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...
On View: Deborah Roberts is Presenting Mixed-Media Collages that Consider Black Boyhood at SITE Santa Fe in New Mexico
Installation view of “Deborah Roberts: Come walk in my shoes,” SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, N.M., 2023. | Photo by Byron Flesher, Courtesy SITE Santa Fe On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE FIGURATIVE WORKS of Deborah Roberts focus on Black youth. Roberts assembles the collage works with found images—an eclectic mix...
On View: At Walker Art Center, Kahlil Robert Irving’s Site-Specific Installation Reinterprets the Notion of Street Art
Installation view of “Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present,” Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minn., 2023. | Photo by Kameron Herndon for Walker Art Center On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE SCULPTURAL CERAMICS of Kahlil Robert Irving are not typical clay artworks. He makes replicas of everyday objects and assemblages incorporating...
Kerry James Marshall Donated Portrait of His Friend, Scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., to University of Cambridge
HENRY LOUIS GATES JR., is a towering figure in the field of African American history and literature. He is closely associated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., where he built his academic career and currently serves as Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Gates also...
Auction Record: ‘Six Birds in the Bush’ by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Reached $3.6 Million at Sotheby’s London, Nearly Doubling Artist’s Previous High Mark
PORTRAYING A MAN who appears to have just turned his reluctant, yet penetrating gaze to the viewer, “Six Birds in the Bush” (2015) by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye set a new auction record for the British-Ghanaian artist at The Now Evening Auction at Sotheby’s London on Oct. 13. Bidding started at 850,000 pounds and blew past...
