Announcing a New Partnership

Dear Community,  

We are delighted to announce that the Terra Foundation has co-acquired, in a landmark collaboration with the Art Bridges Foundation, The Amistad Series (1939), a narrative in murals by the American artist Hale A. Woodruff (1900–1980). The paintings have been co-acquired from Talladega College, which will remain a partner with the Terra and Art Bridges foundations in future presentations of the murals at the college.  

As an expression of our commitment to collection sharing and co-stewardship, we are launching an innovative partnership to tour The Amistad Series to museums and cultural centers across the United States and abroad. This initiative will allow diverse audiences to engage with these culturally significant and iconic works of art. The paintings will also periodically return to Talladega College, ensuring that the college and regional communities continue to have opportunities to experience them. This acquisition and partnership reflect the Terra Foundation’s ongoing mission to illuminate the many voices that have shaped the narratives of American art through collaboration and essential financial support. 

Throughout the 1920s, Hale A. Woodruff studied at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and the Académie Moderne and Académie Scandinave in Paris. After his return from Paris in 1931, Woodruff was recruited by Atlanta University’s president, John Hope, to establish an art program and to become a thought leader for the newly founded Atlanta University graduate and professional school consortium. He soon came to be recognized as an engaging instructor and was acknowledged as one of the most talented American artists working during the Depression. In 1936, he traveled to Mexico to study with Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957), whose commitment to storytelling in the form of fresco mural painting was a galvanizing experience for Woodruff. The time in Mexico, combined with his earlier stay in Paris, led Woodruff to conclude that it was essential to continually evolve as an artist, teacher, and scholar. This fundamental understanding would inform the creation of The Amistad Series, which is among the artist’s most acclaimed works.  

The Amistad Series, which includes three large-scale works, was commissioned in 1938 by Talladega College President Buell G. Gallagher and Talladega Board Chairman George W. Crawford (Talladega College, Class of 1900) for the college’s newly constructed Savery Library, to encourage intercultural harmony through the advancement of intellectual inquiry and to commemorate the nineteenth century Amistad rebellion and its aftermath. The paintings tell the dramatic story of a group of kidnapped Africans, members of the Mende people, who mutinied for their freedom aboard the ship La Amistad in 1839. The mutineers were tried in the US and acquitted of the charges against them, with the surviving members of the uprising returning to West Africa. The murals include The Mutiny on the Amistad, The Trial of the Amistad Captives, and The Repatriation of the Freed Captives. These works reflect Woodruff’s bold, evocative style and his innate gifts as a storyteller. 

At the Terra Foundation, we are thrilled to work in partnership with Art Bridges and to be able to share these artworks with diverse communities across the country and the world. Hale A. Woodruff is a figure whose extraordinary history and artistic legacy deserve broader global recognition. The forthcoming tour allows us to create meaningful pathways that will enable a wide range of audiences to engage with his career as an artist and educator. It will also encourage greater study of Woodruff’s practice and provide enriching experiences that reflect important narratives about art and about the role of Talladega College as an exceptional liberal arts institution and an important early social science laboratory.  

The partnership established through this acquisition exemplifies our vision for sharing essential expressions of American art and innovation through collaboration. We look forward to providing further details about the tour in early 2026 and to connecting with audiences in celebration of these works in the years to come.

Sharon Corwin  
President and CEO 

The Terra Foundation for American Art expands narratives of American art through our grants, collection, and initiatives. With offices in Chicago and Paris and a collection of more than 750 works of art, we work with organizations to foster intercultural dialogues and encourage transformative practices, locally and globally. Since 2005, the foundation has awarded grants worldwide to support projects that engage the visual arts of the United States and Indigenous arts of North America, while questioning and broadening understandings of American art and reshaping how its stories are told. 

For more information, visit terraamericanart.org.

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