Richard Pryor to be focus of new Peoria Riverfront Museum exhibit

Years in the making, a Richard Pryor exhibition is being assembled at the Peoria Riverfront Museum for a mid-October opening.

“Not long after we opened, we asked ourselves, ‘What show should we do?’ and Richard Pryor immediately came up,” said chief curator Bill Conger. “Well, we’re done waiting.

“His career was historic in so many ways,” he continued. “He broke down barriers, and his significant work was as a great entertainer and storyteller but also a thinker.

“Some people think they know all about Pryor,” he added, “and others may have no memory of him at all. So this will be a fresh take on Richard, offering something new, and something for a younger audience.”

Planned to remain on display for several months, the exhibit will follow two related “Peoria Plays America” exhibitions – on Dan Fogelberg (ending Oct. 4) and REO Speedwagon’s Gary Richrath (which ended in April) – and will be one of the last displays in the museum’s year-long series of exhibitions marking 250 years of American art, culture and accomplishments.

Conger and assistant curator Everley Davis hope to include material ranging from clips and a wax study borrowed from Peoria’s African American Hall of Fame Museum, to the unveiling of a special piece of art by Felandus Thames commissioned by the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Pryor made a profound impact, and we don’t want that history to be lost,” Conger said.