A Browse Through the ‘Ideal Bookshelf’ of Hilton Als
THE IDEAL BOOKSHELF of Hilton Als is an economic selection of seven books including “The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985” by James Baldwin and titles by Marcel Proust, Truman Capote, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Anton Checkhov. The New Yorker writer’s choices are included in “My Ideal Bookshelf,” a compilation of artist Jane Mount’s...
‘Witness’: Artists Offer Powerful Visual Voice for Civil Rights Era
TWO YEARS AFTER MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, Sam Gilliam created “Red April.” The draped canvas makes a bold statement with its candid reference to splattered blood in the wake of an assassin’s bullet. Gilliam, an internationally known artist whose work is influenced by Abstract Expressionism, is recognized for...
‘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...
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...
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...
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...
Kara Walker: Potential Book Covers for Missing Narratives
AN ARTIST WHOSE WORK garners as much praise for its visual dexterity as it does intellectual debate for its historic and cultural provocation, Kara Walker has moved on from images of slavery and the antebellum South to explore symbols of the New Negro era. The newly published “Kara Walker: Dust Jackets for the Niggerati” complements...
Romare Bearden, Spiral Group and the March Toward Artistic Identity
WHO IS THE NEGRO ARTIST and what is his responsibility? Ever mindful of the pivotal period in which he was living, Romare Bearden (1911-1988) set about answering these cultural questions by bringing together the Spiral group and embarking on a monumental effort to document the canon of African American artists. As civil rights leaders prepared...
