Curatorial Vision of Black Women is Shaping Frieze and 1-54 African Contemporary Art Fairs in London This Week
Eva Langret, Artistic Director of Frieze London IN LONDON THIS WEEK, the vision of Black women is shaping the 1-54 London and Frieze London art fairs. Both are underway with hybrid online and in-person formats this season. Eva Langret is the new artistic director of Frieze London. She tapped Zoé Whitley to curate a...
Longtime Spelman Curator Andrea Barnwell Brownlee Named Director and CEO of Cummer Museum of Art in Jacksonville, Fla.
THE CUMMER MUSEUM OF ART & GARDENS announced the appointment of a new leader yesterday. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee is joining the Jacksonville, Fla., museum as George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and CEO. For two decades, Brownlee has been serving as director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta. She officially...
Contemporary Curated: Works by Kerry James Marshall and Barkley L. Hendricks Top Sotheby’s Sale, New Auction Records for Titus Kaphar, Romare Bearden, Simone Leigh
WORKS BY AN ECLECTIC MIX of artists were offered at Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated auction on Oct. 2 in New York. Important figures from the second half of the 20th century were featured alongside today’s most critically recognized contemporary artists. Five African American artists were ranked among the 10 top-10 highest-priced works by Kerry James...
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Appoints Heidi Holder Chair of Education
EFFECTIVE THIS MONTH, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a new head of education. The New York City museum named Heidi Holder the Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chair of Education. She previously served as director of education at the Queens Museum. News of Holder’s hiring was announced Sept. 18, alongside the appointment of...
New Now: Amoako Boafo and Titus Kaphar Top Phillips Emerging Artist Auction, Firelei Báez and Marcus Jahmal Among Record Setters
Lot 39: AMOAKO BOAFO Amoako Boafo, “Lighter,” 2018 (oil and collage on paper, 59 x 55 inches / 149.9 x 139.7 cm). Estimate $40,000-$60,000. Sold for $325,000 fees included. TOP LOT PHILLIPS AUCTION HOUSE held its New Now auction on Sept. 30 in New York and “Lighter” by Amoako Boafo was the top...
A Dilemma of Inheritance: Adebunmi Gbadebo Employs Abstraction and Non-Traditional Materials to Mine Memories and Histories of Enslavement
THERE’S A FAMILY GATHERING of sorts underway at Claire Oliver Gallery in New York. “Adebunmi Gbadebo: A Dilemma of Inheritance” features more than 45 works that consider the legacies of two South Carolina plantations, sites where Black people were once enslaved, production of rice and indigo thrived, and Adebunmi Gbadebo traces her own family...
The Struggle Continues: Kwame Brathwaite’s Iconic Images Reflect His Political Vision and ‘Black is Beautiful’ Directive
A DEEP LOVE OF BLACK PEOPLE and Black culture rings throughout the practice of Kwame Braithwaite, a self-described artist-activist who has said “Black is Beautiful was my directive.” His photography is on view at Philip Martin Gallery in Los Angeles. “Kwame Brathwaite: The Struggle Continues, Victory is Certain” showcases his iconic portraits, street shots,...
Kevin Young Will Lead Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
THE SMITHSONIAN’S BLACK MUSEUM has a new leader. Kevin Young has been named director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. Young is currently director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York. He also serves as poetry editor at The New Yorker. He...
Fast-Rising Photographer Tyler Mitchell is Now Represented by Jack Shainman Gallery
PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER Tyler Mitchell has joined Jack Shainman Gallery. Mitchell’s practice explores a new vision of the beauty and power of Blackness. Defined by a sense of optimism and aesthetic creativity, his images imagine a Black utopia. A closely watched talent, Mitchell experienced a meteoric rise in 2018 when he photographed Beyoncé for American...
Revolution on Trial: Exploring the Black Panther Party’s Legacy in New Haven, Conn.
“A hand that held and loved someone (Personal Choice #3)” (2020) video installation by CHLOË BASS THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY for Self Defense marked its 50th anniversary in 2016 and the occasion was commemorated with books, exhibitions, and nationwide programs. In 2020, Artspace New Haven is recognizing the 50th anniversary of a pivotal moment...
