British Artist Chris Ofili Received Royal Honor at Buckingham Palace
Chris Ofili shows off his CBE. | Photo by John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images EXCEPTIONAL BRITISH CITIZENS were bestowed with royal honors at Buckingham Palace last week. In January, artist Chris Ofili was announced among Order of the British Empire honorees for 2017. He received a CBE or “Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the...
Milton S. Curry Named Dean of USC School of Architecture, Alma Mater of Legendary African American Architect Paul R. Williams
THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA announced the appointment of Milton S. Curry as dean of its school of architecture. The institution has a storied history. The first accredited architecture school in Southern California, the program marked a century of architecture in 2014, graduating its 100th class of students. Among its earliest alumni, Paul R. Williams,...
For World Book Day, 5 New Volumes Featuring African American Artists
DESIGNATED BY THE UNITED NATIONS Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Book Day promotes reading, publishing and copyright. It’s a great excuse to learn more about five new art books. Recently published volumes pay tribute to women artists and explore the work of African American artists active in 1960s and 70s Los Angeles—the work...
‘One of the Most Influential Artists Anywhere’: Kerry James Marshall Makes ‘Time’ 100 List
Photograph by Broomberg & Chanarin via Time TIME MAGAZINE ANNOUNCED its annual assessment of the 100 Most Influential People and artist Kerry James Marshall made the list. The 2017 roundup of people at the forefront of ideas, innovation, power and change, includes major figures in five categories—pioneers, artists, leaders, titans, and icons. Pope Francis,...
Celebrating Earth Day with Alma Thomas’s Nature-Inspired ‘Earth’ Paintings
Alma Thomas, “Untitled,” circa 1968. | MoMA A NEW EXHIBITION at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is dedicated to works by women artists created between the end of World War II in 1945 and the onset of the Feminist Movement in the late 1960s. “Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction”...
April Exhibitions: Mark Bradford Pays Homage to Clyfford Still, Plus ‘Black Radical Women,’ Radcliffe Bailey, Deana Lawson, Nari Ward, Terry Adkins, and More
SPRING SHOWS ARE HERE and the rich selection runs the gamut, from exhibitions of innovative new works to scholarly examinations of important historic movements. Exploring the intersection of race, feminism, political action, art production, the much-anticipated “We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85” is opening at the Brooklyn Museum. In advance of his representation...
Kara Walker Covers New York Magazine’s Special Art & Design Issue
Cover Artist: Kara Walker on New York magazine’s Art & Design issue (April 17-30, 2017). FOR THE NEW ART & DESIGN ISSUE of New York magazine, writer Doreen St. Félix profiles Kara Walker. She spent time with the 47-year-old artist at her brownstone in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, her Garment District studio, and also talking...
Barkley L. Hendricks, 72, the Artist Known for his Life-Size, Realist Portraits, Has Died
BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS, “Slick (Self Portrait),” 1977 ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) died today. He was 72. With a practice spanning painting and photography and landscapes and figuration, he was most recognized for his life-size realist portraits painted in the 1970s of subjects whose cool poses and style of dress conveyed a...
Schomburg Acquires James Baldwin Archive, Including Letters to Artist Beauford Delaney Who Painted Many Portraits of the Writer
Embed from Getty Images DURING HIS LIFETIME, James Baldwin (1924-1987) had a lot to say. His insightful observations and thoughtful, sometimes fiery, words about race, civil rights, and the American paradigm resonate 30 years after his death. The recent Oscar-nominated documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” which is based on an unpublished Baldwin manuscript,...
Washington Renaissance: 8 Distinguished Artists Reflect and Connect in Wide-Ranging Discussion of African American Art in 20th Century Washington
Artists Sam Gilliam and David C. Driskell. | © 2017 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first time Lilian Thomas Burwell met Sam Gilliam, he told her if she wanted to be taken seriously as an artist she should get her own studio space. “He didn’t know me...
