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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

On View: 'Vanessa German: Gumball' Presented Monumental Heads and Fallen Figures at Kasmin Gallery in New York

On View: ‘Vanessa German: Gumball’ Presented Monumental Heads and Fallen Figures at Kasmin Gallery in New York

Installation view of “vanessa german: GUMBALL—there is absolutely no space between body and soul,” Kasmin, 509 West 27th Street, New York, N.Y. (April 3-May 10, 2025). | Courtesy the artist and Kasmin, New York   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   THE LATEST EXHIBITION of vanessa german (b....
Los Angeles Artist Alison Saar is 2025 Recipient of David C. Driskell Prize, For 20 Years Award Has Recognized 'Field-Defining' Contributions to African American Art

Los Angeles Artist Alison Saar is 2025 Recipient of David C. Driskell Prize, For 20 Years Award Has Recognized ‘Field-Defining’ Contributions to African American Art

Alison Saar at Arion Press, San Francisco, Calif., 2024. | Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, Calif., Photograph by Nicholas Lea Bruno   TWENTY YEARS AGO, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga., established a groundbreaking prize named for David C. Driskell (1931-2020), a pivotal figure in American art and...
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Viewing Room: Salon 94 is Showcasing Artworks by Derrick Adams, Lyle Ashton Harris, Richard Wyatt Jr., and Robert Pruitt

Viewing Room: Salon 94 is Showcasing Artworks by Derrick Adams, Lyle Ashton Harris, Richard Wyatt Jr., and Robert Pruitt

Installation view of works by Richard Wyatt Jr., and Lyle Ashton Harris   NEW YORK-BASED SALON 94 gallery is showcasing works by seven artists, including Derrick Adams, Lyle Ashton Harris, Robert Pruitt, and Richard Wyatt Jr. The works are presented in the gallery’s Frieze Viewing Room. Frieze London 2020 was a hybrid event with limited...
On View: ADA / Contemporary Art Gallery in Accra, Ghana, Opens with Solo Exhibition of Collins Obijiaku

On View: ADA / Contemporary Art Gallery in Accra, Ghana, Opens with Solo Exhibition of Collins Obijiaku

“Papa and Joshua” (2020) by Collins Obijiaku   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   A NEW COMMERCIAL GALLERY is opening in Accra, Ghana, on Oct. 15. Established by art advisor Adora Mba, ADA / Contemporary Art Gallery‘s inaugural exhibition features 17 portraits by emerging Nigerian artist Collins Obijiaku (born 1995). “Gindin Mangoro: Under...
Sculptor Simone Leigh is Representing the United States at 2022 Venice Biennale

Sculptor Simone Leigh is Representing the United States at 2022 Venice Biennale

  THE UNITED STATES will be represented by Simone Leigh at the 59th Venice Biennale. It’s a historic choice. Leigh is the first Black female artist ever selected to stage a solo exhibition in the American Pavilion at the prestigious international exhibition and she is the third African American artist in row chosen for the...
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Promotes Gwendolyn Perry Davis to Senior Director of Operations

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Promotes Gwendolyn Perry Davis to Senior Director of Operations

THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO named a new senior director of operations. Gwendolyn Perry Davis has been elevated to the position, a critical leadership role overseeing both strategic and creative aspects of the museum’s operations. Perry Davis’s new responsibilities include the collections and exhibitions department and the human resources, information technology, facilities, and security...
On View: 'To Be Determined' at Dallas Museum of Art in Texas

On View: ‘To Be Determined’ at Dallas Museum of Art in Texas

“Untitled (America)” (2018) by Glenn Ligon   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   THE STATE OF THE NATION is influx. The pandemic. Isolation. Police killings. Racial justice protests. Election 2020. “To Be Determined” is a response to the moment. The collection exhibition draws on the expansive holdings of the Dallas Museum of Art,...
Lines: Shantell Martin's First Monograph Documents Her Prolific Drawing Practice

Lines: Shantell Martin’s First Monograph Documents Her Prolific Drawing Practice

  ARMED WITH A BLACK PEN and a penchant for line drawing and storytelling, Shantell Martin has carved out a significant artistic space for herself. Her visual musings are driven by her personal language of key words and faces, intuitive energy, and a sense of true freedom and joy gleaned from sharing her ideas. “Who...
Trenton Doyle Hancock: What If Torpedo Boy, My Black Superhero, Met Up With Philip Guston's Klan Character?

