Curator Walkthrough (Welcome Week)

Event details Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2026 Time: 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Location: USC Fisher Museum of Art (HAR) - 823 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90089 Cost: FREE Type: Arts, Exhibit, Student Life Campus: University Park Campus Department: Fisher Museum of Art, School of Architecture Audience: Students, Alumni, Neighbors About this event Join curator Amy Murphy for a guided walkthrough of PAUL R. WILLIAMS: AN ARCHITECT CONSIDERED. This tour offers an in-depth look at the exhibition highlighting Paul R. Williams’ major contributions to modern multifamily housing, pairing original archival drawings with newly commissioned works by contemporary artists and architects, including seven new commissions by Edgar Arceneaux; Current Interests (Matthew Au and Mira Henry); enFOLD Collective (Dana McKinney White and Megan Echols); Darell W. Fields; David Hartt; Cory Henry; and Amanda Williams, as well as a selection of existing works by photographers Julius Shulman and Janna Ireland. This walkthrough is open to all USC students, parents, and their guests. About the exhibition: Paul R. Williams: An Architect Considered debuts recently acquired archival drawings, photographs, and plans and pairs them with newly commissioned works by leading contemporary artists, architects, and filmmakers, reframing Paul R Williams’s long under-recognized work and addressing urgent conversations about race, equity, and the future of American cities. A pivotal figure in 20th-century architecture and civil rights advocacy who studied architectural engineering at USC, Williams was the first Black architect licensed west of the Mississippi. He was also the first known Black member of the American Institute of Architects nationwide (1923), its first Black Fellow (1957), and the first and only Black architect to receive its highest honor, the Gold Medal (posthumously, 2017). Over a career spanning nearly six decades, he is estimated to have designed approximately 3,000 structures, making him one of the most prolific and influential architects of his time. Highlighting 31 housing projects from his long career, Paul R. Williams: An Architect Considered spotlights Williams’ innovative solutions for collective living, primarily in Los Angeles, during the second Great Migration, a period of rapid urbanization. More than 60 items from the Paul R. Williams Archive, which was jointly acquired in 2020 by the USC School of Architecture and the Getty Research Institute, will be shown in conversation with major new commissions, as well as a selection of existing works by photographers Julius Shulman and Janna Ireland. Official event details: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/curator-walkthrough-welcome-week