Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Valerie Cassel Oliver. | Photo by Travis Fullerton, Courtesy the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Awards & Honors Valerie Cassel Oliver is receiving the 2022 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Center...
“Two women, mannequin’s hand” (1952) by Roy DeCarava THE ARTISTRY AND EXPRESSION of Roy DeCarava (1919-2009) is on full display at David Zwirner in London. “Roy DeCarava: Selected Works” features more than 60 photographs spanning seven decades, from 1948-2004. A master of light and shadow, DeCarava’s black-and-white images frame New Yorkers on the street,...
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture From left, Jova Lynne starts at Temple Contemporary at Tyler School of Art and Architecture Jan. 31. | Photo by Clare Gotto; Margaret Vendryes officially joins Tufts University in June. | Photo Courtesy Margaret Vendryes...
THREE FOLK MUSICIANS (1967) by Romare Bearden is one of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art’s prized acquisitions. The large-scale collage was added to the collection of the Richmond museum in 2016 and with the newfound popularity of jigsaw puzzles, a 500-piece version of the work is now available from the museum’s gift shop....
“Feeling Free” (2021) by Greg Breda On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions PAINTING ON VELLUM, Greg Breda creates portraits defined by mesmerizing brushstrokes and the contemplative expressions of his subjects. For his second solo exhibition at Patron Gallery in Chicago, Ill. Breda presents seven new paintings focusing on resilient characters and memorable...
NXTHVN is located in the Dixwell neighborhood of New Haven, Conn., adjacent to downtown. | Photo by Tim Williams NXTHVN is pleased to announce the opening of its annual open call for Studio and Curatorial Fellows. Founded by Jason Price and Titus Kaphar, the core principles of NXTHVN’s mission are: mentorship, collaboration, and professional...
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Gordon Parks Foundation 2022 Fellows: From left, Bisa Butler. | Photo by Gioncarlo Valentine; Andre D. Wagner. | Photo by Ike Edeani; and Nicole R. Fleetwood. | Courtesy Gordon Parks Foundation Awards & Honors...
A PROMINENT FIGURE in the Philadelphia arts community, Moe Brooker (1940-2022) died on Jan. 9 after a brief stay at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. An artist and educator who had served as chair of the Philadelphia Art Commission, Brooker was 81. Active for more than half a century, Brooker made abstract...
“Bonsai” (2016) by Sanford Biggers On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions WORKING WITH ANTIQUE, pre-1900 quilts, Sanford Biggers makes mixed-media works that present as painted textiles and sculptural installations. The quilt-based works are inspired by the modern and contemporary artistry of the Black women who have been making quilts in Gee’s Bend,...
THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART (CMA) is elevating Key Jo Lee to associate curator of American art. The news was announced Jan. 18. Lee joined CMA in 2017 as assistant director of academic affairs. In 2021, she was appointed director of academic affairs and associate curator of special projects. Her latest promotion is effective July...
“Jiskaske Enfinite Vini Nan Yon Fen (Until Infinity Comes To An End)” (2021) by Widline Cade On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions A GROUP EXHIBITION at MoMA PS1, “(Never) As I Was” presents new works by the Studio Museum in Harlem’s 2020-21 artists-in-residence: Widline Cadet, Texas Isaiah, Genesis Jerez, and Jacolby Satterwhite....
THE TRANSFORMATIONAL civil rights, human rights, and democracy work of Martin Luther King Jr., was largely understood and represented by public events—soaring and poignant speeches, strategic marches and protests, and multiple arrests. On Sept. 3, 1958, King was arrested outside the courthouse in Montgomery, Ala. Illustrated by Ronald Wimberly, the moment is captured on...
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Lou Stovall in the printmaking studio he established adjacent to his Cleveland Park home (1974). | Courtesy Lou Stovall Workshop Awards & Honors Artist and master printer Lou Stovall is receiving the Larry D....
“Beach Life” (2021) by Peter Uka FOR HIS FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION in the United States, Peter Uka is presenting seven new figurative paintings. On view at Mariane Ibrahim in Chicago, “Peter Uka: Longing” channels 1970s nostalgia and memories of growing up in Nigeria. Uka portrays men wearing bell bottoms at the beach, the barbershop,...
BLACK ARTISTS representing multiple generations and disciplines died in 2021, including Virgil Abloh, Winfred Rembert, Donald P. Ryder, Chi Modu, and Peter Williams. Figures such as Judson Powell of Los Angeles, Eugene Wade of Chicago, Charles McGee of Detroit, and Denzil Hurley of Seattle, Wash., who were well-known locally and deserve wider attention, also...
AS IT PREPARES TO WELCOME the public to a new building later this year, the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) announced two new appointments today. Courtenay Finn is joining the Southern California museum as chief curator in March. She is currently chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. Meagan Burger is serving...
THE NEWARK MUSEUM OF ART is starting off the new year by welcoming a new member to its curatorial team. Henone K. Girma has been named associate curator of the Arts of Global Africa. Girma joins the Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey from The Africa Center in Harlem, where she served as programs...
FIVE YEARS AGO, Culture Type began reporting on new appointments of Black curators, primarily in museums. The first review in 2016 was prompted by findings published by the Mellon Foundation (2015) that showed American museums employed very few Black people in positions that shape them in terms of their management and intellectual direction as...
WEDDINGS, FUNERALS, PARADES, CHRISTMAS SCENES, and all manner of portraits. The photographs of James Van Der Zee (1886-1983) have come to define 20th century Harlem. His powerful pictures capture the beauty and pride of Black life, documenting everyday moments and special celebrations. His subjects were cosmopolitan Black families, artists, and political leaders—Adam Clayton Powell...
TWENTY YEARS AGO, Michael Ray Charles was a rare quantity—a Black contemporary artist with mainstream recognition. His potent and thought-provoking work explored African American representation in popular culture, employed blackface and caricature to confront racial stereotypes, and presented complex images aimed directly at America’s shameful history of slavery, subjugation, racial violence, and white supremacy....
