Auction Records: At Sotheby’s, Julie Mehretu, Barbara Chase-Riboud, and Barkley L. Hendricks Reach New Heights, Major Kerry James Marshall Painting Finds One Bidder
BLACK FEMALE ARTISTS had a great night at Sotheby’s New York. “Walkers With the Dawn and Morning” (2008), an intense storm of hazy grays by Julie Mehretu, set a historic new artist record, pushing the her high mark to more than $10.7 million. Pioneering sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud also achieved a record result and young British...
Auction Results: Robert Colescott Painting Hits $3.9M at Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale, New Record Set by Young British Painter Jadé Fadojutimi
Lot 10A: ROBERT COLESCOTT (1925-2009), “Eat dem Taters,” 1975 (acrylic on canvas, 59 x 79 inches / 149.9 x 200.7 cm). | Estimate $2 million-$3 million. SOLD for $3,922,000 fees included PAINTINGS BY SOME OF THE MOST PROMINENT and promising Black artists on the radar of collectors and institutions were among the offerings in...
Cover Portrait: Envisioning Fall for The New Yorker, Kadir Nelson Illustrates Couple on a Rainy Day in Dumbo, Brooklyn
AS THE DAYS OF NOVEMBER roll by, the rainfall that often accompanies the fall months is at the center of Kadir Nelson‘s latest cover for The New Yorker. The artist’s double portrait depicts a couple clad in rain gear standing in the middle of a street in Dumbo, the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood whose name is...
Latest News in Black Art: Rashid Johnson Installation at Whitney Museum Restaurant, Black Women Win Photography Prizes, Kaloki Nyamai Joins James Cohan Gallery
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture RASHID JOHNSON, “New Poetry,” 2023 (black steel, ceramics, grow lights, plants, wood, shea butter, books, films on CRT monitors, 190 x 359 1/2 x 65 inches / 482.6 x 913 x 165 cm). | © Rashid...
Forthcoming: First Career Retrospective of Stanley Whitney Opens at Buffalo AKG Art Museum in February, Exhibition Charts Five Decades of Abstraction
Stanley Whitney in his studio, Ridgewood, Queens, 2017. | Photo by Katherine McMahon THE FIRST RETROSPECTIVE of Stanley Whitney opens at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum on Feb. 9, 2024. “Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon” will chart the artist’s five-decade career, enduring investigation of color, and evolving approach to abstraction. Following the presentation...
Rake and Furrow: Artforum Gives Sam Gilliam Cover Treatment and Considers His Unique Approach to Abstract Painting
A FIELD OF FROSTY WHITE flecked with hues of blue, violet, green, and rose, “Foggy” (2021) by Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) graces the cover of the November 2023 edition of Artforum. Inside, an essay by Julia Bryan-Wilson explores the unique characteristics that distinguish Gilliam’s abstract paintings and connects his techniques to Black women’s labor. Gilliam is...
November Exhibitions: 12 Museums Shows Feature African American Artists Betye Saar, Simone Leigh, Dawoud Bey, Charles White, Faith Ringgold, Kehinde Wiley & More
OPENING THIS MONTH, art museums across the United States are presenting the vision and works of a broad array of Black artists—historic figures, mid-career practitioners, and rising talents. Among them are important women artists including Simone Leigh, Betye Saar, Faith Ringgold, Billie Zangewa, Grace Wales Bonner, and Elizabeth Talford Scott (1916-2011). Traveling exhibitions featuring Leigh,...
Forthcoming: Pérez Art Museum Miami is Presenting First Solo Museum Exhibition of Calida Rawles, Her Poetic Water Portraits Blend Hyperrealism and Abstraction
WATER AND ITS MANY THEMES, characteristics, and metaphors is central to the practice of Calida Rawles and serves as an anchoring through line in her paintings. A hybrid mix of hyperrealism and abstraction, her poetic images capture men, women, and young people submerged and floating in waves of stunning blue pool water. Drawing on the...
Year-Round Celebrations of African American Art, 2024 Calendars Feature Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, Ernie Barnes, and Betye Saar and Her Daughters
BROADER INTEREST in African American art over the past several years has coincided with the production of more wall calendars showcasing the work of Black artists. In 2021, calendars dedicated to Black female artists were finally added to the mix. Looking forward to 2024, more African American art calendars than ever are available. Art...
