Alma Thomas is Given Pride of Place at the White House
THE INSTANTLY RECOGNIZABLE work of Alma W. Thomas (1891-1978) graces the Old Family Dining Room at the White House. In February, First Lady Michelle Obama revealed the newly refurbished space where Thomas’s “Resurrection” is displayed on the north wall. The painting is the first artwork by an African American woman to hang in the...
How Artist Charles Gaines is Influencing the Creative Economy in Los Angeles
THE HAMMER MUSEUM is currently presenting “Charles Gaines: Gridwork 1974-1989,” the first museum survey of the Los Angeles-based artist’s early work. The exhibition originated at the Studio Museum in Harlem and includes some rare works, previously presumed to be lost, being shown for the first time. The work of Charles Gaines has been acquired...
Prominent African American Artists Break Records at Swann Auction
LAST THURSDAY WAS A HISTORY-MAKING DAY in African American art. Sales results show Swann Auction Galleries recorded $2.36 million in total sales (including fees), four lots sold for more than six figures and, most notably, seven artists achieved record prices. Swann Auction Galleries held its first African American fine art auction of the year on...
For Artist Project, Mickalene Thomas, Nick Cave and Kehinde Wiley Reveal Their Favorite Works at the Met
RECLINING IN THE NUDE or posed upright on sofas, Mickalene Thomas‘s female subjects are always surrounded by a dynamic mix of patterned textiles. Mixed-media paintings and photographs, her portraits of African American women are inspired in part by the practice of Malian photographer Seydou Keita (1921-2001), whose work is shown above. “I wasn’t trained...
Arts Leader Mary Schmidt Campbell Named President of Spelman College
THE TENTH PRESIDENT of Spelman College is a prominent New York City arts leader who played a pivotal role in sustaining and advancing the Studio Museum in Harlem when the city was on a downturn. Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., has been named president-elect of Spelman, the Atlanta college established in 1881 and recognized today as...
Art x Music: Art World Embraces Kanye West, Afrika Bambaataa and Drake
View image | gettyimages.com THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND MUSIC is increasingly ever present. Several new examples emerged over the past week. A cartoon-like action figure of Pharrell Williams entitled “Happy” was presented at the Perrotin Gallery booth at Art Basel Hong Kong (March 15-17). According to ARTnews, the small-scale sculpture by Japanese artist Mr....
National Gallery Curators Explain How Corcoran Works Will Enhance Collection
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART (NGA) recently expanded its holdings of African American art by 40 percent through acquisitions from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. For the first time, NGA owns works by Aaron Douglas, William Edmondson, Gordon Parks, Noah Purifoy and Betye Saar, among others. The historic announcement came last month when NGA...
National Gallery of Art Acquires 190+ Works by African American Artists From Corcoran
CURRENTLY ON VIEW at the National Gallery of Art (NGA), “Into Bondage” by Aaron Douglas hangs in the rear of a three-room gallery dedicated to “masterworks” acquired from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Depicting a procession of Africans chained and walking toward a pair of distant slave ships, the painting is a landmark acquisition...
South African Artist Nicholas Hlobo Joins Lehmann Maupin
SOUTH AFRICAN ARTIST Nicholas Hlobo, whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, works on paper, and video installation, has joined Lehmann Maupin in New York. Recognized for his innovative use and mix of materials, Hlobo’s first U.S. solo show opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 2008 and, later that year, he...
‘I Can’t Breathe’ Demonstration Staged at Armory Show
Photo by Victoria L. Valentine YESTERDAY AFTERNOON, A GROUP OF ARTISTS staged a die-in at the Armory Show in New York. About a dozen people chanted “I can’t breathe” and then they fell to the floor at Pier 94 where the international art show has been open to the public since Thursday. According to...
2015 Venice Biennale to Include More than 35 Black Artists
WHEN OKWUI ENWEZOR WAS NAMED director of the Visual Arts Sector of the 56th Venice Biennale on Dec. 4, 2013, the appointment was historic. Nigerian-born Enwezor, the increasingly influential curator, writer and critic who serves as director of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, is the first African director of the Venice Biennale. At the...
Mark Bradford and Theaster Gates Post Record Sales at London Auctions
WHEN THE HAMMER CAME DOWN at Phillips London, Mark Bradford’s “Biting the Book” sold for more than $3.8 million, a record for the Los Angeles-based artist. A large-scale, mixed-media painting created in 2013, it was featured in Bradford’s “Through the Darkest America by Truck and Tank” exhibition at the Bermondsey location of White Cube...
U.S. State Dept. Honors Mark Bradford, Sam Gilliam, Julie Mehretu and Kehinde Wiley for Contributions to Art in Embassies Program
THE COLOR-INFUSED CANVASES of Sam Gilliam, un-stretched and un-framed, are suspended from the ceiling of the American embassy in Bamako, Mali. Across the globe, visitors to America’s diplomatic outposts in more than 20 countries have been greeted by the innovative work of the Washington Color School artist. On view from Lima and Rabat to...
Martin Luther King Jr., ‘Selma’ and the Images that Captured the 1965 Voting Rights March
Marchers on the way to Montgomery, Ala., as families watch from their porches, 1965 | Courtesy Stephen Somerstein WITHOUT THE IMAGES, the protracted fight for American civil rights is an abstract notion. The legal outcomes are tangible, but the untenable measures undertaken by countless foot soldiers in the pursuit of racial justice are brought...
Mickalene Thomas Envisions First Lady Michelle Obama
TODAY IS FIRST LADY OBAMA’s 51st birthday. From the moment she entered the national spotlight, Obama has been a history maker and a cultural icon. Mickalene Thomas was inspired by the latter image when she made what is considered the first solo portrait of Obama, a print donated to the Obama campaign shortly before the...
Culture Type: The Year in Black Art 2014
FROM THE DAK’ART BIENNIAL in Senegal, to the 1:54 art fair in London and Prospect.3 in New Orleans, 2014 was brimming with compelling exhibitions, innovative projects and well-deserved honors. Kara Walker’s sugar sphinx installation in Brooklyn was perhaps the most thought-provoking and buzzed about exhibition of the year; Chris Ofili’s “Night and Day” survey at...
Titus Kaphar Paints Ferguson Protesters for Time Magazine
LIKE SO MANY OTHER AMERICANS, artist Titus Kaphar has been struggling with how to respond to the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the choking death of Eric Garner in New York, and the countless other incidents involving police officers killing unarmed Black men and youth across the country. Ultimately, he expressed himself...
Njideka Akunyili Crosby Wins Smithsonian’s 2014 James Dicke Prize
THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM has awarded Njideka Akunyili Crosby the 2014 James Dicke Contemporary Artist Prize for her “bold yet intimate” mixed- media paintings, which it describes as “among the most visually, conceptually and technically exciting work being made today.” The museum made the announcement yesterday. The prize recognizes an artist younger than...
Kerry James Marshall’s ‘Vignette’ Sells at Christie’s for Record $1 Million
KERRY JAMES MARSHALL HAS JOINED the million dollar club. His 2003 painting “Vignette” sold for more than $1 million (including fees) at Christie’s on Nov. 13. It was a record for the artist, according to sales results and auction records kept by multiple sources including Blouin Art Sales Index and Iris Index. “Vignette” was Lot...
At Sotheby’s, $3.9M White Text Painting Sets Glenn Ligon Record
IT WAS THE FIRST LOT OF THE NIGHT, a white-on-white text painting by Glenn Ligon. Originally executed in 1990 and repainted in 2003, “Untitled (I Was Somebody)” opened Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction and sold for more than $3.9 million, according to sales results. The price was well over twice the estimate of $1 million...
