All in the Family: Artist Larry Walker Debuts at His Daughter’s Gallery
LARRY WALKER, “Other Voices – Other Spaces: Urban Spirits, Wall Series,” 2007 (acrylic and mixed media on canvas). | Courtesy Sikkema Jenkins NEW YORK, N.Y. — There’s a framed box on the wall outside Sikkema Jenkins that announces the gallery’s exhibitions. Currently, it says “Larry Walker.” The Georgia-born artist is in the sunset of his...
Muhammad Ali Has Died: The Charismatic Boxing Legend was a Photographer’s Dream
CAUGHT IN A QUIET MOMENT, donning a robe while penning a letter. Indulging a young boy in the chance to spar with a champion. Perched on a massage table, wide-eyed with a playful, mock expression of shock. Pictures tell incredible stories. In life and death, much has been said and written about Muhammad Ali;...
Painter Stanley Whitney: ‘I Don’t Have a Theory About Color’
In the Studio with Stanley Whitney, May 2016 | Video by Lisson Gallery WROUGHT WITH IMPROVISATION and experimentation, when it comes to color, Stanley Whitney‘s bold canvases are defined by an ordered approach to composition. Following a spate of 2015 exhibitions, including “Dance the Orange,” a critically recognized solo show at the Studio Museum...
The Smithsonian is Mounting a Bill Traylor Retrospective, the First Major Exhibition Devoted to an Artist Born Enslaved
THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM (SAAM) says it is mounting the first-ever major exhibition devoted to the work of an artist born enslaved. “Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor,” the retrospective of self-taught African American artist Bill Traylor (1854- 1949) will open Sept. 28, 2018. The Washington, D.C., museum made the announcement in...
‘The Figure Remains Essentially Black in Every Circumstance’: Kerry James Marshall Previews His Master Paintings at MCA Chicago
Kerry James Marshall previews his new exhibition “Mastry” at MCA Chicago. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine CHICAGO — TWO PAINTINGS MARKED A TURNING POINT for Kerry James Marshall. Complete with Royal Crown Dressing hair pomade, a Zenith radio, and a business license with the first dollar made tucked into the frame, “De Style,”...
Spring Shows: 32 New Exhibitions Feature Innovative Works by Black Artists
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED museum exhibitions of the season, a major survey of Kerry James Marshall‘s work, primarily focused on his painting over the past 35 years, is opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, on April 23. In September, the exhibition will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York...
Culture Talk: Courtney Willis Blair on Ryan Lee Gallery’s Representation of Emma Amos
At Ryan Lee Gallery, EMMA AMOS, “Seated Figure and Nude,” 1966 (oil on canvas). | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine AT THE REAR OF RYAN LEE GALLERY in New York, a 1966 painting by Emma Amos casually sits on the floor leaning against the wall between works by other gallery artists. Blending figuration and...
Portrait of an Artist: Baltimore-based Amy Sherald Wins Smithsonian’s Outwin Boochever Competition
EXPLORING RACE, REPRESENTATION AND PERFORMANCE, there is a certain something about the portraits painted by Baltimore artist Amy Sherald. Painted in grayscale, the bodies of her subjects are absent of color. Everything else in the large-scale fantastical portraits of African Americans—their distinctive clothing and the background against which they are set—celebrates color. The Smithsonian...
Winter Wonders: 44 Exhibitions Feature Exceptional Works by Black Artists
LONG OVERDUE, THE COLORFUL AND EXPRESSIVE abstract works of Alma Thomas (1891-1978), pictured above, are being celebrated with a groundbreaking retrospective at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College in upstate New York. This summer, Thomas’s first solo museum exhibition since 2001 will travel to the Studio Museum in Harlem, which is co-organizing the show....
Valerie Gerrard Browne: Heir to Painter Archibald Motley Reflects on the Legacy of the ‘Jazz Age Modernist’
“Black Belt,” 1934 (oil on canvas) by Archibald J. Motley Jr. | Collection of the Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia. © Valerie Gerrard Browne. THE FIRST GALLERY OF THE EXHIBITION “Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist” features a series of striking portraits. Among the group is an image of the artist’s grandmother. The narrow, vertical...
