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
Belinda Tate Hired as Next Director of Indianapolis Museum of Art: Beleaguered by Racial Controversies, Institution is Charting New Direction

Belinda Tate Hired as Next Director of Indianapolis Museum of Art: Beleaguered by Racial Controversies, Institution is Charting New Direction

Three Black women will now lead the institution serving as board chair, president and CEO, and director of the museum   NEWFIELDS ANNOUNCED THE APPOINTMENT of Belinda Tate as the next director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). An encyclopedic museum founded in 1883, IMA is part of Newfields, a cultural institution spread across...
Lots to Watch: 400+ Items From André Leon Talley's Estate Up for Auction in Hudson, N.Y.

Lots to Watch: 400+ Items From André Leon Talley’s Estate Up for Auction in Hudson, N.Y.

Rare art, fascinating objects, and significant collections can be found at local auction houses, from California to Hudson, N.Y.   A CUSTOM, BLACK SILK Ralph Rucci evening kimono worn to the Met Gala in 2003. Rhinestone-embellished NAACP t-shirts. Silver-plated serving ware previously owned by Joan Crawford. Six monogrammed L.L. Bean tote bags. Books on fashion...
Latest News in Black Art: Firelei Báez Joins Hauser & Wirth, Chris Ofili Pays Tribute to Khadija Saye, Francis Kéré Wins Japan's Praemium Imperiale, American Friends of Louvre Now Led by Thomas E. Moore III

Latest News in Black Art: Firelei Báez Joins Hauser & Wirth, Chris Ofili Pays Tribute to Khadija Saye, Francis Kéré Wins Japan’s Praemium Imperiale, American Friends of Louvre Now Led by Thomas E. Moore III

Firelei Báez. | Photo by Amilcar Navarro, Courtesy Hauser & Wirth     Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   REPRESENTATION Firelei Báez (pictured above) is now represented globally by Hauser & Wirth, the mega gallery with an international footprint. The news was announced...
Art & Diplomacy: U.S. Dept. of State Medal of Arts Bestowed on Robert Pruitt and Hank Willis Thomas at White House Ceremony

Art & Diplomacy: U.S. Dept. of State Medal of Arts Bestowed on Robert Pruitt and Hank Willis Thomas at White House Ceremony

Sept. 13: Arts in Embassies 2023 Medal of the Arts recipients. From left, Suling Wang, Hank Willis Thomas, Robert Pruitt, and Tony Abeyta, in the East Room of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Erin Scott   First Lady Jill Biden hosted the 2023 Medal of Arts event honoring five artists at...
What to See in New York: 5 New Gallery Exhibitions Feature Works by Ed Clark, Emanoel Araújo, Mickalene Thomas, Sanford Biggers, and Kandy G Lopez

What to See in New York: 5 New Gallery Exhibitions Feature Works by Ed Clark, Emanoel Araújo, Mickalene Thomas, Sanford Biggers, and Kandy G Lopez

  COMMERCIAL ART GALLERIES in New York are dedicating their September exhibitions to a variety of Black artists. Singular, mid-career figures Mickalene Thomas and Sanford Biggers are presenting new works. A survey of the late artist Ed Clark’s dynamic career is spread across two floors. The selections also include inaugural exhibitions of Brazilian artist Emanoel...
Latest News in Black Art: Lorraine O'Grady Now Repped by Mariane Ibrahim, Armory Show Prize Goes to Barthélémy Toguo, Black Mural Fest Underway in Detroit & More

Latest News in Black Art: Lorraine O’Grady Now Repped by Mariane Ibrahim, Armory Show Prize Goes to Barthélémy Toguo, Black Mural Fest Underway in Detroit & More

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Lorraine O’Grady. | Photo by Lelanie Foster, Courtesy the artist and Mariane Ibrahim gallery   REPRESENTATION Lorraine O’Grady (above) has joined Mariane Ibrahim gallery. A New York-based conceptual artist, O’Grady employs the theory of both/and as...
Studio Museum in Harlem Announces 2023-24 Artists-in-Residence: sonia louise davis, Malcolm Peacock, and Zoë Pulley

