AMSTERDAM.- The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam has acquired Negroes Battling in a Cave (2016) by Ellen Gallagher, marking the first time a painting by this internationally renowned artist has entered a Dutch public collection. The four-part series of deep black monochromes reveals, upon close inspection, a richly textured surface composed of collage, incised lines, and subtle layers of imagery. With this acquisition, the multilayered painting takes its place within the collection, where it can be shown in dialogue with the histories of Minimalism, abstraction, and key modernist figures.
Negroes Battling in a Cave was acquired with support from the Mondriaan Fund, Vereniging Rembrandt (with contributions from its Titus Fund, its Fabritius Fund, and its Coleminks Fund), and benefactors of the Stedelijk Museum Fund, the Glenstone Foundation, Adriaan Mol, and Dymfy Erens.
Although the four panels appear uniformly black at first glance, a closer look reveals layers of paper, carved motifs, and collage elements drawn from mid-century African American magazines. Gallagher connects this stratified structure to an inscription discovered in 2015 beneath Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square—a reference to a 19th-century racist joke about “negroes battling in a cave,” which also informs the title of her work. In doing so, she underscores that the history of abstract art cannot be separated from wider cultural and social contexts. The reflective, deeply black surfaces invite slow, attentive looking: with each shift in the viewer’s position, images and associations gradually emerge from beneath the darkness.
Rein Wolfs, Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: “Negroes Battling in a Cave is a layered work that adds a new dimension to our collection. Ellen Gallagher shows how the history of abstract art—exemplified at the Stedelijk by our extensive group of works by Kazimir Malevich—can also be read through the perspective of a woman artist of color within a field long shaped by white male voices. Thanks to the dedication and support of funds and donors, we can now give this work a lasting place within the Stedelijk. The way we view art history is constantly evolving, shaped by artists who continually teach us to look from new angles. This acquisition marks a tangible step in that ongoing process.”
Ellen Gallagher (1965, Providence, Rhode Island) lives and works in Rotterdam and New York. She creates paintings, collages, drawings, and film-based works, and is known for a layered visual language in which history and materiality intersect. Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions at institutions including Tate, the New Museum, and Haus der Kunst, as well as at major international platforms such as the Whitney Biennial (1995, 2010, 2022) and the Venice Biennale (2003, 2015). Works by Gallagher are held in collections worldwide, including MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate, and the Centre Pompidou. In 2023, the Stedelijk presented her solo exhibition All of No Man’s Land Is Ours.
