‘Black Pope’ by Charles White is Going on View at Museum of Modern Art in October
FOUR YEARS AFTER ACQUIRING “Black Pope (Sandwich Board Man)” by Charles White (1918-1979), the Museum of Modern Art in New York will display the signature work for the first time in a special exhibition conceived by artist David Hammons. “Charles White—Leonardo da Vinci. Curated by David Hammons” opens Oct. 7 and pairs “Black Pope”...
Julie Mehretu: ‘What Does It Mean to Paint a Landscape in this Political Moment?’
FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES, curators at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) have been commissioning artists to create works for a pair of walls in its voluminous atrium. In 1997, Sol LeWitt was the first artist selected. Kerry James Marshall painted murals for the space in 2008. In anticipation of the...
Sept. 23-24: Smithsonian’s African American Museum is Marking First Anniversary with Weekend of Special Events
ONE YEAR AFTER ITS LONG-AWAITED DEBUT, overwhelming interest in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) hasn’t waned. The museum dedicated to the contributions and experiences of black Americans opened Sept. 24, 2016, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Often referred to as the “Blacksonian,” the museum turns one...
Kerry James Marshall Mural is Monumental Tribute to Women Who Have Shaped Chicago’s Cultural Arts Scene
BEFORE: His largest work to day, Kerry James Marshall’s mural is being installed at the Chicago Cultural Center in Garland Court. | Courtesy City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) GENERATIONS OF WOMEN have made groundbreaking contributions to Chicago’s arts and culture scene. A new mural by painter Kerry James...
Monumental Practice: Long Before the Violence in Charlottesville, Mabel O. Wilson Was Exploring the Intersection of Race and History in Public Spaces
Robert E. Lee Monument in Emancipation Park, Charlottesville, Va. | via UVA THE CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE’S plan to remove a monument memorializing Confederate General Robert E. Lee drew protests from tiki torch-bearing white supremacists and white nationalists. On Aug. 12, counter-demonstrators clashed with participants in the “Unite the Right” rally and one woman, among...
Summer Shows: New Exhibitions Feature African American Artists Beverly Buchanan, Arthur Jafa, Glenn Ligon and Bradford Young
A NUMBER OF GEMS OPENED this month. Summer tends to be a relatively quiet season art-wise, but this year major international events—Venice Biennale, Documenta 14, and Art Basel—are coinciding with compelling gallery and museum exhibitions featuring works by black artists. From San Francisco and Detroit, to Greece, London and Cape Town, exhibitions by artists including...
Artful Wisdom: Kerry James Marshall, Claudia Rankine, Leslie King-Hammond Among Speakers at 2017 Commencements
Artist Kerry James Marshall delivers remarks at Columbia College Chicago commencement on May 14. | Video by Columbia College Chicago MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO, when Kerry James Marshall left Los Angeles to move to New York, his friend and fellow artist Carrie Mae Weems called Dawoud Bey, who was living in the city....
LaToya Ruby Frazier and Nari Ward Among 16 Artists Participating in Creative Time’s Political ‘Pledges of Allegiance’
FLAGS HAVE PROVEN to be a powerful medium in contemporary art, from David Hammons’s “African American Flag” (1990), which sold at Phillips auction for more than $2 million, to Dread Scott’s “A Man Was Lynched by Police Yesterday” (2015) displayed last summer at Jack Shainman Gallery, and Nu Barreto’s “Desunited States of Africa” (2010)...
Faith Ringgold Story Quilt is Among Acquisitions Marking National Museum of Women in the Arts 30th Anniversary Year
FAITH RINGGOLD, “American Collection #4: Jo Baker’s Bananas,” 1997 (acrylic on canvas with pieced fabric border). | Purchased with funds donated by the Estate of Barbara Bingham Moore, Olga V. Hargis Family Trusts and the Members’ Acquisition Fund FOUNDED IN 1987, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is celebrating its 30th...
Recognized for Her Portraits of Black Men, New Art21 Film Explores How Jordan Casteel ‘Paints Her Community’
AFTER DEVOTING A SUMMER in Gloucester, Mass., to landscape painting, Jordan Casteel decided to start making portraits of black men. The man who killed Trayvon Martin was acquitted in those months between her first and second year at Yale University where she earned her MFA. The experiences of her twin brother were unsettling, too....
