A SIZABLE GROUP OF ARTISTS has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for President of the United States, issuing an open letter of support outlining the reasons why they think the he is the best candidate in the Democratic field. More than 2,500 artists have endorsed the online letter, including Kader Attia, Kevin Beasley, Nicole...
THE YEAR IN BLACK ART is off to a fascinating start. In January, Helen Molesworth organized a Noah Davis (1983-2015) exhibition at David Zwirner gallery in New York, a rare look at more than 20 paintings by the late Los Angeles-based artist and founder of the Underground Museum. The Johnson Publishing Company art collection...
AFTER HEARING HER SING HIS SONGS on national television, composer Irving Berlin (1888-1989) sent a note to Diahann Carroll. Typewritten on his personal letterhead, it was dated Feb. 7, 1968. Berlin wrote: “Dear Diahann Carroll, The way you sang those songs last night on the Tonight Show made me feel awfully good. With my...
NEARLY A CENTURY AGO, the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Okla., was destroyed. The thriving black business district known as Black Wall Street was besieged in 1921, from May 31 to June 1, by a white mob attacking residents and their homes and businesses. The massacre leveled 35 square blocks, killing countless people (reports range...
OCCURRING EVERY THREE YEARS, the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition has showcased the work of numerous African American artists. Amy Sherald won first prize in 2016, transforming her career. In the latest cycle, Deborah Roberts, Genevieve Gaignard, Lava Thomas and Nona Faustine are among the finalists, and Wayde McIntosh tied for third prize. Their works...
“Mitchell’s Point, Looking Down the Columbia” (1887) by Grafton Tyler Brown A MIDWEST AUCTION HOUSE is selling more than 300 items of African Americana from the collection of art dealer Steve Turner. In addition to operating a contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles, Turner has been collecting rare objects documenting African American history since...
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC ART PROGRAM commissioned a seven-panel series of historic images by Carrie Mae Weems nearly 25 years ago. Composed of framed chromogenic prints and sandblasted text on glass, the untitled work was made in 1996-97 in an edition of three. The first set went to the Bee Branch of the Chicago Public...
Betye Saar in the short documentary “Taking Care of Business,” directed by Christine Turner BLACK FILMMAKERS and black stories are an increasing presence at the Sundance Film Festival. This year a number of projects garnered attention, including documentaries about artist Betye Saar and philanthropist and art collector Agnes Gund, and three films by black...
IN LONDON, when Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale got underway on Feb. 12, the first lot was a serene, painterly portrait of a black woman. “Mom” (2013) by Jordan Casteel, is a portrait of Lauren Young Casteel, the artist’s mother. Expected to yield 180,000-250,000 British Pounds, the painting sold for twice the...
THE DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART (DMA) has been shoring up its curatorial department over the past year. The latest addition is Vivian Crockett, who is joining the museum as assistant curator of contemporary art. Crockett brings expertise in art of the African and Latinx diasporas and the Americas. She is currently a Joan Tisch Teaching...
IN LOS ANGELES, it’s art fair season. Frieze Los Angeles is open for its second year at Paramount Pictures Studios. Art Los Angeles Contemporary is happening at the Hollywood Athletic Club. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is hosting the Felix art fair and Spring/Break is at Skylight ROW DTLA. At The Kinney in Venice, stARTup...
THE HIGH MUSEUM OF ART in Atlanta named artist Jamal D. Cyrus recipient of the 2020 David C. Driskell Prize. Cyrus lives and works in Houston where his conceptual and research-driven practice mines American history with a focus on better understanding cultural and national heritage in the context of black political movements, social justice issues,...
A RECENT PAINTING by Amoako Boafo portrays a woman with gray hair gathered on top of her head in a loose Afro puff. She’s lounging on a pool float, wearing a white one-piece bathing suit covered with a leafy lemon print. Her lips are red and a pair of sunglasses shields her eyes from...
THIS WEEK IN CHICAGO, the College Art Association (CAA) is holding its annual conference (Feb. 12-15). Amanda Williams, a Chicago-based artist who trained as an architect, is serving as keynote speaker. Kellie Jones will be honored during the Distinguished Scholar Session. And Huey Copeland, a professor of art history at Northwestern University and recipient...
NARRATING AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (1940-2015) worked with a variety of materials, from fabric, to paint, clay, and found materials, making two- and three-dimensional works. Her paintings, quilts, and sculpture, many of them large-scale and made over many years, explored the experiences and legacy of her family, local community, and the...
THE GORDON PARKS FOUNDATION in Pleasantville, N.Y., provides support and opportunities to artists whose practices “reflect and extend” the legacy of Gordon Parks, using photography as a tool for social justice and cultural change. Extending its program of scholarships, awards, and fellowships, the foundation announced a new book prize established in partnership with Steidl, the...
“Light Depth” (1969) by Sam Gilliam THE HIRSHHORN MUSEUM and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., plans an expansive look at the six-decade career of pioneering abstractionist Sam Gilliam. Exploring key moments in his innovative painting practice, the retrospective will open at the Smithsonian museum on the National Mall in spring 2022. “Inspired by the...
ONCE RELEGATED TO THE MARGINS, artists of African descent continued to migrate toward the center of the art world in 2019, claiming space on just about every front as the decade came to a close. Black contemporary artists won many of the year’s most prestigious and lucrative international art prizes. They shared their work...
DANNIELLE BOWMAN, “Inglewood,” 2019 (digital pigment print, 20 x 25 inches). | © Dannielle Bowman AN ENDLESS EXPANSE of dark, open waters illustrates the cover of The New York Times Magazine’s groundbreaking examination of the legacy of slavery in America: The 1619 Project. The black-and-white photograph captures the distant horizon near a Hampton, Va.,...
THREE GIANTS of 20th century American art were represented in the evening auctions of contemporary art at Sotheby’s and Christie’s for the first time in November. The auction houses offer only a few dozen works in their evening auctions and the coveted slots are reserved for premier works by important artists. Significant works by...
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
American Sign Language Videos Explore Whitney Museum’s Collection, Including Works by Simone Leigh, Archibald Motley, Diedrick Brackens, Jacob Lawrence & More
Jun 24, 2025
