20th-century art, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Heather Nickels, PhD candidate in the Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University
Robert O'Meally, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Rachel Passannante, Collections Manager, Danforth Museum
Jessica Roscio, Director and Curator, Danforth Museum
Erika Schneider, Professor of Art History, Framingham State University
Maboula Soumahoro, Associate Professor, English Department, Tours University, and founder of Black History Month France
Tamara Walker, Professor of Africana Studies, Columbia University, author of Beyond the Shores: A History of African Americans Abroad

This event is made possible with the support of a convening grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. The Terra Foundation, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art, through the foundation’s grant program, collection, and initiatives.

Reid Hall, the Columbia Global Paris Center, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination are not responsible for the views and opinions expressed by their speakers and guests.

Organized by the Columbia Global Paris Center. With the support of a convening grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. With the participation of the Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University.