WASHINGTON — Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams will be featured in a National Portrait Gallery show opening today, along with other leading black figures who may be lesser known.
“The Black List” features 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders in a project that also included a 2008 HBO film.
After a conversation with his friend, writer Toni Morrison, Greenfield-Sanders began thinking of all the successful black figures he knows — and how so many were unknown. He and his collaborator, film critic Elvis Mitchell, scribbled down 200 names on napkins over lunch.
“I’ve done the art world, I’ve done the music world, I’ve done the porn world, I’ve done politics — I’ve done all these different worlds, and it’s all about accomplishment,” Greenfield-Sanders, who is white, said. “I thought it would be interesting: As a white guy, could I do this?”
Morrison, whose portrait is in the exhibit, and others encouraged him to pursue the idea.
His theme came from the historical term “blacklist,” referring to a marginalized group. Greenfield-Sanders wanted to turn the phrase into a roll call of distinction to show the broad range of achievements of African-Americans.
The Smithsonian exhibit is the first to feature all 50 portraits and will be open through April 2012. Greenfield-Sanders also created “The Latino List”; it’s on view at the Brooklyn Museum.
