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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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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...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Hamza Walker to Head LAXART, National Medal of Arts Announced

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Hamza Walker to Head LAXART, National Medal of Arts Announced

RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent, with a few nods to culture thrown in. This week, highlights include news that President Obama created a national monument, will honor artists Jack Whitten and Ralph Lemon with the National Medal of Arts, and...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Fall Exhibitions Open in New York, Los Angeles

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Fall Exhibitions Open in New York, Los Angeles

RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include news that Elizabeth Catlett‘s alma mater is attempting make amends for a decades-old discriminatory housing policy. David Adjaye and Chris Ofili may be lighting London’s historic bridges. Steve McQueen won the...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter

RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include news that black women artists gathered in New York in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Also motivated by the movement, a group of black creative directors launched an initiative...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Willie Cole's Work is Helping to School KU Students

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Willie Cole’s Work is Helping to School KU Students

RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include news that timed entry tickets for the Sept. 24 grand opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., will be released starting this morning; an...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Plans for a Memorial to Lynching Victims

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Plans for a Memorial to Lynching Victims

RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include plans for a memorial to lynching victims in Montgomery, Ala.; expansion of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater’s New York headquarters; and news that an outdoor installation of whimsically painted abandoned homes in...
Studio Museum Curator Lauren Haynes is Joining Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas

Studio Museum Curator Lauren Haynes is Joining Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas

Curator Lauren Haynes. | Photo by King Texas, Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art   AFTER A DECADE at the Studio Museum in Harlem, associate curator Lauren Haynes, is pursuing a new opportunity, joining the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art as curator of contemporary art. Located in Bentonville, Ark., Crystal Bridges was established...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Large Donations Continue at Smithsonian African American Museum

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Large Donations Continue at 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 departure of the director of El Museo del Barrio; a network of public librarians and a collective black women artists rallying in support of Black Lives Matter; and announcements...