Welcome to Culture Type®

An essential resource focused on visual art from a Black perspective, Culture Type explores the intersection of art, history, and culture

Author Archive
Happy Birthday: Alma Thomas Would Have Been 130 Today, New Exhibitions, Film, Books & More Celebrate the Pioneering Artist

Happy Birthday: Alma Thomas Would Have Been 130 Today, New Exhibitions, Film, Books & More Celebrate the Pioneering Artist

  Alma Thomas at the Whitney Museum in 1972 | Smithsonian Archives of American Art   TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF FALL and the 130th anniversary of the birth of Alma Thomas (1891-1978), an occasion for celebration. The pioneering artist known for her vibrant and rhythmic abstract paintings was born Sept. 22, 1891. Inspired...
On View: 'Dindga McCannon: In Plain Sight' at Fridman Gallery in New York City

On View: ‘Dindga McCannon: In Plain Sight’ at Fridman Gallery in New York City

  In 2012, Dindga McCannon paid tribute to Black women in aviation.   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   A CO-FOUNDER OF THE ARTIST COLLECTIVE Where We At Black Women Artists, Dindga McCannon established her artistic identity during the Civil Rights Movement and the onset of the feminist arts movement, concerns that inform...
Best of September: 13 New Museum Exhibitions Feature Artists Ulysses Jenkins, Adam Pendleton, Deborah Roberts, Naudline Pierre, Arthur Jafa, Lorna Simpson & More

Best of September: 13 New Museum Exhibitions Feature Artists Ulysses Jenkins, Adam Pendleton, Deborah Roberts, Naudline Pierre, Arthur Jafa, Lorna Simpson & More

  THE FIRST MUSEUM retrospective of pioneering video/performance artist Ulysses Jenkins opens this week at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The exhibition is co-curated by ICA Associate Curator Meg Onli and Erin Christovale, associate curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Following Kerry James Marshall and...
On View: 'Be Your Wonderful Self: The Portraits of Beauford Delaney' at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in New York City

On View: ‘Be Your Wonderful Self: The Portraits of Beauford Delaney’ at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in New York City

Installation view of “Be Your Wonderful Self: The Portraits of Beauford Delaney”   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   A RARE OPPORTUNITY to view a broad selection of portraits by Beauford Delaney (1901–1979), this exhibition features a 1962 self portrait and two dozen paintings of people in the Delaney’s orbit. The selection includes...
A Nexus for the Black Community, Tone Memphis is Presenting 'On The Road: Chocolate Cities,' Group Exhibition Explores Space, Place, and Belonging

A Nexus for the Black Community, Tone Memphis is Presenting ‘On The Road: Chocolate Cities,’ Group Exhibition Explores Space, Place, and Belonging

  A GROUP EXHIBITION in Memphis, Tenn., brings together a slate of mostly rising artists whose work explores notions of Blackness, space, place, and belonging. Tone Memphis, a Black arts nonprofit in Memphis, Tenn., is presenting “On The Road: Chocolate Cities: Exploration of Space Across the Black Diaspora.” Organized by Larry Ossei-Mensah, the exhibition reflects...
Latest News in Black Art: Theo Tyson Appointed Fashion Curator at MFA Boston, Bisa Butler Talks to CBS, Esteban Jefferson Now Repped by 303 Gallery & More

Latest News in Black Art: Theo Tyson Appointed Fashion Curator at MFA Boston, Bisa Butler Talks to CBS, Esteban Jefferson Now Repped by 303 Gallery & More

  Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Curator theo tyson. | Photo by Frances Neyra Claudio   Appointments The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) appointed theo tyson (above) Penny Vinik Curator of Fashion Arts. She previously served as the Polly Thayer...
Retrospective of Michael Richards Showcases Rigor, Promise of Artist Who Died in Sept. 11 Terrorist Attack on World Trade Center

Retrospective of Michael Richards Showcases Rigor, Promise of Artist Who Died in Sept. 11 Terrorist Attack on World Trade Center

