THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART (PMA) announced in February 2023 the establishment of the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art. A year later, the museum has selected Imani Roach to lead the center. Roach joins PMA from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where she currently serves as assistant curator, Arts...
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Conrad Egyir in his studio, 2024. Shown, at left, “Milk, Honey and Refuge,” 2024 (oil, acrylic, and mounted wood, on canvas, 77 x 60 inches / 198.1 x 152.4 cm). | Courtesy the artist and Miles McEnery...
Installation view of “Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe: Hall of Fame,” Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, Calif., 2024. | Courtesy the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Photo by Paul Salveson THE POWERFUL PORTRAITS of Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe (b. 1988) are exercises in symbolism, leaning on brilliant color, personal style, facial expression, and environmental details...
LONDON-BASED Claudette Johnson has been shortlisted for the 2024 Turner Prize. A pioneer in the British Black Arts Movement, Johnson creates commanding, large-scale figurative works that center Black men and women. Tate Britain announced the shortlist of four artists, including three women, this morning. The selected artists are Johnson, Pio Abad, Jasleen Kaur, and Delaine...
Installation view of “Zizipho Poswa: Indyebo yakwaNtu (Black Bounty),” Southern Guild, Los Angeles, Calif., 2024. | Courtesy Southern Guild On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions GRACEFUL AND BOLD, the ceramic and bronze sculptures of South African artist Zizipho Poswa celebrate African womanhood. A testament to her matrilineal heritage, the works invoke contemporary...
FROM MANHATTAN to Brooklyn and Queens, art museums are presenting important exhibitions of African American artists this spring. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” offers a rare opportunity to see an array of works by prominent 20th century figures, including Aaron Douglas, Laura Wheeler Waring, William H. Johnson, Archibald...
MARY LOVELACE O’NEAL, “Won—By a Nose,” 2021-23 WON–BY A NOSE, 2021-2023 (acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 7 x 10 feet, Diptych 2). | Courtesy the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery A SYMPHONY OF COLOR AND GESTURE, the abstract paintings of Mary Lovelace O’Neal (b. 1942) are personal and political, serious and joyful. The...
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Cécile Fromont | Courtesy Harvard HAA APPOINTMENTS First Faculty Director at Harvard’s Cooper Gallery Cécile Fromont (above) is joining Harvard University as a new professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the...
FAITH RINGGOLD, “Black Light Series #11: US America Black,” 1969 (oil on canvas, 60 x 84 inches). | © 2024 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Courtesy ACA Galleries, New York ONE OF THE GIANTS has passed on. Faith Ringgold, (1930-2024), the extraordinary artist who made political paintings with an unvarnished...
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture RAYMOND SAUNDERS, Untitled, 1990 (mixed media on wood, triptych; Each: 96 x 48 inches / 243.8 x 121.9 cm; Overall: 96 x 144 inches / 243.8 x 365.8 cm). | © Raymond Saunders. Courtesy the artist, Andrew...
AMY SHERALD, “For love, and for country,” 2022 (oil on linen, 313 x 236.5 x 6.4 cm / 123 1/4 x 93 1/8 x 2 1/2 inches). | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © Amy Sherald; photo: Joseph Hyde, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth THE FIRST MID-CAREER SURVEY of Amy Sherald...
Richard Mayhew was born April 3, 1924 in Amityville, N.Y. The artist is shown in his studio in Soquel, Calif. | Courtesy Venus Over Manhattan, New York, N.Y. TODAY IS A GLORIOUS DAY marking the 100th birthday of Richard Mayhew. An artist, educator, and U.S. Marine veteran, Mayhew is the last living member of...
ROBERT S. SCURLOCK, Marian Anderson’s Easter concert at the Lincoln Memorial, April 9, 1939 (negative). | Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution FROM THE STEPS of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Marian Anderson (1897-1993) gave a memorable concert on April 9, 1939. The contralto singer opened with...
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Ingrid Pollard reflects on her work and winning the 2024 Hasselblad Award. When she was first contacted about the honor, Pollard assumed it was a scam. After realizing she indeed was the recipient, she thought about being...
Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop won the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival top prize for the documentary “Dahomey,” which she wrote, directed, and co-produced. | Photo courtesy Berlin Film Festivals Mati Diop is the first Black filmmaker to win the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival IN 2021, FRANCE RETURNED 26 artworks...
Governors Island: The Exchange (aerial view), showing the iconic forms designed to evoke the dramatic landscapes and hills of the island with the skyscrapers that define Manhattan’s skyline in the background. | © SOM | Miysis via Governors Island GOVERNORS ISLAND offers a quick escape from the city streets to a park-like environment with...
Installation view of “Benjamin Wigfall and Communications Village” (2023-24), Torggler Fine Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Va. | Courtesy the Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center, Photography by Echard Wheeler THE FIRST RETROSPECTIVE of artist, curator, and educator Benjamin Wigfall (1930-2017) is a tour de force shedding light on an important artist...
THE LYMAN ALLYN ART MUSEUM is adjacent to Connecticut College in New London, Conn. Barkley L. Hendricks taught at the school for nearly four decades and last year the museum presented a survey of the late artist who is highly regarded for his striking portraits. This year, Lyman Allyn is showing works by Norma Morgan,...
THE ROOF GARDEN of The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers majestic, panoramic views of the New York City skyline. Each year, the museum selects an artist to create a rooftop installation that highlights their practice, engages with The Met collection, and responds to the picturesque outdoor space. The project provides the encyclopedic museum with a...
THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM (SAAM) announced the appointment of Dalila Scruggs to a newly created role on its curatorial team. Scruggs is joining the Washington, D.C., museum as the inaugural Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art. Currently, she is curator for photography and prints at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for...