On the Horizon in African American Art: Artists to Watch and Events to Look Forward to in 2016
WITH A NEW YEAR UNDERWAY and a compelling selection of new books, exhibitions and events on the horizon, here is what to look forward to in African American and African diasporic art—the most-anticipated happenings and artists to watch in 2016: After spending January at the historic residence of a Mexican muralist, Henry Taylor will...
With ‘Be Strong Boquan,’ Mark Bradford Pushes His Painting Practice and Flexes His Comedy Chops
FOR HIS FIRST NEW YORK EXHIBITION with Hauser and Wirth Gallery, Mark Bradford has mounted a show that reinforces the depth of his painting practice and at the same time demonstrates his mastery of conceptual and performance art. “Be Strong Boquan” begins with a whimsical video installation with anthropomorphic roller skate wheels rolling, leaping and...
After His Work Enters Met Museum Collection, Thornton Dial Joins New York Gallery
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART received a donation of 57 works by 30 African American artists from the South last year. The gift from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation included works by Thornton Dial, Lonnie Hollie, Nellie Mae Rowe and 20 quilts by women artists from Gee’s Bend, Ala. Giving the largest museum in...
Where My Girls At? 20 Black Female Artists with Solo Exhibitions on View this Fall
Installation by Ebony G. Patterson. IN JUNE, ARTNEWS DEVOTED a special issue to women in the art world and the findings revealed a major gulf between the experiences of male and female artists and curators. According to ARTnews, women are seriously underrepresented when it comes to running major museums. Female artists trail far behind...
In Nebraska, Exhibitions and Programming Explore Intersection of Art, Race and Social Justice
THE SHELDON MUSEUM OF ART at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln is presenting four exhibitions that offer a visual journey through black history, culture and politics over the past century. From James VanDerZee and Gordon Parks to Barkley L. Hendricks and Renee Cox works by some of the most celebrated and thought-provoking artists and...
African American Artists Factor in New Developments at Hirshhorn Museum
TWO YEARS FROM NOW, in 2017, Los Angeles artist Mark Bradford (above) plans to take full advantage of the unique cylindrical structure of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. The critically recognized artist is installing a suite of site-specific paintings on the third floor of the Smithsonian museum where the work...
Fall Exhibitions: 42 Must-See Museum Shows Featuring Black Artists
DURING A TALK ABOUT COLLECTING African American art, collector Rodney Miller told curator Ruth Fine that he is a “big, big, big fan of painting.” And soon, Fine revealed to the audience gathered to hear the conversation at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., that two of Miller’s paintings by Norman Lewis...
At MoMA PS1, David Hammons’s ‘African American Flag’ Beckons Visitors to ‘Greater New York’
MOMA PS1 HAS ASSEMBLED a sprawling exhibition featuring 157 New York artists and collectives that span generations and mediums, and includes more than 400 works, as well as performances and films. Before visitors enter the main museum building, they get an Afrocentric welcome. Flying out front is David Hammons‘s “African American Flag,” the New...
Gallery Openings: 21 Fall Exhibitions Featuring Black Artists
EACH FALL BRINGS A NEW SLATE of art exhibitions, usually the best of the calendar year. This season, commercial galleries are showing an interesting mix of African American and African diasporic artists working in a range of mediums and addressing a diversity of issues. Following William Pope.L‘s “Trinket” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art,...
At Whitney Museum, ‘America is Hard to See’ Acknowledges African American Contributions to Recent Art History
FOR GENERATIONS, IT HAS BEEN HARD to visit American museums and genuinely appreciate the experience when rarely is the depth and breadth of American art represented in exhibitions and collections. Far rarer, has been the inclusion of works by African American artists in retrospectives intended to capture the broad sweep of American art history....
