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An essential resource focused on visual art from a Black perspective, Culture Type explores the intersection of art, history, and culture

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Look, See, Buy: African American Art at Art Basel in Miami Beach, a Survey of What was on View and What Sold

Look, See, Buy: African American Art at Art Basel in Miami Beach, a Survey of What was on View and What Sold

“Hammons meets a hyena on holiday,” (2016) by Henry Taylor sold for $70,000 at Blum & Poe gallery.   HOWARDENA PINDELL WAS ON HAND to talk about her work at Garth Greenan Gallery. Sean Combs spent time checking out the latest offering by Mickalene Thomas. Nigel Freeman of Swann Auction Galleries shared an image of...
Jack Shainman Gallery Announces its Representation of Nina Chanel Abney, Will Debut Artist's Work at Art Basel Miami Beach

Jack Shainman Gallery Announces its Representation of Nina Chanel Abney, Will Debut Artist’s Work at Art Basel Miami Beach

Jack Shainman Gallery is presenting two new untitled paintings by Nina Chanel Abney at Art Basel Miami Beach.   THE JACK SHAINMAN BOOTH at Art Basel Miami Beach is always a big draw, presenting artists from its impressive roster of diverse artists. This year the space will feature a new artist. Jack Shainman announced its...
William T. Williams Joins Michael Rosenfeld in New York, Gaining Gallery Representation for the First Time in 40 Years

William T. Williams Joins Michael Rosenfeld in New York, Gaining Gallery Representation for the First Time in 40 Years

WILLIAM T. WILLIAMS, “Truckin,” 1969 (acrylic on cotton canvas). | via Swann Auction Galleries   A SINGLE PAINTING GREETS VISITORS when they enter the fourth-floor visual art galleries at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. The large-scale, abstract geometric painting, a captivating mix of color and composition,...
Market Interest: With Intimate Portrait, Njideka Akunyili Crosby Achieves Auction Record for Second Time in Two Months

Market Interest: With Intimate Portrait, Njideka Akunyili Crosby Achieves Auction Record for Second Time in Two Months

“Drown” by Njideka Akunyili Crosby sold for more than $1 million at Sotheby’s New York on Nov. 17, 2016. | via Sotheby’s   MANY ARTISTS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY to make clear that the issues raised in their work serve to start a conversation rather than reflect their own opinion and the figures they...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Sam Gilliam Acquisition, Black Portraiture[s], United States Artists Fellows

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Sam Gilliam Acquisition, Black Portraiture[s], United States Artists Fellows

  RETROSPECTIVE 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. United States Artist Fellows for 2016 were announced, including Senga Nengudi and Stanley Whitney. Curatorial appointments were made at the Tang Teaching Museum and Chrysler Museum....
Chrysler Museum of Art Hires Kimberli Gant as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

Chrysler Museum of Art Hires Kimberli Gant as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART in Norfolk, Va., announced the appointment of Kimberli Gant as curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. She joins a succession of young black women who have accepted prestigious curatorial appointments at important institutions across the country this year. “With her bold vision, international perspective, scholarship, and verve, Kimberli Gant will...
Artist List for 2017 Whitney Museum Biennial Includes Henry Taylor, Lyle Ashton Harris, Pope.L, and Deana Lawson

Artist List for 2017 Whitney Museum Biennial Includes Henry Taylor, Lyle Ashton Harris, Pope.L, and Deana Lawson

Clockwise, from left, Deana Lawson, Pope.L, Lyle Ashton Harris, Maya Stovall, and Cauleen Smith (center).   THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART announced 63 individual artists and collectives participating in the museum’s 2017 biennial. Largely informed by the contentious political climate and the socioeconomic issues dividing Americans, the exhibition will explore themes including “formation of...
Post Election, to Realize Our Future, We Have to 'Do More and Do Better'

Post Election, to Realize Our Future, We Have to ‘Do More and Do Better’

For Freedoms: NARI WARD, “Mass Action,” 2016 (shoelaces). | ©Nari Ward. Courtesy the Artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong   ONE WEEK AGO TODAY, AMERICA WOKE UP to a new president-elect. The largely unexpected result has struck fear, anger, disappointment, and disbelief, in a majority of the voting populace. Americans are dismayed...
Tang Teaching Museum Has Appointed Isolde Brielmaier Curator-at-Large

