The Last Supper

Object Details

Created by

Akili Ron Anderson, American, born 1946

Produced by

Joseph Aaron Campbell, American

Caption

In 1982, under the leadership of Pastor James Gilchrist, New Home Baptist Church commissioned local artist Akili Ron Anderson to create a depiction of Jesus’s last meal, The Last Supper. Anderson’s interpretation, which features a Black Messiah and disciples inspired by members of the community, disrupts the traditional view of the famous scene, which is almost always presented within a white framework. In opposition to this previous marginalization, the use of Black figures within the scene centers the Black experience within the biblical narrative and invited members of the New Home Baptist community to envision themselves amidst this divine and sacred context. The large mural, which was affixed behind the pulpit, served as a focal point within the sanctuary of the church building at 3423 Holmead Place in Washington, DC.

When New Home Baptist Church moved it’s growing congregation to Maryland, the mural stayed in the Holmead Place building and at some point was placed behind a drywall. It was rediscovered during building renovations conducted by the Studio Acting Conservatory (SAC) in 2019. Later that year, a team from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) reviewed the mural in hopes of dismantling and transporting the sculpture to NMAAHC’s off-site storage for acquisition into the Museum’s collection. However, due to the difficulty in removing the artwork and an inability to display and permanently store the work at the Museum, it was decided that the mural would remain in SAC’s possession. The Museum completed restoration of the sculpture, documenting the process, and creating this digital 3d model for the Museum’s collection.

Akili Ron Anderson is a native of Washington, DC. He is a graduate of The Corcoran School of Art (1964-1965) and Howard University (1965-1969), where he obtained both his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts. He is the co-founder of the NationHouse Organization, an Afrikan centered school found in Washington, DC, and an influential member of the AfriCOBRA artist collective. The Last Supper altarpiece continues to build upon the legacy of the AfriCOBRA and Black Arts Movement by tackling ideals of representation and altering traditional biblical narratives through a Black perspective.

Description

A digital three-dimensional (3-D) model of a 1982 sculpture by Akili Ron Anderson entitled The Last Supper. There are a total of fourteen (14) individual digital files comprising four renditions of the model: master, render, web, and dense point cloud.

The sculpture is a bas-relief wall mural composed of "Structolite" plaster, lumber and plywood on a metal mesh armature. The sculpture depicts the scene of the Last Supper featuring a Black Messiah figure seated at the center of a round table, flanked by six (6) disciples to his left and six (6) disciples to his right. The table and figures are depicted in brown and bronze tones against a dark blue background. The hands of Christ are on top of the table, holding the elements of the Eucharist: a chalice of wine in his proper right hand and bread in his proper left. There is a halo effect in the plaster around his head. The disciples are only visible from the waist up, except for the two on each end, whose full profiles are visible.

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

1982; digitally re-created 2021

Object number

2021.73.1

Restrictions & Rights

Original artwork © Akili Ron Anderson

Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

Type

sculpture

digital media - born digital

3D models

Medium

digital

Dimensions

File size (total): 48.83 GB

H x W x D (original sculpture): 138 × 270 × 24 in. (350.5 × 685.8 × 61 cm)

Geometry (3D dense point cloud): 1.6B points

Geometry (3D master): 6.9M triangles, 3.5M vertices

Geometry (3D render): 999K triangles, 504K vertices

Geometry (3D web): 200K triangles, 104K vertices

Place used

Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America

See more items in

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Classification

Visual Arts

Sacred and Ceremonial Objects

Movement

BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976)

Title

3D model of The Last Supper sculpture by Akili Ron Anderson

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Topic

African American

Art

Christianity

Local and regional

Ornamentation

Religion

The Black Church

Worship services

Record ID

nmaahc_2021.73.1

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5cdad7379-011b-4ac3-a52a-003e98c3a371