The University Gallery is pleased to present art from the collection of jazz legend Donald Byrd in an exhibition curated by students enrolled in the Gallery’s Curatorial Apprenticeship Program. The renowned musician has been a passionate collector of African-American, African, and Caribbean art for several decades. He continues to add to his collection works by well-known names, as well as to seek out works by emerging artists of color. Included in his holdings are important prints and paintings by such significant 20th century artists as Henry Ossawa Tanner, Richmond Barthé, Romare Bearden, Lois Mailou Jones, Charles White, and James Lesesne Wells.

Also among those represented in his collection are works by noted contemporary artists Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence, Jeff Donaldson, Paul Goodnight, and Tyree Guyton, whose controversial “Heidelberg Project,” an open-air art installation in a Detroit neighborhood constructed of found objects, has been the subject of both international acclaim and community derision.

Dr. Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd (born 1932) has worn many hats in his lifetime, sometimes two or three at the same time. As a musician, composer, scholar, educator, and collector, he has been touching lives and influencing the world of jazz for over five decades. A native of Detroit, he began his career as a musician during the 1940s and became one of the most sought after artists of the hard bop era, playing and recording with such legendary names as Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane.