Ongoing
The Banner Project: Robert Pruitt

The Banner Project: Robert Pruitt

Presented by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

For the inaugural installation of the MFA’s “Banner Project,” the Museum invited artist Robert Pruitt to create three large-scale banners to hang from the ceiling of the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art. Pruitt is best known for his oversized figurative drawings that explore the diversity of the African Diaspora by juxtaposing contrasting cultural symbols. He has said that most of his works “have some reference to the Past, Present, and Future… This idea is to collapse time.”

For his “Banner Project,” Pruitt depicts members of the local community wearing and interacting with works from the MFA’s collection, including an ancient Egyptian beadnet dress, 20th-century Yoruba wrappers, and an American pictorial quilt by Harriet Powers. The three diptych portraits—titled Birth and Rebirth and Rebirth (2019), Red Starbursts (2019), and Cut Piece (2019)—contain elements that refer to one another. Central to all of the works is a set of 19th-century ceramic face jugs—some of the earliest surviving aesthetic objects produced by African Americans that, to Pruitt, represent an identity and culture in transition.

Admission Info

Adults $25
Seniors (65+) $23
Children 6 and under Free
Youths 7–17* Free / $10*
Students (18+)** $23**

*Youths 7–17 admitted free weekends, weekdays after 3 pm, and Boston public school holidays; otherwise admission for youths is $10.

**Participants in the University Membership program receive free admission. NH and ME resident students also receive free admission.

Dates & Times

2019/10/26 - 2020/12/31

Location Info

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115

Parking Info

Self Parking Options

Visitors to the MFA have three self-parking options: the Huntington Lot, the Fenway Lot, and the Museum Road Garage, all of which have entrances on Museum Road. The Huntington lot offers closer parking to the Huntington Avenue Entrance and the Fenway parking lot is more accessible to the State Street Corporation Fenway Entrance.

All parking facilities have handicap spaces.

Please take your parking ticket with you; all parking facilities are automated. Payment for parking may be made in the garage lobby, or by credit or debit card at the exit lanes of the lots. Scan your membership card to receive the discounted rate.

For additional information, please call the garage at 617-369-3657.