Skip to main content

Combs, Rhea

National Portrait Gallery staff

Background And Education

Awards And Honors

Publications

Selected Publications

  • Article

    • Combs, Rhea L. 2018. "American Families: Picturing the African American Family, from Frederick Douglass to Jamel Shabazz." Aperture Magazine, 233, New York. 2018
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2015. "Black Lives Matter, Then and Now." The Public Historian, 37, (3) 128–136. https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2015.37.3.128. 2015
  • Book

    • Combs, Rhea L. 2024. Amy Sherald: American Sublime [Exhibition catalog] Edited by Roberts, Sarah. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 2024
    • Combs, Rhea L. and Als, HIlton. 2024. This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance [Exhibition catalog] Washington, DC and New York: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution and DelMonico Books. 2024
    • Through the African American Lens.  Ed. Coyle, Laura.  2015
  • Chapter

    • Combs, Rhea L. 2024. "Monumental Time." In Amy Sherald: American Sublime. Roberts, Sarah, editor. 38–43. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 2024
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2024. "Touchstones and Time Travels: An Interview with Tokie Rome-Taylor." In Reclamation: Tokie Rome-Taylor. Clarksville Tennessee: Austin Peay State University. 2024
    • Combs, Rhea L. and Gardullo, Paul. 2023. "Scurlock's Washington." In Beauty Born of Struggle: The Art of Black Washington. Stewart, Jeffrey C., editor. 229–263. New Haven and London: National Gallery of Art. 2023
    • Combs, Rhea L. and Stewart, Jacqueline. 2022. "African American Home Movies." In Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898-1971. Combs, Rhea L. and Berger, Doris, editors. 127–130. Los Angeles and New York: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and DelMonico. 2022
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2021. "Picturing the South: How Photographers Have Imaged the Region." In The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse. Oliver, Valerie Cassel, editor. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. 2021
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2019. "In America's Living Room." In Smithsonian American Women: Remarkable Objects and Stories of Strength, Ingenuity, and Vision from the National Collection. Pope, Victoria, Schrum, Christine, and Lepore, Jill, editors. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books. 2019
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2019. "Marlon Riggs's 'Tongues United'." In Black Light: A Retrospective on International Black Cinema. Werner, Maxime, editor. 90-91. Paris, France: Capricci. 2019
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2019. "Sojourner Truth: Image as Activism." In Smithsonian American Women: Remarkable Objects and Stories of Strength, Ingenuity, and Vision from the National Collection. Pope, Victoria, Schrum, Christine, and Lepore, Jill, editors. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books. 2019
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2019. "The Power of the Image: Scurlock's Washington." In Everyday Beauty. Moresi, Michèle Gates and Coyle, Laura , editors. London, England: D. Giles Limited. In Double Exposure. 2019
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2018. "Madeline Anderson: Pioneering Filmmaker and Artist, In Her Own Words." In I am somebody: three films by Madeline Anderson. New York: Icarus Film Distribution. 2018
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2018. "Preserving a National Treasure: Hip Hop Photography." In Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop. 68–69. New York: Clarkson Potter, division of Penguin Random House. 2018
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2016. "The Moses Sisters." In Pioneers in African American Cinema. 2016
  • Webpage

Presentations

  • Exhibit

    • Combs, Rhea L. and Berger, Doris (Curators). 2022. "Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898-1971." Los Angeles, California: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 2022-08-21 to 2023-04-09..
  • Presentation

    • Combs, Rhea L. 2024. Regenerating Harlem [presentation]. Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, April 27, 2024. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    • Combs, Rhea L. 2023. The Power of Portraiture [presentation]. March 18, 2023. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Contact