Darren Walker

The Thing About France

We first collaborated with Darren Walker, the passionate and articulate President of the Ford Foundation, on a groundbreaking exhibition entitled Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today at Colombia University's Wallach Art Gallery in New York.

It shed new light on black models in the arts throughout history and was so successful that it was exported to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. With characteristic rigor and enthusiasm, Darren made sure to assemble the best team possible to work on this project, and like a true Francophile, even travelled to Paris for the opening.

We talked about the role of art in creating an empathetic society (10:42), philanthropy as a catalyst for social change (15:02), controversial funding sources (20:55), the Notre Dame Cathedral fire (18:19), his favorite Francophone artists (24:10), the African diaspora (28:08), and more.