An Afternoon with Lorraine O’Grady

Why It Matters

O’Grady’s reclaimed narrative challenges entrenched art‑historical omissions, offering museums a template for integrating Black performance histories into mainstream modernist canons.

Key Takeaways

• O'Grady's early performances merged personal narrative with political critique.
• "Mlle Bourgeoise Noire" marked her debut and set performance tone.
• Documentation gaps shaped public perception of her work for decades.
• Collaborations with Just Above Midtown propelled Black avant‑garde visibility.
• Recent retrospectives reclaim her complex artistic legacy and influence.

Summary

The Metropolitan Museum hosted a conversation with artist Lorraine O’Grady, introduced by curator David Breslin and curator Denise Murrell, to contextualize O’Grady’s work within the Manet/Degas exhibition and the broader history of Black representation in European painting.

O’Grady traced her unconventional path—from economist and translator to performance artist—highlighting her 1980 debut piece “Mlle Bourgeoise Noire” at Just Above Midtown. She described the work as a diptych of joy and anger, and recounted a subsequent “invasion” of the New Museum, emphasizing the intertwining of personal trauma and cultural critique that defines her practice.

She quoted Léon‑Gontran Damas—“Black art must take more risks”—and recalled Linda Goode Bryant’s enthusiastic response to her first performance. O’Grady also explained how a single, mis‑captured photograph of her shouting for 25 years reduced a complex piece to a caricature, a narrative she has only recently begun to rectify through archival installations.

The talk underscores O’Grady’s role in foregrounding Black bodies within modernist discourse, a theme that informs Murrell’s upcoming “Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” exhibition. By reclaiming her performance history, curators and scholars gain a richer framework for reassessing the Black model’s impact on international modern art.

Original Description

Lorraine O’Grady, artist

Denise Murrell, Merryl H. and James S. Tisch Curator at Large, The Met

Hear artist Lorraine O'Grady reflect on selected works from the exhibition Manet/Degas and the impact that Édouard Manet’s subjects Laure of Olympia, Jeanne Duval, and Charles Baudelaire have had on her work. In this conversation with Met curator Denise Murrell, O’Grady discusses the enigmatic histories of Laure and Duval and how the latter's story, in particular, has influenced her practice and resonated within her personal life.

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