Lorna Simpson Joins Hauser & Wirth, New York Gallery Represents the Conceptual Artist and Photographer Worldwide
Lorna Simpson. | Photo by James Wang, Courtesy Hauser & Wirth HAUSER & WIRTH GALLERY announced its worldwide representation of Lorna Simpson today. A conceptual artist and photographer, Simpson’s work challenges conventional views of gender, culture, identity, history, and memory. In describing her distinguished practice, the gallery said she has “emerged as a central...
Scurlock Photography Studio: Father and Sons Documented Black Washington for Much of 20th Century
ADDISON SCURLOCK, Howard University Students,” circa 1920-30 (printed 1970). | Scurlock Studio Records, circa 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History FOR THE GREATER PART of the 20th century, America’s black metropolises were documented by visionary black photographers who forged successful businesses and important roles as local community historians. They offered portraits of...
Art Capital: Nearly 500 Gather at National Gallery of Art to Discuss African American Art in 20th Century Washington
Detail of ALMA THOMAS, “Red Rose Cantata” 1973 (acrylic on canvas). | Courtesy National Gallery of Art Symposium gives a nod to Howard University and local artists, scholars and curators who shaped the field WASHINGTON, D.C. — For decades, Howard University in Washington, D.C., was at the center of the African American art world....
Auction Results: New Records Set for Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Henry Taylor, and Alma Thomas, Compelling Works by El Anatsui Among Many Others by Black Artists Sold Too
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES and in London, auctions of post-war, modern and contemporary art were held at the end of February and early March. Records were set in Los Angeles, where an Alma Thomas painting was offered, and London where Henry Taylor and Njideka Akunyili Crosby achieved new benchmarks. Auction values for Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based...
Black Radical Women: This Spring, Several Group Shows Bring Together Works by African American Female Artists
NEARLY 40 YEARS AGO, the College Art Association’s National Women’s Caucus for Art planned an exhibition featuring works by “Afro-American” women artists. Co-curated by Emily Martin and Tritobia Benjamin (1944-2014), an art historian and professor at Howard University, the show was to be presented at CAA’s 1979 annual conference in Washington, D.C. Forty-six artists—including...
MOCA Los Angeles Names Amanda Hunt Director of Education and Public Programming
CURATOR AMANDA HUNT has returned to the West Coast to head education and public programming at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles where “Mastry,” Kerry James Marshall’s 35-year survey opened earlier this month. Hunt’s appointment was announced today and she began working at the museum on March 1. Previously, Hunt had served as associate...
Jennie C. Jones is Rose Art Museum’s 2017 Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence
Jennie C. Jones. | Photo by Frank Rothenberg via Rose Art Museum THE ROSE ART MUSEUM named Jennie C. Jones recipient of the 2017 Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award. Jones explores the intersection of art, black history, and music, describing her work as “listening as a conceptual practice.” Her innovative practice is...
From London to New York, Whitney Biennial Artist Henry Taylor is Having a Major Art World Moment
HENRY TAYLOR’s paintings on view at 2017 Whitney Biennial, including his depiction of Philando Castile, at right. | Photograph by Matthew Carasella, Courtesy Whitney Museum THROUGH LOOSLY RENDERED FIGURATION Henry Taylor conveys a sense of authenticity and insight into the complexity of humanity. The Los Angeles-based artist is participating in the 2017 Whitney Biennial,...
March Exhibitions: Kerry James Marshall and Theaster Gates Open at Major Museums, Plus Beverly Buchanan, Derrick Adams, Leonardo Drew & More
AMONG EXHIBITIONS OPENING in March, presentations at major museums include Kerry James Marshall’s “Mastry” survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the last stop on its critically praised, three-venue tour. And Theaster Gates has a tightly curated show that just opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. “In the...
Recognized for His Distinctive Visual Style, Filmmaker Kahlil Joseph is Recipient of 2017 Los Angeles Artadia Award
Installation view, KAHLIL JOSEPH: Double Conscience at MOCA LA SOUGHT AFTER ARTIST AND FILMMAKER Kahlil Joseph has worked with Kendrick Lamar, Shabazz Palaces, Flying Lotus, FKA Twigs, and shared a directing credit with Beyonce on her visual album “Lemonade.” He has also collaborated with film director Terrence Malick and visual artists Henry Taylor, Martine...
