Join Black Exhale and One Hundred Black Men for a Guided Tour of "Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This exhibition presents the first major museum retrospective of John Wilson (1922-2015), a master printmaker, painter, and sculptor whose six-decade career captured Black life with profound dignity and power.

When:

Date: Wednesday, February 4th, 2026
Time: 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
Location: 1000 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10028 (81st Street entrance)

Please note: Wednesday is a non-public day at the museum. Admittance permitted only for those who have RSVP'd.

Important Details: This collaborative program welcomes the BIPOC community to collectively bear witness at the museum.

"I am a Black artist. I am a Black person. To me, my experience as a Black person has given me a special way of looking at the world and a special identity with others who experience some injustices." —John Wilson

What You'll See:

Self-portraits from the 1940s - A young Black artist painting himself into existence when museums excluded Black people from their walls and history books
Eternal Presence (1987) - Wilson's monumental bronze head installed in Roxbury, washed and polished annually by the community in a sacred ritual
Streetcar Scene (1945) - Created ten years before Rosa Parks, Wilson imagined a Black man seated at the front of an integrated Boston streetcar, meeting our eyes with quiet dignity
Mexican period prints - Created at Taller de Gráfica Popular alongside Elizabeth Catlett, addressing cultural imperialism and honoring workers' dignity
Deliver Us from Evil (1943) - A powerful print connecting Nazi atrocities with American lynchings, refusing the comfort of "elsewhere"
Father and Child works - Rare depictions of Black fatherhood across multiple formats, emphasizing protection, care, and love
Martin Luther King Jr. bust maquette - The sculpture that stands in the U.S. Capitol, commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts

Witnessing as Sacred Practice:

This isn't just a museum tour—it's an act of witness. Wilson created art as testimony, inviting us to see what could otherwise be overlooked and dismissed. He rendered Black humanity with empathy and unflinching honesty.

This exhibition closes February 8, 2026.

One Hundred Black Men of New York is dedicated to improving the quality of life and enhancing educational and economic opportunities in their communities. Black Exhale creates sanctuary to support healing the collective Black body.

This private guided community tour is limited to 25 participants.

Free community event. Reserve your spot.

[Not in New York City? Read Antoinette Cooper's Substack reflection on the John Wilson exhibition: met musings…witnessing humanity: the art of John Wilson]

Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson (Community Tour at the Met Museum)

Black Exhale x One Hundred Black Men