In a New Documentary, 4 Los Angeles Area Artists Explore the Creative and Practical Implications of Motherhood
Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle is among the artists profiled in the documentary “Artist and Mother.” | Video by KCET DOES MOTHERHOOD ALTER an artist’s practice or change her work and approach to creativity? It’s a question rarely discussed publicly that a new documentary takes on and addresses directly. “You have very significant successful artists and...
The Week in African American Art: Designer Gail Anderson Recognized by Cooper Hewitt, Artist Kapwani Kiwanga Presents Frieze Commission & More
Gail Anderson of New York received the Cooper Hewitt Design Award for Lifetime Achievement. | Photo by Declan Van Welie; Paris-based Kapwani Kiwanga won the first Frieze Artist Award in New York. | Photo by Bertille-Chérot The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African...
Archibald Motley’s Favorite Painting, a Portrait of His Grandmother, Has Entered the Collection of the National Gallery of Art
A SELECTION OF PAINTINGS OF WOMEN IN WHITE is displayed in the American Galleries in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Portraits by artists including Gilbert Stuart, Cecilia Beaux, Whistler, George Bellows, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent are among the group. Stuart’s rendering of Catherine Brass Yates...
A New Documentary About André Leon Talley Traces His Southern Roots and Unimaginable Rise in High Fashion
A WISE AND SEASONED arbiter of style, André Leon Talley has been cutting a fabulous figure in the fashion world for more than 40 years. Before he became a fixture at Vogue, he worked at Andy Warhol’s Factory, volunteered with Diana Vreeland at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, and did stints at...
Overlooked: The Smithsonian Acquired a Portrait of Henrietta Lacks, the Latest Effort to Recognize Her Legacy in Medical Science
KADIR NELSON, “Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine,” 2017 (oil on linen). | Collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from Kadir Nelson and the JKBN Group LLC CERVICAL CANCER CLAIMED THE LIFE of Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951), an African American woman who...
Known for His Revolutionary Black Power Images, Wadsworth Jarrell Started Painting Horse Race Scenes in the 1960s
“Untitled (Horserace)” by Wadsworth Jarrell. BEYOND THE INFLUENTIAL REALM of major auction houses in art centers such as New York, London, and Hong Kong, and even Los Angeles and Chicago, there are hundreds of smaller, longstanding local businesses selling second-hand valuables, from antique furniture, watches, and china to fine art. In the United States,...
Acquisitions by Glenn Ligon, McArthur Binion, and Toyin Ojih Odutola are Driving Conversations Around Race and History at Mississippi Museum of Art
GLENN LIGON, “Condition Report,” 2000 THE MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF ART in Jackson, Miss., is encouraging constructive conversations about racial equity through contemporary art. A slate of new acquisitions, including works by African American artists Glenn Ligon, Benny Andrews (1930-2006), and McArthur Binion, a native of Macon, Miss., supports the museum’s commitment to engaging the...
Artist Barkley L. Hendricks Received a Posthumous Faculty Award From Connecticut College Where He Taught for Nearly Four Decades
EMERITUS PROFESSOR Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) received the inaugural President’s Award for Creative Impact from Connecticut College on May 2. He was among five faculty members recognized by President Katherine Bergeron for demonstrating excellence and innovation in research, teaching and leadership. Hendricks is the first to be honored with the new Impact award which...
‘Folklorist of the Brush and Palette’: Rare Winold Reiss Exhibition Features Distinct, Illuminating Portraits of Harlem Figures
WINOLD REISS, “Harlem Girl with Blanket,” circa 1925 FORTY WORKS BY A HARLEM LEGEND are on view in midtown Manhattan. “Winold Reiss Will Not Be Classified” at Hirschl & Adler gallery presents works spanning the German American artist’s four-decade career. Weinold Reiss (1886–1953) was variously considered an artist, designer, illustrator, architect, printmaker, and muralist....
Charles White’s ‘Love Letter’ for Angela Davis Featured on Forthcoming 2019 African American Art Calendar
CHARLES WHITE, “Love Letter,” 1971 SHORTLY AFTER ‘CHARLES WHITE: A RETROSPECTIVE’ opens at the Art Institute of Chicago, a 2019 wall calendar will be released featuring his work. Published by Pomegranate in collaboration with the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), the African American art calendar features Charles White‘s “Love Letter” (1971) on the...