Cover Artist: Henry Taylor Graces Summer Issue of Cultured Magazine
IN ADVANCE OF “A Portrait Show” (June 11-July 22, 2017), Henry Taylor‘s solo exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Zurich, Switzerland, Cultured magazine visited the artist in his studio. The publication paired Hamza Walker, executive director of LAXART, with Taylor. Both live and work in Los Angeles. The artist was still working on canvases...
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Appoints Culture and Tech Entrepreneur Troy Carter to its Board of Trustees
Embed from Getty Images Troy Carter, Founder and CEO of Atom Factory THREE NEW MEMBERS were elected to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Board of Trustees, including entrepreneur and venture capitalist Troy Carter. A relatively young addition to the museum’s board, Carter, 44, is the influential founder and CEO of Atom...
Art for Justice: $100 Million From Sale of ‘Masterpiece’ by Roy Lichtenstein Fuels Fund to End Mass Incarceration in United States
Embed from Getty Images THE U.S. JAIL AND PRISON POPULATION increased more than ten-fold over the past 40 years, despite crime rates dropping by about 50 percent during the same period. To address the issue, Agnes Gund (above) provided $100 million to establish the Art for Justice Fund. A New York City philanthropist and...
‘Figuring History’: Seattle Art Museum Announces Major Three-Artist Exhibition Featuring Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, and Mickalene Thomas
ROBERT COLESCOTT, “George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware” (1975). THE SEATTLE ART MUSEUM (SAM) is organizing a major exhibition of three critically recognized African American artists—Robert Colescott (1925-2009), Kerry James Marshall, and Mickalene Thomas. The exhibition will explore how their distinct approaches to figuration and history painting have recast the Western canon and challenged...
Historic Appointment: Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi is Joining Cleveland Museum of Art as Curator of African Art
THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART announced the appointment of Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi as curator of African Art. The museum has a significant collection of more than 300 works of traditional art from sub-Saharan Africa, including a broad selection of masks and figurative sculpture from West and Central Africa. An artist, art historian and curator,...
ART21 Launches ‘Summer of Shorts’ Featuring New Film About Why Chicago Artist Theaster Gates Collects
FOR HIS FIRST EXHIBITION in Milan, Theaster Gates presented “True Value” (July 7-Sept. 25, 2016) which centered around the inventory of a shuttered Chicago hardware store. Installed in an art context, he reimagined the abandoned tools and supplies as a monumental visual display. An artist who trained as a potter, Gates has become more...
Naomi Beckwith is Chairing New Curatorial Leadership Summit at 2018 Armory Show
THE ARMORY SHOW NAMED CURATORS for its Focus and Platform sections today and also announced a new curatorial leadership summit for its 2018 fair. Bringing together an international roster of prominent curators, the daylong summit is designed to foster “new ideas and developments within the curatorial landscape.” Naomi Beckwith, curator at the Museum of...
Sugar Hill Children’s Museum in Harlem Announces New Leadership: Lauren Kelley Promoted to Director and Chief Curator
THE SUGAR HILL CHILDREN’S MUSEUM of Art and Storytelling is promoting from within. The Harlem museum whose primary audience is 3 to 8-year-olds, announced the appointment of Lauren Kelley (above) as director and chief curator. Kelley has been with the museum since 2013, when it was still in development. Previously serving as associate director...
Best in Show: Pope.L Named Recipient of Whitney Biennial 2017 Bucksbaum Award
FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION to the 2017 Whitney Biennial, Pope.L utilized processed lunch meat and found photography to raise issues of representation and the pitfalls of population counting and “baloney” that can be embedded in its “accuracy” and use. Always thought-provoking, the multidisciplinary artist’s clever approach has been duly recognized. The Whitney Museum of American...
From Houston to Richmond: VMFA Hires Valerie Cassel Oliver as Modern and Contemporary Art Curator
THE VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (VMFA) named Valerie Cassel Oliver its new Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Recognized for her ability to connect with artists and identify promising emerging figures, Cassel Oliver is expected to invigorate the department, introducing an innovative exhibition program and a broad range...
