The Month in African American Art: Here’s What Happened in February 2018
Kara Walker and her crew install “The Katastwóf Karavan” at Algiers Point in New Orleans. | Photo © Ari Marcopoulos by via Prospect New Orleans BLACK HISTORY MONTH was rife with notable moments in art history, chief among them, the unveiling of the Obama portraits at the National Portrait Gallery on Feb 12. Washington...
Adrienne Edwards Has Been Appointed Curator of Performance at the Whitney Museum
THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART in New York City is welcoming a new curator of performance. Adrienne Edwards was appointed the museum’s Engell Speyer Family Curator and Curator of Performance today. She is joining the Whitney in May. Edwards is a curator at Performa and a curator at-large at the Walker Art Center in...
Remembering Peggy Cooper Cafritz, the Passionate Art Collector and Education Advocate Died at 70
Arts and Education Advocate Peggy Cooper Caftritz (1947-2018) FOR THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT equity and access in arts and education, a major ally and important advocate has been lost. Peggy Cooper Cafrtiz (1947-2018), the Washington, D.C., arts patron who co-founded the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, died Feb. 18 at a local hospital....
Painting Power, Capturing Character: Smithsonian Unveils Official Obama Portraits
WASHINGTON, DC—There are many ways to define and depict power. When President Obama’s portrait was unveiled Monday, it was a reminder that leadership, command, and influence, can be inspiring and reassuring, powerful and black. Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of the former president artfully captures the man and the symbol. The image of the first African...
Knoxville Museum of Art Acquires 12 Beauford Delaney Works, Plans Major Exhibition in 2019
BEAUFORD DELANEY, “Portrait of James Baldwin,” 1944 FORTY YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, Beauford Delaney’s hometown museum plans a major exhibition dedicated to his work. Since 2014, the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA) has been amassing a collection works by the artist. On Feb. 1, the museum announced the purchase of 12 paintings, drawings, and...
2018 David C. Driskell Prize is Going to Artist Amy Sherald
THIS MORNING, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta announced Amy Sherald is the recipient of the 2018 David C. Driskell Prize. Sherald is celebrated for her imaginative portraits of real people and in the past few years has received wide-spread recognition for her distinct work. Recently, she was commissioned to paint First Lady Michelle...
The Month in African American Art: Here’s What Happened in January 2018
The art world is mourning artist Jack Whitten (left) and curator Kynaston McShine. THE WORLD OF ART lost two important figures in January—inventive abstract painter Jack Whitten (1939-2018) and pioneering MoMA curator Kynaston McShine (1935-2018). In “Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting,” the catalog published to coincide with Whitten’s career-spanning survey (2014-15), the artist...
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Hires Curator Allison Glenn, Expanding its Contemporary Art Team
THE CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM of American Art announced the appointment of Allison Glenn as associate curator, contemporary art. She joins the museum’s expanding contemporary art team and will contribute to all aspects of its work, including exhibition development, publications, and long-term planning. Glenn begins work at Crystal Bridges on Feb. 12. Glenn comes to...
Coming Soon: Major Charles White Retrospective to be Presented at Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art
A LARGE-SCALE RETROSPECTIVE of works by Charles White (1918-1979) debuts this summer in Chicago and will travel to New York and Los Angeles, cities where the artist spent key periods of his life. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) announced the exhibition today. “Charles White: A Retrospective” is organized by MoMA, where it will...
Studio Museum in Harlem Offers ‘Last Look’ Before Making Way for New Building
AN ERA IN ART HISTORY is coming to an end in order to make way for the future. The Studio Museum in Harlem is closing for three years while a new building designed by architect David Adjaye is built at its current West 125th Street location. The groundbreaking is set for this fall and...
On the Horizon in African American Art: What to Look Forward to in 2018
THE YEAR AHEAD MARKS KEY HISTORIC MILESTONES. Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tenn. King’s legacy will be honored this year through many programs and events. A new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture examines the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign,...
‘Face of MoMA’s Future’?: Brigitte Lacombe Commission Features Museum’s Diverse Young Curators and Collaborators
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (MoMA) asked photographer Brigitte Lacombe to create a visual commission (read photographic portraits and a video) for its Creative New York platform featuring the young curators, artists, fellows and collaborators who represent “the face of MoMA’s future.” A demographically diverse group of creatives was selected to participate. All the...
Culture Type: The Year in Black Art 2017
POLITICS PAST AND PRESENT coursed through the art world in 2017. Issues of censorship and debates around who has the right to depict black bodies came to the fore. The biggest news stories, from White House machinations, gun violence, and immigration to the fate of Confederate monuments, racial division, and sexual harassment and assault revelations,...
Representation: 9 Artists to Watch Who Joined New Galleries in 2017
AT ANY STAGE of an artist’s career, partnership with the right gallery can be transformative. New gallery representation offers the opportunity to better communicate the focus of an artist’s practice; expose their work to a broader audience of collectors, curators, and critics; and encourage and support exhibitions, projects, and even a new creative direction. In...
Next: 23 Art Curators to Watch Who Took on New Appointments in 2017
THE ART, EXHIBITIONS, AND PROGRAMMING featured in museums and cultural institutions are largely shaped, guided and decided upon by curators, an elite group lacking racial and ethnic diversity. A recent survey from the Mellon Foundation found that representation for black curators (and conservators, educators and leaders) in the museum sector is dismal—just 4 percent. To...
Survey: The Latest News in African American Art and Beyond, Dec. 13, 2017
SURVEY is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. From left, Artists Emeka Ogboh and Simone Leigh made the shortlist for the 2018 Hugo Boss Prize. | From left, Photos by Adolphus Opara and Paul Mpagi...
Coming Soon: First-Ever Exhibition of Sculptures by Jack Whitten Opening at Baltimore Museum of Art in April 2018
THIS SPRING, Jack Whitten is sharing a previously unknown aspect of his practice with the public for the first time. “Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963-2016” opens at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) on April 22, 2018. Co-organized with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the show will feature 40 sculptures Whitten...
Lubaina Himid, a Pioneer in the UK Black Arts Movement, Wins 2017 Turner Prize
AFTER MUCH ANTICIPATION, the winner of Britain’s most prestigious art prize has been announced. Lubaina Himid, 63, was awarded the 2017 Turner Prize on Tuesday. Her selection is groundbreaking. She is the first black woman to get the prize and she is also the oldest artist to earn the honor, after a rule change...
Hometown Pride: Collectors Ronald and Monique Ollie Donate 81 Works by African American Artists to Saint Louis Art Museum
THE SAINT LOUIS ART MUSEUM is benefitting from the largesse of a collector who developed an appreciation for art through visiting the institution as a child. Ronald Ollie grew up in St. Louis and was exposed to the museum by his parents. Eventually he became an art collector. Now based in New Jersey, Ollie...
Harvard Art Museums Acquire Large-Scale Drawing by Kara Walker From Recent Fall Show at Sikkema Jenkins Gallery
HARVARD ART MUSEUMS have acquired a monumental drawing from one of this fall’s most talked about gallery exhibitions. Kara Walker‘s “U.S.A. Idioms” was purchased from “the Most Astounding and Important Painting Show of the Fall Viewing Season!,” an exhibition of new works on paper by Walker at Sikkema Jenkins. The show opened Sept. 7...