  A RESIN AND STEEL SCULPTURE standing seven-and-a-half feet tall on a central platform anchors the first museum retrospective of Michael Richards (1963-2001). A seminal work from his series about the Tuskegee Airmen, “Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian” (1999), depicts a Black male figure wearing a Tuskegee Airman suit with 18 miniature US P-51 Mustang...
5 New Art Gallery Exhibitions to See Now Feature Deborah Roberts, Carla Jay Harris, Jarrell Gibbs, LaKela Brown, and Brittney Leeanne Williams

5 New Art Gallery Exhibitions to See Now Feature Deborah Roberts, Carla Jay Harris, Jarrell Gibbs, LaKela Brown, and Brittney Leeanne Williams

  THE FALL EXHIBITION SEASON is officially underway and some of the first new gallery shows to open feature five early- and mid-career artists to watch. Each has a unique visual voice. What unifies their latest work is a resonance with the contemporary moment. Deborah Roberts, Carla Jay Harris, and Brittney Leeanne Williams are confronting...
Works by Charles White, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence From Estate of African American Collector Dr. Sarah Gray Will Be Auctioned at Bonhams Print & Multiples Sale

Works by Charles White, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence From Estate of African American Collector Dr. Sarah Gray Will Be Auctioned at Bonhams Print & Multiples Sale

“Juba” (1965) by Charles White   THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS selected Isabel Wilkerson’s “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Greatest Migration” for its campus book project during the 2012-13 academic year. In conjunction with the campus-wide reading, Nelson Gallery at UC Davis presented “Migration: Jacob Lawrence and Elizabeth Catlett,” further...
Latest News in Black Art: Nick Cave's Soundsuits are Dancing in New York City Subway, Tavares Strachan Joined Perrotin Gallery, Freedmen's Bureau Records & More

Latest News in Black Art: Nick Cave’s Soundsuits are Dancing in New York City Subway, Tavares Strachan Joined Perrotin Gallery, Freedmen’s Bureau Records & More

  Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Tavares Strachan in his New York studio. | Photo by Maegan Gindi   Representation Perrotin announced its co-representation of interdisciplinary artist Tavares Strachan. The gallery, which has locations in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul,...
On View: 'The Sun, the Moon, and the Truth,' Adrienne Elise Tarver's First Solo Museum Exhibition at Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn.

On View: ‘The Sun, the Moon, and the Truth,’ Adrienne Elise Tarver’s First Solo Museum Exhibition at Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn.

  On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   FOR HER FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION, Adrienne Elise Tarver is presenting a focused installation. Opening tomorrow at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn., “Adrienne Elise Tarver: The Sun, the Moon, and the Truth” features “Manifesting Paradise” (2020–ongoing), a suite of 22 mixed-media works on...
A Rare Occurrence, New 2022 Wall Calendars Feature Celebrated Black Women Artists Faith Ringgold and Alma Thomas

A Rare Occurrence, New 2022 Wall Calendars Feature Celebrated Black Women Artists Faith Ringgold and Alma Thomas

  ANNUAL SURVEYS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, wall calendars provide an affordable way to appreciate and display the work of Black artists. In recent years, the broadening interest in African American art has been reflected in an increasing number of wall calendars featuring the work. The selections have included surveys of historic, modern, and contemporary...
From California to Chicago, Tennessee to Maine, 15 of Summer's Best Museum Exhibitions Remain on View This Fall

From California to Chicago, Tennessee to Maine, 15 of Summer’s Best Museum Exhibitions Remain on View This Fall

  A BROAD SELECTION of exhibitions opened at art museums throughout the United States over the summer months. A great number of these shows remain on view, some through September, others further into the fall and beyond. Major traveling exhibitions of Bob Thompson, Joseph Yoakum, and Alma Thomas are underway. The first solo museum exhibitions...
On View: 'Social Works,' Curated by Antwaun Sargent at Gagosian in New York, Exhibition Will Have a Sequel in London in October

