A view of ‘20/20’ at Carnegie

A passionate family gathering of African-American art

During two recent trips to “20/ 20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art,” I noticed only a relatively small number of black folks exploring the gallery spaces devoted to one of the most exciting art exhibitions Pittsburgh has hosted in years.

There are historic reasons for this, I suppose. Once upon a time, grand spaces such the Carnegie Museum of Art simply didn’t cater to the interests of Pittsburgh’s African-American community.

The good folks of Homewood, the Hill District and other predominantly black communities in Pittsburgh took the hint and pretty much stayed away. The snub was mutual and was compounded by generational indifference.

It took the acquisition of Pittsburgh Courier photographer Teenie Harris’ 80,000 photographs and negatives to break the ice in a major way. Because the late photographer was such a conspicuous presence in Pittsburgh’s black community for decades while chronicling its triumphs and failures for The Courier, his sharp eye was often the only validation it needed.

But a funny thing happened when the Carnegie Museum of Art began exhibiting Teenie Harris’ photographs a decade ago after acquiring them in the ’90s. Suddenly, the once distant and impenetrable Carnegie Museum became a place where Pittsburgh’s black community was honored and taken seriously. It became a place where the community’s history and legacy was thoughtfully and lovingly explored through the vehicle of Mr. Harris’ photographs.

It was a glorious courtship of a once neglected community by the Carnegie Museum and its expertly trained curators. High profile exhibits over the years, especially those featuring Teenie Harris’ work, attracted more black Pittsburghers to the Carnegie.

Church buses arrived with parishioners one day and school buses bearing middle school kids the next. Many older black folks came by car or by public transportation to see if they or long dead relatives or friends had turned up in