Studio Museum in Harlem Announces 2023-24 Artists-in-Residence: sonia louise davis, Malcolm Peacock, and Zoë Pulley

  THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM’S highly regarded artist-in-residence program is welcoming a new cohort: sonia louise davis, Malcolm Peacock, and Zoë Pulley. Working across a range of mediums from textiles and performance to graphic design and audio, the artists hail most recently from New York, New Orleans, and Providence, R.I. The news was announced...
Latest News in Black Art: Sonia Boyce Now Represented by Hauser & Wirth, Getty Acquires Maren Hassinger Archive, Tomashi Jackson Wins Rappaport Prize & More

Latest News in Black Art: Sonia Boyce Now Represented by Hauser & Wirth, Getty Acquires Maren Hassinger Archive, Tomashi Jackson Wins Rappaport Prize & More

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Sonia Boyce © Sonia Boyce. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2023. Photo: Parisa Taghizadeh   REPRESENTATION British artist Sonia Boyce (above) joined Hauser & Wirth gallery. The new representation is in collaboration with Apalazzo Gallery in Brescia,...
2013-2023: Since Culture Type Launched, Top 10 'Most Read' Posts Focus on Ernie Barnes, Florida Highwaymen, Titus Kaphar, and Exhibitions of Black Female Artists

2013-2023: Since Culture Type Launched, Top 10 ‘Most Read’ Posts Focus on Ernie Barnes, Florida Highwaymen, Titus Kaphar, and Exhibitions of Black Female Artists

Culture Type is celebrating its 10th anniversary (2013-2023): A decade of art, history, and culture from a Black perspective   CULTURE TYPE first launched a decade ago. Over the years, the most read posts have explored key artists, exhibitions, and curatorial appointments. Exhibition coverage that has drawn the most attention, did not focus on New...
Sixty Years Ago, the March on Washington Inspired Change and Drew Many Artists, Including a Future Photographer Named Frank Stewart

Sixty Years Ago, the March on Washington Inspired Change and Drew Many Artists, Including a Future Photographer Named Frank Stewart

  SIXTY YEARS AGO, Bayard Rustin stood on the grounds of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., hoping after a short two months of intense organizing that crowds of demonstrators would come to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. “I was terrified people wouldn’t show,” Rustin told the Washington Post years later....
Departure: Sarah Workneh is Stepping Down From Co-Director Role at Skowhegan After 14 Years. Her 'Commitment to the Program Has Been Unwavering'

Departure: Sarah Workneh is Stepping Down From Co-Director Role at Skowhegan After 14 Years. Her ‘Commitment to the Program Has Been Unwavering’

AFTER 14 YEARS, Sarah Workneh is stepping down from her position as co-director of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. Known as the residency program “founded by artists for artists,” Skowhegan was established in 1946. Located on a 350-acre campus in Madison, Maine, Skowhegan’s nine-week summer program offers a profound educational experience for artists....
Latest News in Black Art: Photographer Roland Freeman Died, Nigeria Named New Culture Minister, A’Driane Nieves Joined Various Small Fires, Arem Duplessis Won National Design Award & More

Latest News in Black Art: Photographer Roland Freeman Died, Nigeria Named New Culture Minister, A’Driane Nieves Joined Various Small Fires, Arem Duplessis Won National Design Award & More

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Roland Freeman (1936-2023). | Photo by the artist   LIVES Roland Leeon Freeman (1936-2023), a photographer and collector of quilts made by African Americans, died on Aug. 7 in Washington, D.C. He was 87. Freeman’s unrivaled...
Moving On Up: 34 Museum Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in First Half of 2023

Moving On Up: 34 Museum Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in First Half of 2023

  NEARLY THREE DOZEN Black curators and arts leaders accepted new appointments at an array of museums and arts institutions in the first half of 2023. Notably, Brooke A. Minto was appointed executive director and CEO of the Columbus Art Museum in Ohio. She joined the museum from the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums,...
Latest News in Black Art: Met Museum Acquired Rare Portrait With Complex History, Lane Coleman is Next Board Chair at Detroit Institute of Arts, Mary Evans Tapped to Lead London's Slade School & More