Trenton Doyle Hancock: What If Torpedo Boy, My Black Superhero, Met Up With Philip Guston’s Klan Character?

  Installation view of “Trenton Doyle Hancock: Something American” at James Cohan Gallery   NEW PAINTINGS by Trenton Doyle Hancock collapse two worlds, bringing together Torpedo Boy, the artist’s Black superhero character and alter ego, and one of the cartoonish, hooded Klansmen figures from the work of Philip Guston (1913-1980). The images reflect the personal...
Curatorial Vision of Black Women is Shaping Frieze and 1-54 African Contemporary Art Fairs in London This Week

Curatorial Vision of Black Women is Shaping Frieze and 1-54 African Contemporary Art Fairs in London This Week

Eva Langret, Artistic Director of Frieze London   IN LONDON THIS WEEK, the vision of Black women is shaping the 1-54 London and Frieze London art fairs. Both are underway with hybrid online and in-person formats this season. Eva Langret is the new artistic director of Frieze London. She tapped Zoé Whitley to curate a...
Longtime Spelman Curator Andrea Barnwell Brownlee Named Director and CEO of Cummer Museum of Art in Jacksonville, Fla.

Longtime Spelman Curator Andrea Barnwell Brownlee Named Director and CEO of Cummer Museum of Art in Jacksonville, Fla.

THE CUMMER MUSEUM OF ART & GARDENS announced the appointment of a new leader yesterday. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee is joining the Jacksonville, Fla., museum as George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and CEO. For two decades, Brownlee has been serving as director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta. She officially...
Contemporary Curated: Works by Kerry James Marshall and Barkley L. Hendricks Top Sotheby's Sale, New Auction Records for Titus Kaphar,  Romare Bearden, Simone Leigh

Contemporary Curated: Works by Kerry James Marshall and Barkley L. Hendricks Top Sotheby’s Sale, New Auction Records for Titus Kaphar, Romare Bearden, Simone Leigh

  WORKS BY AN ECLECTIC MIX of artists were offered at Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated auction on Oct. 2 in New York. Important figures from the second half of the 20th century were featured alongside today’s most critically recognized contemporary artists. Five African American artists were ranked among the 10 top-10 highest-priced works by Kerry James...
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Appoints Heidi Holder Chair of Education

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Appoints Heidi Holder Chair of Education

EFFECTIVE THIS MONTH, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a new head of education. The New York City museum named Heidi Holder the Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chair of Education. She previously served as director of education at the Queens Museum. News of Holder’s hiring was announced Sept. 18, alongside the appointment of...
New Now: Amoako Boafo and Titus Kaphar Top Phillips Emerging Artist Auction, Firelei Báez and Marcus Jahmal Among Record Setters

New Now: Amoako Boafo and Titus Kaphar Top Phillips Emerging Artist Auction, Firelei Báez and Marcus Jahmal Among Record Setters

  Lot 39: AMOAKO BOAFO Amoako Boafo, “Lighter,” 2018 (oil and collage on paper, 59 x 55 inches / 149.9 x 139.7 cm). Estimate $40,000-$60,000. Sold for $325,000 fees included. TOP LOT   PHILLIPS AUCTION HOUSE held its New Now auction on Sept. 30 in New York and “Lighter” by Amoako Boafo was the top...
A Dilemma of Inheritance: Adebunmi Gbadebo Employs Abstraction and Non-Traditional Materials to Mine Memories and Histories of Enslavement

