THE DRAMATIC TRUE STORY of the Highwaymen, the Florida artists who made a living selling paintings from the trunks of their cars during segregation, is being made into a feature film. “The Highwaymen” is about a group of 26 African American artists, most of them self-taught, who turned out countless paintings of Florida’s lush,...
“Untitled (Parade)” (2016) by Kevin Beasley HISTORICALLY, FEW MAINSTREAM American museums have collected art by African American artists in a meaningful or representational manner. To address generational deficits and fill gaps, many museums have established special funds and committees dedicated to acquiring African American art. A collection exhibition currently on view at Pérez...
Tadesse Mesfin in his Addis Ababa studo A PROMINENT FIGURE in Ethiopian Modernism, Tadesse Mesfin thrives on two creative fronts: making paintings and training the next generation of artists. Women are the protagonists in Mesfin’s ongoing series “Pillars of Life.” The paintings pay homage to the many women who work as smallholder vendors in...
A PIONEERING ARTIST who made captivating, poignant, and culturally insightful works, Emma Amos (1937-2020) has died. She was 83. Amos passed away on May 20 in Bedford, N.H., of natural causes after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Ryan Lee Gallery in New York, where Amos has been represented since 2016, shared news of her...
OFTEN DESCRIBED as the youngest and only female member of Spiral, the short-lived artist collective co-founded more than half a century ago by Romare Bearden, Charles Alston, Hale Woodruff, and Norman Lewis, Emma Amos (1937-2020) bridged that historic period and the current moment. Based in New York throughout her career, Amos died May 20...
THE POWERFUL CERAMIC SCULPTURES of Akinsanya Kambon (aka Mark Teemer) are embedded with history, identity, and ancient techniques with spiritual vibes. An extensive selection of his work is on view in “American Expressions/African Roots: Akinsanya Kambon’s Ceramic Sculpture,” at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Kambon has traveled to Africa 14 times, conducting research...
Still from “America” (2019) by Garrett Bradley ARTIST AND FILMMAKER Garrett Bradley makes lyrical films that explore the challenges of contemporary life and surface lost histories. A pair of revelations about the legacy of silent film inspired one of her latest projects. In 2013, the Library of Congress (LOC) released a report declaring America’s...
Long & Foster Real Estate A RED BRICK ITALIANATE RESIDENCE in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., was home to artist Alma Thomas (1891-1978) for more than 70 years. The house played an integral role in her life and artistic practice. The kitchen served as her studio, where she made the dab-patterned abstract...
TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLDS are obsessed with their iPhones the world over. In this respect, Prince Gyasi is no different from his peers. It’s the nature of his obsession that sets him apart. He uses his phone to text and post on social media, but his main priority is taking pictures. Gyasi is an internationally...
“America Seen Through Stars and Stripes, New York City” (1976) by Ming Smith JENKINS JOHNSON GALLERY won the 2019 Stand Prize at Frieze New York for a presentation dedicated to pioneering photographer Ming Smith. Black-and-white photographs from the 1970s and 80s, including a self portrait, were displayed gallery-style throughout the booth. Smith’s subjects included...
MoAD Executive Director Monetta White reported results of online benefit auction in video message to supporters. ARTISTS, GALLERIES, AND COLLECTORS answered a call for support and came together to help the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco, which has faced a critical funding shortfall since temporarily closing in the wake of...
THE ARCHITECTURAL MODEL envisions what might have been. A large-scale painting by Bob Thompson (1937-1966) dominates an expansive wall on the exterior of the art fair booth. Painted three years before the artist’s death at age 28, “The Golden Ass” (1963) is a complex entanglement of silhouetted human and animal figures rendered in a...
PROTESTING POOR WORKING CONDITIONS, Memphis sanitation workers walked off their jobs in February 1968. More than 1,300 black men went on strike. Carrying signs that declared “I Am A Man,” they demanded recognition of their union, better wages, and improved safety standards. Two months later, Martin Luther King Jr., went to Memphis to support...
While museums and galleries are temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 virus, On View will continue to showcase images from noteworthy exhibitions THE DYNAMIC WORKS of Firelei Báez are studies in contrast—bridging the past and future, marrying static documents with painterly gestural images bursting with color, energy, movement, and symbolism. Báez paints directly...
This week is National Children’s Book Week (May 4-10), a celebration of books and the joy of reading RIFE WITH NARRATIVES about doing whatever it takes to overcome personal and societal challenges to pursue their dreams, the lives of artists and designers offer young readers invaluable life lessons with a dose of culture and...
“Soldier of Love” (2020) by Billie Zangewa DRESSED IN A KHAKI TRENCH COAT, Billie Zangewa holds her young son’s hand, escorting him to school. He wears a backpack and a school uniform. Lush green foliage crowds their path. Behind them, the sky is a luminous pink. The everyday scene is of the artist’s own...
Works by Rosie Lee Tompkins at BAMPFA UNDER THE LEADERSHIP of Mayor London Breed, San Francisco has fared relatively well over the past couple of months. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city has faced infections and deaths, but early actions by the mayor significantly contained its impact. As of May 4,...
Designer Duro Olowu A STANDARD BEARER for fashion, art, design, and style, Duro Olowu is inspired by a spectrum of individuals—cultural figures past and present, including the inimitable Grace Jones, musician and activist Fela Kuti, couturier Madame Grés (Alix Barton), and fashion designer Willi Smith. Olowu’s “Top 10” list, published in the May/June 2020...
RIGOROUS, POETIC, AND HIGHLY ABSTRACT, the practice of Terry Adkins (1953-2014) is a nexus of art, music, and language. He repurposed found objects and reimagined instruments; brought visibility to the layered biographies of pivotal historical figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Matthew Henson, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Sojourner Truth, and John Brown; and...
THE IMAGES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS that populate the pages of vintage Ebony and Jet magazines have been a source of inspiration for Lorna Simpson for nearly a decade. Black men and children have featured in her collages, but overwhelmingly she’s focused on advertising images of Black women culled and cut from the pages of the...
Los Angeles: Hammer Museum Gala Honored Lauren Halsey, ‘One of the Most Dynamic Artists Working Today’
Jul 8, 2025
Culture Type | The Month in Black Art, Here’s What Happened in June 2025
Jul 7, 2025
On View: ‘Paris Noir’ Exhibition at Centre Pompidou ‘Retraces the Presence and Influence of Black Artists in France from 1950s to 2000’
Jun 29, 2025
On View: ‘Michael Armitage: Crucible,’ Paintings by Kenyan British Artist Explore Migration at David Zwirner in New York
Jun 27, 2025
Fresh Out of Graduate School, Christine Sun Kim Helped to Greatly Improve Experiences of Deaf Audiences at the Whitney Museum
Jun 24, 2025