Latest News in Black Art: Met Museum Acquired Rare Portrait With Complex History, Lane Coleman is Next Board Chair at Detroit Institute of Arts, Mary Evans Tapped to Lead London’s Slade School & More

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Mary Evans. | Photo by Christa Holka   APPOINTMENTS Nigerian born, British artist and educator Mary Evans (above) was named director of the University College London (UCL) Slade School of Fine Art. Over the past five...
Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia Appoints Michele A. Parchment Executive Director, Marking First Leadership Change Since Its Founding in 1972

Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia Appoints Michele A. Parchment Executive Director, Marking First Leadership Change Since Its Founding in 1972

Michele A. Parchment. | Courtesy Brandywine Workshop and Archives   Groundbreaking print workshop and arts organization founded by Allan L. Edmunds celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022   IN PHILADELPHIA, the Brandywine Workshop and Archives (BWA) is welcoming a new executive director. The BWA Board of Directors announced the appointment of Michele A. Parchment, effective...
In Memoriam: Artist Jesse Lott, 80, Was a 'Mythic Person' and Co-Founder of Project Row Houses in Houston

In Memoriam: Artist Jesse Lott, 80, Was a ‘Mythic Person’ and Co-Founder of Project Row Houses in Houston

Art & Activism is directed and edited by Cressandra Thibodeaux. The footage was shot by 28 students from the 14 Pews Film Academy. The film won Best Short Documentary at the International Black Film Festival and Tulsa American Film Festival. | Video by Cressandra Thibodeaux   A short documentary made in 2017 explores the late...
Latest News in Black Art: 50-Year Retrospective of Bead Artist Joyce J. Scott, Jack Shainman Gallery Adds Emanoel Araújo Estate to Roster, Archives of American Art Honoring Ruth Fine & More

Latest News in Black Art: 50-Year Retrospective of Bead Artist Joyce J. Scott, Jack Shainman Gallery Adds Emanoel Araújo Estate to Roster, Archives of American Art Honoring Ruth Fine & More

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Joyce J. Scott’s 50-year retrospective opens at the Baltimore Museum of Art in March 2024. | Photo by Joseph Hyde, Courtesy Goya Contemporary   EXHIBITIONS Coming soon in spring 2024, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA)...
In Store: Museum of Modern Art Commissioned Exclusive Puzzle by Artist Nina Chanel Abney

In Store: Museum of Modern Art Commissioned Exclusive Puzzle by Artist Nina Chanel Abney

  THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (MoMA) commissioned an exclusive jigsaw puzzle by New York artist Nina Chanel Abney. The 1,000-piece puzzle is inspired by “Girl before a Mirror,” Pablo Picasso’s 1932 painting from MoMA’s collection. Abney’s fresh interpretation of the Picasso work shows the reflection of a figure gazing into a mirror. The puzzle’s...
Highly Regarded Sculptor Simone Leigh is Going to Washington Where Central Themes of Her Practice Took Root

Highly Regarded Sculptor Simone Leigh is Going to Washington Where Central Themes of Her Practice Took Root

Simone Leigh at Stratton Sculpture Studios in Philadelphia, Pa., where she’s produced monumental works (2020). | Photo by Shaniqwa Jarvis, Courtesy ICA Boston   The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., acquired a major sculpture by Simone Leigh and the artist will be in conversation at the museum this weekend   WHEN SHE WAS...
British Fashion Designer Grace Wales Bonner is Curating 'Artist's Choice' Exhibition at Museum of Modern Art This Fall

British Fashion Designer Grace Wales Bonner is Curating ‘Artist’s Choice’ Exhibition at Museum of Modern Art This Fall

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, “Washington, D.C.,” 1957 (gelatin silver print, 6 3/4 × 10 inches / 17.1 × 25.4 cm). | Gift of John C. Waddell. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2023 Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos, courtesy Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris   The practice of Wales Bonner is informed by Black art, history, and culture....