Kerry James Marshall Painting Goes For Nearly $18.5 Million at Sotheby’s, Second-Highest Price at Auction for a Work by a Living African American Artist
AN IMAGE OF BLACK LOVE by Kerry James Marshall was highly sought this week. Nearly six-feet tall, “Vignette 19” (2014) depicts three couples captured in a park-like vignette framed with strokes of pink and a glittery heart. Offered at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on Nov. 14 in New York, the painting was expected...
11 Black Artists, Curators, Scholars and a Collector Made Art Review’s 2019 List of the Most Powerful People in the Art World
A GROUNDBREAKING REPORT published in November 2018 declared the restitution of Africa’s cultural heritage was “impossible no more.” Commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, the document is authored by French art historian Bénédicte Savoy and Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr and examines the history, inventory, and display of ill-gotten artifacts and art objects of questionable...
Torkwase Dyson, Whose Work Grapples with Black Spacial Politics, Wins Studio Museum’s 2019 Wein Artist Prize
THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM presented the 2019 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize to Torkwase Dyson at its annual gala this evening in New York City. The $50,000 prize is awarded annually to an African American artist recognizing exceptional “innovation, promise, and creativity.” Dyson’s interdisciplinary practice is centered around black spatial politics. She considers...
Latest News in African American Art: Gus Casely-Hayford Headed to V&A Museum, Betye Saar and Indira Allegra Win Major Artist Awards & More
Gus Casely-Hayford is the inaugural director of V&A East in London The following review presents a snapshot of recent news in African American art and related black culture: NEWS APPOINTMENT | Gus Casely-Hayford is joining the Victoria & Albert Museum in London as inaugural director of V&A East. He is heading up two...
The Week Ahead: Art World Power, Major Artist Awards, and Million Dollar Auctions
THIS IS A BIG WEEK IN ART. Wednesday evening, the Studio Museum in Harlem is announcing the winner of the annual Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize at its 2019 gala. Last year, Los Angeles-based textile artist Diedrick Brackens received the $50,000 prize. Simone Leigh won in 2017. The latest Power 100 List is also...
Dread Scott’s Slave Rebellion is Finally Happening With Hundreds of Re-Enactors Marching 26 Miles Headed For New Orleans
FOR SIX YEARS, Dread Scott has been planning a slave rebellion. The artist wants to bring attention to a fight for freedom waged more than two centuries ago by hundreds of African, American, and Haitian-born people in the Mississippi River parishes outside New Orleans. Scott is reimagining the German Coast Uprising of 1811. It...
Latest News in African American Art: Tom Finkelpearl Abruptly Departs NYC Cultural Affairs, Okwui Enwezor’s Last Exhibition, Prospect New Orleans & More
NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl made a “surprise exit.” The following review presents a snapshot of recent news in African American art and related black culture: NEWS Big news in arts leadership. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is losing the chair of its education department. Sandra Jackson-Dumont has been named director...
Sandra Jackson-Dumont Appointed Director and CEO of Forthcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles
THE LUCAS MUSEUM of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has tapped Sandra Jackson-Dumont as its new director and CEO. Envisioned by billionaire philanthropist and legendary filmmaker George Lucas, the focus of the Lucas Museum is visual storytelling through filmmaking and a variety of other artistic mediums, including painting and photography. The museum is currently...
UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive Has Acquired Nearly 3,000 Quilts by African American Artists, a Posthumous Gift From Collector Eli Leon
Untitled 1996 quilt by Rosie Lee Tompkins OVER THE COURSE of three decades, Eli Leon assembled a collection of nearly 3,000 quilts by both well-known and little-known African American artists. Leon died last year and through a posthumous bequest, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) has acquired the unparalleled collection....
On View: ‘Utopian Imagination’ at Ford Foundation Gallery in New York
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions GIVEN THE PERILS of the contemporary world, how do artists envision the future? “Utopian Imagination” at the Ford Foundation Gallery brings together 13 international artists whose works—spanning sculpture, photography, and film—suggest how we all might exist and persist on a planet under threat from natural and man-made forces....