On View: ‘Social Works,’ Curated by Antwaun Sargent at Gagosian in New York, Exhibition Will Have a Sequel in London in October

“Black Wall Street Journey #5 (2021) by Rick Lowe   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   At Gagosian, Antwaun Sargent has organized his first show since being named a director at the gallery in January. An ambitious group exhibition, “Social Works” explores the relationship between public and private space and Black social practice....
'Alison Saar: Of Aether and Earthe,' a Survey Spread Across Two Institutions, Presents Female Forms That 'Activate Legacies of Bodily and Spiritual Survival'

‘Alison Saar: Of Aether and Earthe,’ a Survey Spread Across Two Institutions, Presents Female Forms That ‘Activate Legacies of Bodily and Spiritual Survival’

    DUALITY IS A CONSISTENT THEME in the work of Alison Saar. The multidisciplinary artist has long centered the female body and the wonder of nature in her practice, using figurative forms to explore cultural narratives and contemporary events. In her latest exhibition, she considers the binaries of body and spirit, earth and air...
Latest News in Black Art: Lauren Halsey's Summaeverythang Covers Artforum, Tyler Shine Joins Warhol Museum, Destination Crenshaw to Commission 100 Artists, Plus Theaster Gates, Derrick Adams & More

Latest News in Black Art: Lauren Halsey’s Summaeverythang Covers Artforum, Tyler Shine Joins Warhol Museum, Destination Crenshaw to Commission 100 Artists, Plus Theaster Gates, Derrick Adams & More

  Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Artforum, September 2021 | Lauren Halsey’s Summaeverythang Community Center: Thinking about change in the museum field and what the next generation of art institutions looks like, Thelma Golden cited a few artist-created projects, including Lauren...
American Folk Art Museum Receives 40 Works From Parsons Collection, Gift Includes Horace Pippin, Bill Traylor, Elijah Pierce, and Clementine Hunter

American Folk Art Museum Receives 40 Works From Parsons Collection, Gift Includes Horace Pippin, Bill Traylor, Elijah Pierce, and Clementine Hunter

  FOUNDED IN 1961, the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. In honor of the occasion, the New York City museum announced a gift of 40 works of art from Laura Parsons, a longstanding trustee of the museum, and her husband Richard D. Parsons. The gift includes works by...
Latest News in Black Art: Valerie Cassel Oliver and Lowery Sims Headline Armory Show Curatorial Summit, Sadé Ayorinde Named Fellow at American Folk Art Museum, Beyoncé's Problematic Tiffany Diamond

Latest News in Black Art: Valerie Cassel Oliver and Lowery Sims Headline Armory Show Curatorial Summit, Sadé Ayorinde Named Fellow at American Folk Art Museum, Beyoncé’s Problematic Tiffany Diamond

  Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Left, VMFA Curator Valerie Cassel Oliver is chairing the Armory Show’s 2021 Curatorial Leadership Summit. Right, Lowery Stokes Sims recently co-curated the traveling retrospective “Art & Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott.” Her current...
Liz Andrews is New Executive Director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, Only U.S. Museum Dedicated to Art Created by Black Women

Liz Andrews is New Executive Director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, Only U.S. Museum Dedicated to Art Created by Black Women

  IN ATLANTA, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art named Liz Andrews executive director. Andrews is an artist, curator, and museum professional who prides herself on working at the intersection of art and social justice. She was serving as executive administrator of the director’s office at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)...
August in New York: 8 Gallery Exhibitions to See Now Feature Texas Isaiah, Arcmanoro Niles, Julie Mehretu, Cal Bocicault, and Fascinating Landscapes

August in New York: 8 Gallery Exhibitions to See Now Feature Texas Isaiah, Arcmanoro Niles, Julie Mehretu, Cal Bocicault, and Fascinating Landscapes

  THE CHURN OF THE NEW YORK ART WORLD slows down in August with many art galleries on hiatus until after Labor Day. Nonetheless, in the waning days of August, there is still plenty to see in New York, this week and next, before the transition to fall shows in September. Terrific solo exhibitions and...