Kadir Nelson Channels Nostalgic Brooklyn with Stickball Cover for The New Yorker
“Stickball Alley” by Kadir Nelson THERE IS A REAL SENSE OF NOSTALGIA in Kadir Nelson‘s image of a young African American boy in a striped shirt and blue cap emblazoned with a “B.” Holding a stick drawn back toward his right shoulder, he stares intently awaiting the pitch of the ball. In the background,...
The Week in African American Art: LACMA Acquisitions Include Works by Julie Mehretu, Betye Saar & More
ACQUISITIONS | Julie Mehretu, “Epigraph, Damascus,” 2016. | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Kelvin Davis and Hana Kim through the 2018 Collectors Committee, © Julie Mehretu, Photo by Malcolm Varon The following review of the past week presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related...
Newly Focused on Acquiring African American Art, Columbus Museum Adds Works by Robert Neal and Augusta Savage to Collection
Robert Neal, “Rearguard,” 1950 (oil on linen canvas). | Courtesy Swann Auction Galleries A STRIKING PORTRAIT of an African American soldier during the Korean War was acquired by the Columbus Museum this month. “Rearguard” by Robert Neal (1916-1987) is the latest in a series works by African American artists to enter the Columbus, Ga.,...
Priced to Set New Artist Record, ‘Past Times’ by Kerry James Marshall is Consigned to Sotheby’s by Chicago Convention Center
KERRY JAMES MARSHALL, “Past Times,” 1997 (acrylic and collage on unstretched canvas). | Estimate $8 million-$12 million. Sold for $21.1 million including fees ($18.5 million hammer price). RECORD MARQUIS WORKS BY AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS are increasingly showing up at major auction houses. The latest is “Past Times” by Kerry James Marshall, which is being...
It’s World Book Day. Have You Read an Exhibition Catalog in the Past Year?
Johnson Publishing Library Archive at Rebuild Foundation, Chicago (April 23, 2016). | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine TODAY IS WORLD BOOK DAY, what are you reading? An exhibition catalog or critical text perhaps? Designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Book and Copyright Day celebrates and promotes books, reading,...
The Week in African American Art: Solange Creates Performance with Dozens of Dancers and White Minimalist Cube & More
PROJECTS/UNVEILINGS | Solange Ferguson, “Metatronia (Metatron’s Cube),” 2018, at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles The following review of the past week presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: NEWS Jerome Meadows, a Savannah, Ga.-based artist has been commissioned to create a memorial to Ed Johnson,...
Artist Jamea Richmond-Edwards Explores Issues of Identity, Perception, and the Lure of Luxe Goods
JAMEA RICHMOND-EDWARDS, “Archetype of a 5 Star,” 2018 (acrylic, spray paint, glitter, ink and cut paper collage on canvas, 60 x 48 inches). | Courtesy of Kravets/Wehby Gallery and the artist AS A YOUNG GIRL, Jamea Richmond-Edwards got lost in the pages of Ebony magazine. She was particularly drawn to the runway images...
Kehinde Wiley, the Portrait Artist Who is ‘Transforming the Way African Americans are Seen,’ Makes Time 100 List
Kehinde Wiley is among the artists who made the 2018 Time 100 list. | Video by Time Magazine TIME MAGAZINE RELEASED its Time 100 list for 2018 and it features three visual artists—Judy Chicago, JR, and Kehinde Wiley, who appears in the wake of painting his news making portrait of President Barack Obama, which...
Two Decades After it Debuted, Kerry James Marshall is Revisiting His Rythm Mastr Comic Series at 2018 Carnegie International
KERRY JAMES MARSHALL, Rythm Mastr, 1999-present. | Courtesy the artist and MCA Chicago EVERY TUESDAY FOR EIGHT WEEKS readers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s magazine were treated to a single illustrated panel from Kerry James Marshall’s Rythm Mastr comic series. This was nearly two decades ago, during the 1999/2000 Carnegie International when the artist first...
The Week in African American Art: Zoé Whitley Named Curator of British Pavilion at 2019 Venice Biennale & More
Zoé Whitley to curate British Pavilion at 2019 Venice Biennale. | Photo by Andrew Dunkley, Tate Photography The following review of the past week presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: APPOINTMENTS British Pavilion at Venice Biennale Zoé Whitley is curating the British Pavilion at the...