A Dilemma of Inheritance: Adebunmi Gbadebo Employs Abstraction and Non-Traditional Materials to Mine Memories and Histories of Enslavement

  THERE’S A FAMILY GATHERING of sorts underway at Claire Oliver Gallery in New York. “Adebunmi Gbadebo: A Dilemma of Inheritance” features more than 45 works that consider the legacies of two South Carolina plantations, sites where Black people were once enslaved, production of rice and indigo thrived, and Adebunmi Gbadebo traces her own family...
The Struggle Continues: Kwame Brathwaite's Iconic Images Reflect His Political Vision and 'Black is Beautiful' Directive

The Struggle Continues: Kwame Brathwaite’s Iconic Images Reflect His Political Vision and ‘Black is Beautiful’ Directive

  A DEEP LOVE OF BLACK PEOPLE and Black culture rings throughout the practice of Kwame Braithwaite, a self-described artist-activist who has said “Black is Beautiful was my directive.” His photography is on view at Philip Martin Gallery in Los Angeles. “Kwame Brathwaite: The Struggle Continues, Victory is Certain” showcases his iconic portraits, street shots,...
Kevin Young Will Lead Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture

Kevin Young Will Lead Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture

THE SMITHSONIAN’S BLACK MUSEUM has a new leader. Kevin Young has been named director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. Young is currently director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York. He also serves as poetry editor at The New Yorker. He...
Fast-Rising Photographer Tyler Mitchell is Now Represented by Jack Shainman Gallery

Fast-Rising Photographer Tyler Mitchell is Now Represented by Jack Shainman Gallery

PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER Tyler Mitchell has joined Jack Shainman Gallery. Mitchell’s practice explores a new vision of the beauty and power of Blackness. Defined by a sense of optimism and aesthetic creativity, his images imagine a Black utopia. A closely watched talent, Mitchell experienced a meteoric rise in 2018 when he photographed Beyoncé for American...
Revolution on Trial: Exploring the Black Panther Party's Legacy in New Haven, Conn.

Revolution on Trial: Exploring the Black Panther Party’s Legacy in New Haven, Conn.

“A hand that held and loved someone (Personal Choice #3)” (2020) video installation by CHLOË BASS   THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY for Self Defense marked its 50th anniversary in 2016 and the occasion was commemorated with books, exhibitions, and nationwide programs. In 2020, Artspace New Haven is recognizing the 50th anniversary of a pivotal moment...
Joining David Zwirner as Director, Ebony L. Haynes Will Launch New Gallery Space With All-Black Staff

Joining David Zwirner as Director, Ebony L. Haynes Will Launch New Gallery Space With All-Black Staff

THE LATEST HIRE at David Zwirner negotiated a sweet deal. Ebony L. Haynes is joining the gallery as a director and she is launching her own exhibition program in a new stand-alone space in Manhattan. Expected to open in spring 2021, the location of the gallery and inaugural exhibition will be announced in the coming...
Her Story: Paying Tribute to a Century of Women Who Have a Way With Words

Her Story: Paying Tribute to a Century of Women Who Have a Way With Words

Lorraine Hansberry, 1959   THROUGHOUT THE NATION, organizations and cultural institutions have been commemorating the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment in a variety of ways. At the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., a new exhibition marks the occasion by highlighting 24 women writers whose work has shaped the literary landscape...
Everything is Beautiful: Major Alma W. Thomas Traveling Exhibition Opening at Chrysler Museum of Art in July 2021

Everything is Beautiful: Major Alma W. Thomas Traveling Exhibition Opening at Chrysler Museum of Art in July 2021

  TOMORROW, SEPT. 22, would have been the 129th birthday of artist Alma Thomas (1891-1978). The announcement today of a major traveling exhibition co-organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va., and the Columbus Museum in her hometown of Columbus, Ga., is a wonderful way to celebrate her life and legacy. “Alma W....