Jessica Bell Brown Has Been Hired by the Baltimore Museum of Art as Associate Curator for Contemporary Art
THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART is expanding its contemporary art department, hiring Jessica Bell Brown and Leila Grothe as associate curators. They are joining a growing team of female curators at BMA led by chief curator Asma Naeem and fortified by senior research and programming curator Katy Siegel. A New York-based writer, curator, and...
Writer Roxane Gay Weighs in on Kara Walker’s Work at the New MoMA: ‘It’s Important that You Don’t Look Away’
IN ANTICIPATION OF ITS REOPENING, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York asked writer Roxane Gay to select a work of art from its collection and discuss what she sees in it. She chose “Christ’s Entry Into Journalism” (2017) by Kara Walker. “She has managed in a series of figures to depict...
New York Now: Fall Exhibitions Feature Amy Sherald, Roy DeCarava, Wangechi Mutu, Melvin Edwards, Alvin Baltrop, and Ed Clark, Plus Betye Saar and Pope.L at the New MoMA
Installation view of Betye Saar at Museum of Modern Art FALL IN NEW YORK CITY is always a time of renewal and fresh new perspectives when it comes what’s next and relevant in art. This season there are an exceptional number of opportunities to experience the work of African American artists in museums, galleries,...
Painter Ed Clark, 93, a Pioneering Figure in Post-War Abstraction, Has Died
Artist Ed Clark (1926-2019) A SINGULAR FIGURE in post-war Abstraction, Ed Clark (1926-2019) died Oct. 18 in Detroit. He was 93. Clark is recognized for his innovation, experimentation, and seductive use of color. Over seven decades, he built a practice influenced by his education in Chicago and Paris, exposure to European modernists, and a...
Latest News in African American Art: Arthur Jafa Wins PIAC, Black Last Supper Uncovered, Firelei Báez at ICA Boston, Nick Cave Among ‘Greats,’ Simone Leigh Acquisition & More
Last Supper by Akili Ron Anderson. | Photo by Evy Mages, Courtesy the photographer The following review presents a snapshot of recent news in African American art and related black culture: NEWS A construction crew made a monumental discovery earlier this month. A black Last Supper frieze was found behind drywall at a...
Dwight A. McBride Named First Black President of The New School in New York
A CENTURY AFTER ITS FOUNDING, the New School has appointed its first black president and the first person of color to lead the institution. Dwight A. McBride will serve as the ninth president of the New School, which regards itself as a nexus for scholars, artists, and designers. Established in 1919, the New York City...
Saint Louis Art Museum Has Acquired ‘Seated Woman,’ Elizabeth Catlett’s Record-Setting Sculpture
A CARVED MAHOGANY sculpture by Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) set a new artist record in New York this week. “Seated Woman” (1962) sold for $389,000 (fees included) at Swann Auction Galleries African-American Fine Art sale on Oct. 8. “Elizabeth Catlett was especially deserving of a new record, and ‘Seated Woman’ was the perfect work to...
Latest News in African American Art: Artist Selection for J. Marion Sims Replacement Monument Goes Sideways, 2021 Whitney Biennial Curators Announced & More
VINNIE BAGWELL, Rendering for “Victory Beyond Sims,” 2019. Bagwell’s proposal envisioning a “majestic angel” to replace the Central Park monument to J. Marion Sims was favored by representatives of the community and ultimately emerged as the city’s official choice. | Courtesy the artist ACQUISITIONS Eleven works from South African artist Zanele Muholi‘s “Faces and...
Black Artists are Headlining Exhibitions Throughout the UK This Fall, 24 Feature the Likes of Kara Walker, Lina Iris Viktor, Mark Bradford, and Otobong Nkanga
OCTOBER IN THE UK is black history month. It’s also a significant month when it comes to art this year. Throughout this month, and the rest of the fall season, there are many opportunities to experience the work of emerging and established figures. Black artists are headlining exhibitions at museums and galleries in London,...
Paintings by Hurvin Anderson and Mark Bradford Among Top Lots at Phillips London Evening Sale, New Records Set by Simone Leigh and Derek Fordjour
FAMILY EXPERIENCES inspire much of Hurvin Anderson‘s work. A mix of figuration and abstraction his paintings draw on memory and often depict specific places and singular moments. Anderson’s sister emigrated to Canada from the UK. “Beaver Lake” (1998) portrays her and her child at the Alberta lake. Made early in the artist’s career, “Beaver...