Joining David Zwirner as Director, Ebony L. Haynes Will Launch New Gallery Space With All-Black Staff
THE LATEST HIRE at David Zwirner negotiated a sweet deal. Ebony L. Haynes is joining the gallery as a director and she is launching her own exhibition program in a new stand-alone space in Manhattan. Expected to open in spring 2021, the location of the gallery and inaugural exhibition will be announced in the coming...
Her Story: Paying Tribute to a Century of Women Who Have a Way With Words
Lorraine Hansberry, 1959 THROUGHOUT THE NATION, organizations and cultural institutions have been commemorating the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment in a variety of ways. At the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., a new exhibition marks the occasion by highlighting 24 women writers whose work has shaped the literary landscape...
Everything is Beautiful: Major Alma W. Thomas Traveling Exhibition Opening at Chrysler Museum of Art in July 2021
TOMORROW, SEPT. 22, would have been the 129th birthday of artist Alma Thomas (1891-1978). The announcement today of a major traveling exhibition co-organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va., and the Columbus Museum in her hometown of Columbus, Ga., is a wonderful way to celebrate her life and legacy. “Alma W....
Kyla McMillan is Joining David Zwirner Gallery as Director Focused on Artist Management and Sales
DAVID ZWIRNER GALLERY has hired Kyla McMillan as a director. The gallery has locations in New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong. McMillan will be based in Chelsea (New York) with a portfolio focused on artist management and sales. She begins at David Zwirner Oct. 15. The appointment was first reported today by ARTnews. “I...
An Ode to Tina Turner, Nikita Gale’s First Solo Museum Exhibition is About Refusal, Presence, and Visibility
“PRIVATE DANCER” (2020) by Nikita Gale THE FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION of Nikita Gale is an abstract sculptural installation at the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles. Composed of theatrical trusses and lighting, the work pays homage to Tina Turner’s 1984 album “Private Dancer.” Gale has invoked Turner for six years and...
Employing ‘Outrageous Color,’ Peter Williams Makes Bold Paintings That Confront Racial Oppression and Envision a ‘Black Universe’
Detail of George Floyd Triptych (2020) by Peter Williams IN EARLY AUGUST, artist Peter Williams presented The George Floyd Triptych (2020), at Untitled, Art Online, the art fair’s inaugural virtual event. The work, which depicts the arrest, death, and burial of Floyd in three panels, was the central focus of the Luis De Jesus...
Studio Museum in Harlem Selects 2020-2021 Artists in Residence: Widline Cadet, Genesis Jerez, Texas Isaiah, and Jacolby Satterwhite
FOUR NEW ARTISTS are receiving the imprimatur of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Widline Cadet, Genesis Jerez, Texas Isaiah, and Jacolby Satterwhite (above, clockwise from left) have been selected for the museum’s Artist-in-Residence program, a prestigious opportunity that has served as a launching pad for some of today’s most highly regarded artists of African...
Renaissance Man: An Exceptional Painter, Musician, and Filmmaker, Blitz Bazawule Counts Beyoncé, Ava DuVernay, and Oprah Winfrey Among His Collaborators
A MOMENT IN TIME, a new series of paintings by Blitz Bazawule, is inspired by found photographs he located in markets around the world. The artist first discovered them in Rabat, Morocco, where vendors were selling albums full of old, black-and-white photographs belonging to families they didn’t know. In the paintings, which are on...
Showcasing African American Art Throughout the Year, 2021 Calendars Pay Homage to Archibald Motley, Charles White, Romare Bearden, and Harlem Renaissance
A 2021 WALL CALENDAR showcasing the work of jazz age modernist Archibald Motley (1891-1981) serves as a reminder that Black institutions were the first to collect the work of African American artists in a meaningful way. “Barbeque” (1934) appears on the cover of the calendar. One of Motley’s famous genre scenes, the painting belongs...
Ballet Icon Misty Copeland is a Budding Collector of African American Art
Misty Copeland opens her New York apartment up to Architectural Digest, revealing a penchant for African American art. | Video by Architectural Digest LOCATED ON THE UPPER WEST SIDE of Manhattan, Misty Copeland‘s three-bedroom apartment was recently showcased by Architectural Digest (AD). She gave the design magazine’s audience a video tour. The home’s theme,...
