Flight Into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876-Now
by Akili Tommasino

The first publication to examine the symbolic importance of ancient Egypt to Black artists and other cultural figures, from the nineteenth century through the Harlem Renaissance to the present.

From the late nineteenth century onward, Black Americans looked to ancient Egypt as evidence of a preeminent ancient culture from the African continent. Flight into Egypt traces ancient Egypt’s influence on artists, from Edmonia Lewis’s sculpture The Death of Cleopatra (1876) to the efflorescence of Afrocentric visual art during the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and artistic tendencies of the ensuing decades. This volume explores how Black artists, writers, and musicians—and modern and contemporary Egyptian artists—have employed ancient Egyptian imagery to craft a unifying identity. Authors bring to light the overlooked contributions of Black scholars to the study of ancient Egypt, while statements by contemporary Black and Egyptian artists illuminate ancient Egypt’s continued hold on the creative imagination.

Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(November 17, 2024–February 17, 2025)