The superlative collection of Jamaican art housed by the National Gallery is the finest on the island and should on no account be missed. As well as offering a distinctly Jamaican take on international artistic trends, the collection attests to the vitality of the country’s artistic heritage as well as its present.
The collection is organized chronologically, introduced by Taino carvings and traditional 18th-century British landscapes, whose initial beauty belies that their subjects include many slave plantations. Ten galleries represent the Jamaican school, from 1922 to the present. Highlights include the boldly modernist sculptures of Edna Manley, the vibrant ‘intuitive’ paintings of artists like John Dunkley, David Pottinger and revivalist bishop Mallica ‘Kapo’ Reynolds. Later galleries chart the course of ‘Jamaican art for Jamaicans’ up to the recent past, including abstract religious works by Carl Abrahams, Colin Garland’s surrealist exercises, ethereal assemblages by David Boxer, and the work of realist Barrington Watson.
Temporary exhibition spaces frequently offer up the best of contemporary Jamaican art, including during the superb National Biennial temporary exhibition that takes place on alternate, even-numbered years between mid-December and March.
