Installation view of “Black American Portraits,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art THE OBAMA PORTRAITS were such a hit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the museum launched a multi-city tour to give people throughout the country a chance to see the historic paintings. Kehinde Wiley‘s portrait of President Barack Obama...
MINDFULLY BUILDING a national collection that showcases a multiplicity of perspectives and experiences is one of the most visible ways a museum can tell important stories. At the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, our curators have been acquiring artworks that present an inclusive story of American art, including often-overlooked histories and...
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Civil Rights Photographer Doris Derby. | Photo courtesy Doris Derby via University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Lives Bronx, N.Y.-born civil rights photographer Doris Derby died in Newnan, Ga., outside Atlanta on March 28. She was...
IN A FORMAL, TRADITIONAL, and somber-toned room, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson stood for her first official portrait. Wearing all black, she posed before a black backdrop and studio lighting, the trappings of contemporary photography temporarily inserted into the White House complex space, literally disrupting history. The Senate confirmed Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court...
THE SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF QUILTS AND TEXTILES (SJMQT) announced its new director will be Camille Ann Brewer. A Detroit, Mich.-based curator, handweaver, and archivist, Brewer will shape the museum’s vision and strategy, leading operations, exhibitions and programming, the collection, community engagement, and donor relations. Brewer brings a spectrum of experience to SJMQT, more than...
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Nancy Lane at Studio Museum in Harlem 2015 gala. | Photo by Julie Skarratt, Courtesy The Studio Museum in Harlem Lives New York art collector and philanthropist Nancy Lee Lane (1933-2022) died March 28....
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions A NEW LARGE-SCALE INSTALLATION by Hew Locke, “The Procession” features nearly 150 life-sized figures outfitted in hand-made garments and masks. The latest Tate Britain Commission is a sculptural gumbo evoking celebration, sorrow, and world events across time—from slavery to climate change, the Black Lives Matter Movement,...
THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM recently welcomed Ernestine White-Mifetu as Sills Foundation Curator of African Art. White-Mifetu was working as an independent artist and curator when she joined the Brooklyn Museum. She brings two decades of experience to the role. Previously, she served as director and chief curator of the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Northern Cape,...
Christie’s Hong Kong, Dec. 1, 2021 A STRIKING PORTRAIT by Amoako Boafo, “Hands Up” (2018) features a stylish young woman wearing yellow sunglasses against a yellow background. The painting sold for more than $3 million, nearly 10 times the estimate and an astounding new record at auction for the fast-rising artist. The record-setting result...
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions A RENOWNED SCHOLAR of African American art, David Driskell (1931-2020) had a deep interest in African Art, which he was introduced to when he was a student at Howard University. More than a dozen years later, in 1969-70 and 1972, when he was a professor of...
Installation view of “Prints from the Brandywine Workshop and Archives: Creative Communities” at Harvard Art Museums On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THROUGH COLLABORATION AND EXPERIMENTATION, master printers and a diverse slate of artists have been producing new works at Brandywine Workshop and Archives for half a century. The Philadelphia organization was...
CELEBRATIONS OF ONE OF AMERICA’s most insightful artists are finally arriving at a pace that measures up to the significance and longevity of her practice. Harlem-born Faith Ringgold, 91, is being recognized all over her hometown. Currently on view at the New Museum, “Faith Ringgold: American People” is her first full-scale retrospective in New...
SINCE THE LATE 1970S, New York photographer Jamel Shabazz has been cataloging his iconic street portraits in thematic albums. Housing small prints, numerous albums form a visual archive across nearly half a century documenting the city’s cultural shifts, sociopolitical landscape, and evolving style. The treasure trove will soon be published in book form. Shabazz is...
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Artist Lauren Halsey. | Photo by Russell Hamilton, Courtesy David Kordansky Gallery Commissions Lauren Halsey is the latest artist commissioned to create a site-specific installation for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s rooftop garden. Titled...
THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION in Washington, D.C., named a new chief diversity officer. Yuma Tomes, a psychologist whose experience includes teaching, research, and academic administration, was appointed Horning Chair for Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion. Tomes joined The Phillips Collection in February from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where he had been serving as...
“Octoroon (Constance)” (2021) by Ann Johnson On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions A SPECTRUM OF METHODS, techniques, and narratives employed and explored by Black women printmakers is on view at Claire Oliver Gallery in New York. “A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking” showcases 21 works by nine contemporary printmakers: Tanekeya Word,...
THE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM (UM) in Los Angeles announced “with deep sadness” that it is closing “until further notice” and the tenure of co-directors Meg Onli and Cristina Pacheco has ended. The action also cuts short a long-awaited exhibition of paintings by the museum’s visionary co-founder Noah Davis (1983-2015). The survey opened six weeks ago...
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture President Barack Obama and Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt discuss the artist’s practice and “Book Bird,” the commissioned work by Hunt that will be on view in the Library Reading Garden outside the new Chicago Public...
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions AFTER HER BRAVE AND HARROWING ESCAPE from enslavement, Harriet Jacobs was employed in New York by Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867), a white, well-paid writer and magazine editor who worked with Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Jacobs, who titled her 1861 autobiography “Incidents in the...
A PROLIFIC AND BELOVED BOSTON ARTIST, Allan Rohan Crite (1910-2007) was a life-long Episcopalian who described himself as a storyteller. He made paintings about African American life in Roxbury and Boston’s South End before dedicating himself primarily to works with religious themes. Crite illustrated hymns, Bible stories, and liturgical scenes, populating his narratives with...
Christina Quarles, Simone Leigh, and Jennifer Packer Set Soaring New Records at Sotheby’s New Now Evening Auction, Kerry James Marshall Painting is Top Lot
May 21, 2022
Latest News in Black Art: Ernie Barnes Gets New York Gallery Representation, Gilane Tawadros is Next Director of Whitechapel Gallery, Roy DeCarava x Supreme Collab
May 19, 2022
Charmaine Jefferson Elected Board Chair at California Institute of the Arts, Where Charles Gaines Taught and Mark Bradford, Henry Taylor, and Lauren Halsey Earned Degrees
May 18, 2022
Latest News in Black Art: Howard University Acquires 252 Gordon Parks Photos, Deana Lawson Wins Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, Smithsonian Adds 200+ Works by Craft Artists to Collection & More
May 17, 2022
In New York, Public Art Fund Welcomes New Senior Curator: ‘Among Her Generation, Allison Glenn Has Emerged as a Leading Curatorial Voice’
May 16, 2022
