Art Agenda | March 30 – April 5
A GUIDE TO EXHIBITION OPENINGS, TALKS AND EVENTS HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN BLACK ART: Tuesday, April 1 @ 10:00 a.m. and 2 p.m. Phillips Photography Auction, New York The auction house Phillips is holding a Photography sale in New York. Among the 271 lots are works by the late Mali-born Seydou Keito (“Reclining Women,” 1958,...
The Week in Black Art | March 22-28
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD: New York Times Reviews Civil Rights Exhibit In a review of “Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties,” at the Brooklyn Museum, the Times says the show gets both the balance of history and selection of artists right. Co-curated by Teresa...
61 Photos of Sea Island Slave Descendants Donated to Smithsonian
BANK OF AMERICA dontated 61 photos of a small community of slave descendants living on a South Carolina sea island to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) this week. According to an AP report published in the Washington Post, the photographs by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe were taken between 1977 and...
Art Agenda | March 23-29
A GUIDE TO EXHIBITION OPENINGS, TALKS AND EVENTS HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN BLACK ART: March 26-May 10, 2014 Yinka Shonibare at Brand New Gallery, Milan London-born Yinka Shonibare MBE who was raised in Nigeria “has become well known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalization.” His exhibition...
The Week in Black Art | March 15-21
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD: Mickalene Thomas Joins Kavi Gupta Mickalene Thomas, the Brooklyn based artist known for her powerful mixed-media portraits of women and interiors, is expanding her footprint. She is now represented by Kavi Gupta in Chicago and Berlin. In a statement, Thomas’s newest...
On HBO, Mickalene Thomas Celebrates Her Mother
TOMORROW ON HBO, Mickalene Thomas‘s short documentary about her late mother Sandra Bush makes its television debut. “Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman” is a candid portrayal. While Thomas was growing up, their relationship was rife with challenges. Bush, a former runway model, struggled with spousal abuse, drug addiction and eventually health problems. Both...
‘Art Studio America’: Glenn Ligon Makes Those Text Paintings in an Old Canning Factory
WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE AN ARTIST’S WORK at a museum or gallery, do you wonder where it all came from? Where it was imagined, conceptualized and created? “Art Studio America: Contemporary Artist Spaces” answers these questions in spades, taking readers inside the studios of 116 artists from the West Coast to Chicago and New York and...
Culture Talk: Swann’s Nigel Freeman on Early African American Art
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ART MARKET experienced a sea change seven years ago when Swann Auction Galleries began dedicating sales to African American fine art. Few auction records existed for African American artists at the time. Most sales were handled privately by galleries and dealers, making values hard to discern because prices were not disclosed to...
Influential Performance Artist Terry Adkins Has Died
INFLUENTIAL AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING artist and educator Terry Adkins (1953-2014) died of heart failure on Feb. 8. An interdisciplinary conceptual artist and musician, his work is currently featured in the group show Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art at the Studio Museum in Harlem. The founder of Lone Wolf Recital Corps and a professor of...
Culture Talk: Lorna Simpson on Capturing the Cast of ’12 Years a Slave’ for W Magazine
RACE, IDENTITY, MEMORY AND HISTORY figure prominently in Lorna Simpson‘s practice, making her a natural choice for W magazine which reached out to the photographer to capture the cast of the Oscar-nominated “12 Years a Slave.” Even before it debuted in theaters, major buzz surrounded British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s film. Critics and historians...
1946 Life Magazine Offers Platform for 12 ‘Negro’ Artists
NUDE FROM THE WAIST UP, Eldzier Cortor‘s vision of Black female beauty made quite a statement in 1946 when it was showcased in Life magazine. While other Black artists, preoccupied with racial uplift, generally portrayed Black women in morally unambiguous circumstances, Cortor embraced the natural beauty and power of their bodies. In his view, dignity...
Bartlett’s Black Quotations: New Volume Features Insight from Artists
HAPPY 2014! WHAT BETTER WAY to plunge into the new year than to study the wise words of black artists past and present? After years of establishing itself as the chief purveyor of notable quotes and sayings, Bartlett’s recently published “Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs from Voices...
6 Best Black Art Books of 2013
WHETHER YOU WISH TO ADD to your own collection or you’re looking for the perfect gift for your favorite art aficionado, several excellent books were published this year, expanding the scholarship on contemporary Black art. Significant volumes from Kara Walker, Theaster Gates and Lorna Simpson were among the best. Here is the list of...
Elle Magazine Features Mickalene Thomas, Julie Mehretu and Carrie Mae Weems
THE FASHION IN THE NEW ISSUE of Elle magazine is eclipsed by coverage of women making a name for themselves in the art world. Carrie Mae Weems, Julie Mehretu and Mickalene Thomas—three bonafide art stars—made the cut. The December 2013 issue features the notable contemporary artists, black women with vastly different practices who’ve forged...
Remembering Nelson Mandela: Statesman, Revolutionary, Artist
THE WORLD LOST a legendary statesman this week. After spending 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) defeated generations of white minority rule when he was elected South Africa’s first black president, serving from 1994 to 1999. A standard-bearer for peace and reconciliation, Mandela died on Dec. 5 at the age of 95. Following a...
Lorna Simpson: Heady Portraits on Paper
THE CLASSIC BLUE matte-finish cover masks the wonder beyond. “Lorna Simpson: Works on Paper” is an enchanting march of portraits. It’s like a year book capturing various eras, page-after-page of watercolor images, painted by an artist with plenty to say. There are graphite, ink and watercolor portraits of women, images of heads with flourishes of...
Before ’12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Roots’ Captured American Audiences
IN MUCH THE SAME WAY moviegoers are praising and discussing “12 Years a Slave” today, more than 36 years ago, American television audiences were engaged with the ABC miniseries “Roots.” It was appointment television for eight consecutive evenings beginning Sunday, Feb. 23, 1977. Granted, Steve McQueen’s new film has been lauded for its Oscar-worthy performances,...
Benny Andrews: The People’s Painter
Benny Andrews in 1982, detail of photo by Kathy Mims (page 120). Today would have been the artist’s 83rd birthday. | Reproduced from “Benny Andrews: There Must Be a Heaven” AN EXPRESSIVE COLLAGE TECHNIQUE introduces both tactile and narrative dimensions to the canvases of Benny Andrews (1930-2006). Evoking a tangible sense of pride, strength...
A ‘Freestyle’ Take on Post-Black Art
SINCE ITS FOUNDING in 1968, The Studio Museum in Harlem has been identifying and nurturing talented black artists, the next big names in contemporary art. Through its exhibitions and coveted residency program, countless accomplished black artists can point to a connection with the museum as a turning point in their careers—from Fred Wilson and Kara...
Negro Digest Publishes Charles White’s ‘Images of Dignity’
WITH MASTERFUL STROKES, Charles White (1918-1979) captured the strength, character and complexity of African Americans in dramatic charcoal illustrations. When his Social Realist images were published in a book for the first time in 1967, Negro Digest promoted it. In an un-bylined article, the magazine featured a portfolio of Charles White’s drawings from “Images...
