Moving On Up: 24 Museum Curators and Art Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in First Half of 2025
CULTURE TYPE reports on new appointments of Black curators and arts leaders to gauge institutional representation, with an emphasis on art museums. Museum leaders, curators, and educators shape the management and intellectual direction of institutions, determine the art visitors see and the programming they experience and, by extension, whether audiences of color feel welcome and...
Los Angeles: Hammer Museum Gala Honored Lauren Halsey, ‘One of the Most Dynamic Artists Working Today’
Los Angeles, Calif., May 17, 2025: From left, Hammer Museum Director Zoë Ryan, Honoree Lauren Halsey, and Thelma Golden at the 20th annual Hammer Museum Gala In The Garden at the Hammer Museum. | Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for The Hammer Museum IN LOS ANGELES, artist Lauren Halsey (b. 1987) was honored recently...
Culture Type | The Month in Black Art, Here’s What Happened in June 2025
Lindsay Adams, Ranti Bam, and Salim Green joined new galleries; Studio Museum in Harlem opening updates; Shakeup at Afro Brazil Museum; new Art Basel Awards; Suzanne Jackson at SFMOMA, and more Lindsay Adams. | Photo by Ray Abercrombie, Courtesy the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles REPRESENTATION | June 3: Sean Kelly...
On View: ‘Paris Noir’ Exhibition at Centre Pompidou ‘Retraces the Presence and Influence of Black Artists in France from 1950s to 2000’
“Paris Noir: Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance, 1950-2000,” Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (March 13-June 30, 2025). | Courtesy Centre Pompidou On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions A NEXUS OF ART, CULTURE, and geopolitical history, “Paris Noir: Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance, 1950-2000” at Centre Pompidou explores the presence of Black artists in...
On View: ‘Michael Armitage: Crucible,’ Paintings by Kenyan British Artist Explore Migration at David Zwirner in New York
MICHAEL ARMITAGE, “Don’t Worry There Will Be More,” 2024 (oil on Lubugo bark cloth, 67 x 87 inches / 170.2 x 221 cm). | © Michael Armitage, Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THREE YEARS AFTER Michael Armitage (b. 1984) joined David Zwirner, his first solo...
Fresh Out of Graduate School, Christine Sun Kim Helped to Greatly Improve Experiences of Deaf Audiences at the Whitney Museum
Christine Sun Kim gives a tour of “Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night,” her mid-career survey at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and first major museum exhibition. After graduate school, Kim worked in the education department at the Whitney Museum where she helped develop a program of ASL (American Sign...
American Sign Language Videos Explore Whitney Museum’s Collection, Including Works by Simone Leigh, Archibald Motley, Diedrick Brackens, Jacob Lawrence & More
MALCOLM BAILEY, “Untitled 1969,” 1969 (acrylic on composition board, 48 × 71 15/16 inches / 121.9 × 182.7 cm). | © artist or artist’s estate, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund. 69.77 Reaching diverse audiences at art museums includes providing accessible programming for Deaf...
Picturing Freedom: Exhibition and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Book Shed Light on Harriet Tubman’s Greatest Feat, Liberating More than 700 in Combahee River Raid
AARON DOUGLAS (American, 1899-1979, “Harriet Tubman,” 1931 (oil on canvas, 54 x 72 inches). | Bennett College, Greensboro, NC. © 2025 Heirs of Aaron Douglas / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY On the occasion of Juneteenth, a look at a groundbreaking exhibition exploring what is now believed to be largest...
On View: ‘Jack Whitten: The Messenger’ at Museum of Modern Art in New York is First Full Retrospective of Pioneering Artist
Installation view of “Jack Whitten: The Messenger,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. (March 23-Aug. 2, 2025). | Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Courtesy MoMA On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions KNOWN FOR HIS INVENTIVE METHODS, Jack Whitten (1939-2018) constantly evolved his materials and techniques. Exploring the possibilities of paint, he made casts...
Brittany Webb is Joining Museum of Fine Arts, Houston as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art: ‘There is A Lot That Attracted Me to the MFAH’
Brittany Webb. | Photo by Marco Hill, Courtesy MFAH THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON (MFAH) announced the appointment of Brittany Webb to the role of curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. Webb is joining MFAH from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia, where she is the...