Norman Lewis Made Hundreds of Works on Paper, Original Paintings and Drawings That Chart Developments in His Visual Language
NORMAN LEWIS (1909–1979), “Untitled (Seachange),” 1975 (oil on paper, 22 x 30 inches / 55.9 x 76.2 cm, signed). | © Estate of Norman Lewis. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, N.Y. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is presenting an exhibition of works on paper by Norman Lewis, accompanied by a digital publication with...
Painter Cy Gavin Wins Studio Museum in Harlem’s Annual $50,000 Wein Artist Prize
Thelma Golden presents artist Cy Gavin with the 2023 Wein Prize at the Studio Museum in Harlem’s annual gala. | Photo by Bre Johnson, BFA The museum’s Oct. 30 gala honored Cy Gavin and Elizabeth Alexander THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM has been recognizing the potential of individual artists since 2006 with the...
Concurrent: Solo Exhibitions of Whitfield Lovell and Chakaia Booker are on View at Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock
WHITFIELD LOVELL (New York, N.Y., b. 1959), “Flight” From the installation Deep River, 2013 (wood cabinet, thirty-three suitcases, music stand, chest, sheet music, chains, and rope, 74 x 89 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches). | Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York. Image Courtesy Jason Masters Concurrent focuses on museums where...
Honolulu Museum of Art Acquired 55 Works From Robert and Jean Steele, More Than Doubling Representation of African American Artists in its Collection
RON ADAMS (American, 1934–2020), “Blackburn,” 2000 (lithograph). | Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City, Mo. Partial gift of Robert and Jean Steele; Partial purchase with funds from the John V. Levas Trust, 2023. (2023-06-01) ONE MASTER PRINTER paying homage to another, “Robert Blackburn” (2003) by Ron Adams pictures Blackburn pulling a figurative print from a...
New York Magazine: List of City’s Under-the-Radar Power Brokers Includes Collector AC Hudgins and Curator Rujeko Hockley
THE LATEST POWER ISSUE published by New York features “The Most Powerful New Yorkers You’ve Never Heard Of. 49 people who are actually running the city.” The list includes iconic collector and longstanding Museum of Modern Art board member AC Hudgins and Rujeko Hockley, an assistant curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. For...
Latest News in Black Art: Lauren Halsey Joins Gagosian, Todd Gray Now Repped by Lehmann Maupin, Harvey B. Gantt Center Turns 50, Plus Major Shake Up at Artforum
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Lauren Halsey. | Photo by Russell Hamilton Representation Gagosian, which has locations in the United States, Europe, and Asia, announced its representation of artist Lauren Halsey. Despite characterizing the relationship as global, she will continue...
David C. Howse Appointed President of California College of the Arts in San Francisco
California College of the Arts in San Francisco was established in 1907 and offers more than 30 programs and disciplines across art, design, architecture and writing. | Photo Courtesy CCA David C. Howse starts in the new role in December, joining the ranks of a few other African Americans leading U.S. art schools ...
Henry the Great: New York Times Pays Homage to Painter Known for Powerful Approach to Figurative Representation
Henry Taylor is among The Greats, one of the rare artistic figures who is shaping his field and the broader culture IT’S BEEN A GREAT YEAR for Los Angeles painter Henry Taylor. “Henry Taylor: B Side” originated at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, where it was on view through April. Then “B-Side,”...
Gish Prize Goes to Thelma Golden, Director of Studio Museum in Harlem is First Curator to Receive $250,000 Award
THE 30TH ANNUAL Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize was awarded to Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. A transformational figure in the world of art, for more than 35 years, Golden has provided a platform for Black artists as a curator, museum leader, mentor, and advocate. The prize was...
On View: Ceramic Sculptures by Magdalene Odundo at Gardiner Museum in Toronto: ‘My Ultimate Goal is to Make a Form So Simple it Defies Explanation’
Installation view “Magdalene Odundo: A Dialogue with Objects,” Gardiner Museum, Toronto, 2023. | Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid, Courtesy Gardiner Museum On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE GARDINER MUSEUM in Toronto acquired a carbonized terracotta vessel by Magdalene Odundo in 2006. A prime example of the renowned artist’s ceramic practice, the elegant,...
Julie Mehretu Painting Sells for $9.3 Million, Setting Auction Record For a Work by an African-Born Artist, Also New Benchmark For Black Female Artist Living or Dead
A LARGE-SCALE, ABSTRACT, two-part painting by Julie Mehretu set a new auction record. The untitled work made in 2001 sold earlier this month in the Contemporary Evening Auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for more than $9.3 million (HKD 72,979,000), establishing a new high-mark for an African-born artist. Mehretu was born in Ethiopia, grew up in...