Tang Teaching Museum Has Appointed Isolde Brielmaier Curator-at-Large

  CURATOR, SCHOLAR, AND WRITER Isolde Brielmaier is joining the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College as curator-at-large. The Tang is expanding its curatorial team in order to advance its 21st century approach to presenting innovative contemporary art exhibitions and programming. In announcing the appointment, which begins this month, the...
Battleground States: Art is Winning in Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Political Powerhouses Where Must-See Exhibitions are on View

Battleground States: Art is Winning in Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Political Powerhouses Where Must-See Exhibitions are on View

  THE FINAL DAYS OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION are playing out in a handful of states, battlegrounds with key electoral votes likely to determine the outcome of a hard fought, stranger-than-fiction race for the White House. There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs and 270 are needed to win. The campaigns of Hillary...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Theaster Gates Starts Apprentice Program, Rodney McMillian Wins Austin Art Prize

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Theaster Gates Starts Apprentice Program, Rodney McMillian Wins Austin Art Prize

  RETROSPECTIVE 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. This week, Theaster Gates announced a groundbreaking apprenticeship program to provide training for local residents through his Rebuild Foundation in Chicago; Rodney McMillian received an important...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Derrick Adams Wins Studio Museum Prize, Influential Young Curators

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Derrick Adams Wins Studio Museum Prize, Influential Young Curators

  RETROSPECTIVE 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. This week, the Studio Museum in Harlem announced the recipient of its annual Joyce Alexander Wein prize; and art news outlets published lists of the most...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Mark Bradford Designs ICA LA Logo, Sanford Biggers Joins Marianne Boesky Gallery

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Mark Bradford Designs ICA LA Logo, Sanford Biggers Joins Marianne Boesky Gallery

  RETROSPECTIVE 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. This week, Mark Bradford designed a museum logo; Sanford Biggers joined a new gallery; and Ralph Lemon was recognized with a dance award. New exhibitions opened...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Black Panthers at 50, Museums Respond to Charges of Racism and Historical Inaccuracy

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Black Panthers at 50, Museums Respond to Charges of Racism and Historical Inaccuracy

RETROSPECTIVE 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. This week, highlights include news that women artists will gather in Brooklyn for a historic group photo; the grand re-opening of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - London Fairs, African and African American Art at Auction

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – London Fairs, African and African American Art at Auction

RETROSPECTIVE 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. This week, highlights include news from Frieze London and the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair; sales of African and African American art at auctions in New York,...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Camille Ann Brewer Joins GWU Textile Museum, Rosa Parks House Considered Art

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Camille Ann Brewer Joins GWU Textile Museum, Rosa Parks House Considered Art

RETROSPECTIVE 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. This week, highlights include the announcement that the Detroit home of Rosa Parks will be repurposed as art; plans for a new museum in Nigeria and assessments...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - President Obama Opens New Smithsonian African American Museum

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – President Obama Opens New Smithsonian African American Museum

RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include the long-awaited opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; the announcement of the MacArthur Foundation’s 2016 fellows, including Kellie Jones and Joyce J. Scott; a new...
President Obama Dedicates New Smithsonian African American Museum, Quotes Langston Hughes Declaring 'I, Too, Am America'

President Obama Dedicates New Smithsonian African American Museum, Quotes Langston Hughes Declaring ‘I, Too, Am America’

Embed from Getty Images   For while the tale of how we suffer and how we are delighted and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard – President Obama, quoting James Baldwin   RINGING A HISTORIC CHURCH BELL, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama officially marked the opening...
MacArthur Foundation Announces 2016 Fellows, Including Scholar-Curator Kellie Jones and Artist Joyce J. Scott

MacArthur Foundation Announces 2016 Fellows, Including Scholar-Curator Kellie Jones and Artist Joyce J. Scott

From left, 2016 MacArthur Foundation Fellows Joyce J. Scott and Kellie Jones. | Courtesy Mac Foundation   EVERY FALL, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation selects a new class of MacArthur Fellows, among the most creative and innovative people in the arts, science, and beyond. This year’s winners include art historian and curator...
With the Smithsonian African American Museum Set to Open in Washington, the Entire City is Brimming with Black Art

With the Smithsonian African American Museum Set to Open in Washington, the Entire City is Brimming with Black Art

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is exhibiting works from its collection by African American artists including WILLIAM H. JOHNSON.   WITH THE GRAND OPENING of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) less than a week away, anticipation is palpable. Visitor passes for the opening weekend disappeared shortly after their release...