New York Museums are Showcasing African American Art, Exhibitions Feature Lorna Simpson, Rashid Johnson, Beauford Delaney, Amy Sherald, Black Dandyism & More
TOP NEW YORK MUSEUMS are presenting exhibitions of major African American artists this spring and summer with most on view through fall 2025. Solo exhibitions include the largest-ever surveys of Rashid Johnson at the Guggenheim Museum, Amy Sherald at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Jack Whitten at the Museum of Modern Art. The...
Culture Type | The Month in Black Art: Here’s What Happened in May 2025
International curator Koyo Kouoh died, longstanding Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden fired, artist and curator Evangeline J. Montgomery died, David C. Driskell Prize went to artist Alison Saar Artist and Curator Evangeline J. Montgomery (1930-2025). | Courtesy the artist, Photo by Erwin Thamm LIVES | May 1: Artist, curator, and arts administrator Evangeline...
Henry Taylor, Tyler Mitchell, and Amy Sherald Among Artists Who Walked Met Gala ‘Blue’ Carpet Based on Cy Gavin Painting
ARTIST HENRY TAYLOR IN LOUIS VUITTON. | For Vogue’s special Met Gala issue, Henry Taylor painted a cover portrait of Met Gala Co-Chair Pharrell Williams, men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton. The exhibition “James Jarvaise & Henry Taylor: Sometimes a Straight Line Has to Be Crooked” opens at Hauser & Wirth in Downtown Los Angeles...
Barnes Foundation Appointed Judia S. Jackson Head of Human Resources and Culture at Philadelphia Museum
Judia S. Jackson. | Courtesy Barnes Foundation IN PHILADELPHIA, PA., the Barnes Foundation named Judia S. Jackson to the role of deputy director for human resources and chief culture officer. Jackson recently served as chief people and culture officer at Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts. The Barnes appointment was announced May 28. Jackson officially...
Malcolm X at 100: Transformational Leader and Outspoken Orator Inspired Artworks by Jack Whitten and Barbara Chase-Riboud
Malcolm X reading an article about the Nation of Islam written and photographed by Gordon Parks that was published in the May 31, 1963, edition of Life magazine. The man behind Malcolm holds a newspaper reporting on the shooting of seven unarmed Black men by Los Angeles police. | Photo: Robert Flora/Corbis MALCOLM X...
Alma Thomas Way: Washington D.C., Street Where Famous African American Artist Lived is Now Named in Her Honor
Charles Thomas Lewis, grand nephew of Alma Thomas, with Susan Talley, who established the Friends of Alma Thomas group more than a decade ago. They are holding the commemorative street sign DC Councilmember Christina Henderson presented to Lewis. “I think this is a wonderful recognition for her,” he said. “I am truly thankful for this.”...
On View: ‘Vanessa German: Gumball’ Presented Monumental Heads and Fallen Figures at Kasmin Gallery in New York
Installation view of “vanessa german: GUMBALL—there is absolutely no space between body and soul,” Kasmin, 509 West 27th Street, New York, N.Y. (April 3-May 10, 2025). | Courtesy the artist and Kasmin, New York On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE LATEST EXHIBITION of vanessa german (b. 1976) presented two new mixed-media...
Los Angeles Artist Alison Saar is 2025 Recipient of David C. Driskell Prize, For 20 Years Award Has Recognized ‘Field-Defining’ Contributions to African American Art
Alison Saar at Arion Press, San Francisco, Calif., 2024. | Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, Calif., Photograph by Nicholas Lea Bruno TWENTY YEARS AGO, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga., established a groundbreaking prize named for David C. Driskell (1931-2020), a pivotal figure in American art and leading authority on African American...
Vogue’s ‘Black Dandy’ Issue is Fashion Forward and Artist Centered, Featuring Photographs by Tyler Mitchell and Cover Painted by Henry Taylor
The making of Vogue’s Met issue is documented in a behind-the-scenes video. The cover shoots are highlighted and scenes from Tyler Mitchell photographing his 28-page dandy-style suiting portfolio are captured, along with commentary from the many participating models, artists, and cultural figures. | Video by Vogue BLACK DANDYISM is an idea and potent style...
New Obama Presidential Center Artist Commissions Include Lindsay Adams Painting Inspired by Langston Hughes Poem
THE AWE-INSPIRING poetry of Langston Hughes informed a floral abstract painting with a rich and varied blue background by Lindsay Adams (b. 1990). “Weary Blues” shares the title of the Harlem poet’s iconic 1925 work. The poem speaks of the transformative power of blues music. Employing his signature simple and accessible language, Hughes recalls hearing...
