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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

New York Museums are Showcasing African American Art, Exhibitions Feature Lorna Simpson, Rashid Johnson, Beauford Delaney, Amy Sherald, Black Dandyism & More

New York Museums are Showcasing African American Art, Exhibitions Feature Lorna Simpson, Rashid Johnson, Beauford Delaney, Amy Sherald, Black Dandyism & More

TOP NEW YORK MUSEUMS are presenting exhibitions of major African American artists this spring and summer with most on view through fall 2025. Solo exhibitions include the largest-ever surveys of Rashid Johnson at the Guggenheim Museum, Amy Sherald at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Jack Whitten at the...
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On View: 'Redaction: A Project by Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts' at MoMA PS1, Queens, New York

On View: ‘Redaction: A Project by Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts’ at MoMA PS1, Queens, New York

TITUS KAPHAR and REGINALD DWAYNE BETTS, “Untitled (from the Redaction project),” 2019 (etching and silkscreen on paper, 22 x 30 inches). | Image courtesy Titus Kaphar Studio, Photo by Merik Goma   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   REDACTION is a collaboration between artist Titus Kaphar and attorney Reginald Dwayne Betts, who have...
San Francisco Art Institute Commencement to Honor Black Panther Minister of Culture Emory Douglas

San Francisco Art Institute Commencement to Honor Black Panther Minister of Culture Emory Douglas

  MEMBERS OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY will be honored at the San Francisco Art Institute’s commencement on May 18. Emory Douglas, artist and minister of culture for the Black Panther Party, is receiving an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, which is described as the highest honor bestowed by the institution. Fellow Panther Party members...
American Academy of Arts & Sciences Announces 2019 Members Including Artist Mark Bradford, Scholar/Curator Kellie Jones, and Poet Elizabeth Alexander

American Academy of Arts & Sciences Announces 2019 Members Including Artist Mark Bradford, Scholar/Curator Kellie Jones, and Poet Elizabeth Alexander

  MORE THAN 200 high-achieving individuals have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. On April 17, the academy announced new members for 2019 include poet and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation president Elizabeth Alexander, artist Mark Bradford, Columbia University scholar/curator Kellie Jones, First Lady Michelle Obama, and actress and playwright Anna Deavere...
Sotheby's Modern & Contemporary African Art Sale in London Yields 11 Artist Records, El Anatsui Tapestry is Top Lot, Again

Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art Sale in London Yields 11 Artist Records, El Anatsui Tapestry is Top Lot, Again

  SOTHEBY’S LONDON has held four sales dedicated to modern and contemporary African art and tapestries by El Anatsui have topped three of them, including the most recent on April 2. A 10-foot sculptural tapestry composed of aluminum bottle caps and copper wire, “Zebra Crossing 2” (shown above) was made in 2007 and exceeded expectations....
Charles Gaines is Latest in Long Line of Great Artists to Receive MacDowell Medal

Charles Gaines is Latest in Long Line of Great Artists to Receive MacDowell Medal

LOS ANGELES-BASED Charles Gaines is the latest recipient of the prestigious Edward MacDowell Medal. The MacDowell Colony announced last week that Gaines was selected for the honor. He will receive the 60th MacDowell Medal on Aug. 11 at a free public event on the grounds of the colony in Peterborough, N.H. The recognition comes as...
Artists Wangechi Mutu and Kara Walker Land Major Museum Commissions

Artists Wangechi Mutu and Kara Walker Land Major Museum Commissions

Wangechi Mutu at the Metropolitan Museum of Art   THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART in New York and the Tate Modern in London recently announced new artist commissions. The Met plans a series of contemporary art installations at its Fifth Avenue flagship. For one of the projects, Wangechi Mutu is creating sculptures that will be...
Wil Haygood Accepts Award for 'I Too Sing America' Exhibition Catalog and Cites Longstanding Connections to Harlem

Wil Haygood Accepts Award for ‘I Too Sing America’ Exhibition Catalog and Cites Longstanding Connections to Harlem

  COLLEGE PARK, MD. — After writing biographies of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Sammie Davis Jr., Sugar Ray Robinson, and Thurgood Marshall, and a feature article published in The Washington Post that inspired the film “The Butler,” Wil Haygood authored his first exhibition catalog. “I Too Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100” (Rizzoli Electa,...
Swann African American Art Sale Yields Records for Women Artists Including Simone Leigh, Emma Amos, and Howardena Pindell, Top Lot by Norman Lewis

Swann African American Art Sale Yields Records for Women Artists Including Simone Leigh, Emma Amos, and Howardena Pindell, Top Lot by Norman Lewis

  THE LATEST SALE of African-American Fine Art at Swann Auction Galleries resulted in auction records for several living women artists, including Simone Leigh, Emma Amos and Howardena Pindell. In addition, works by Sonya Clark and Allison Janae Hamilton appeared at auction for the first time and established benchmarks well above their estimates. Lot 171:...
Glenn Ligon, Known for His Text-Based Paintings, Has Joined Hauser & Wirth

Glenn Ligon, Known for His Text-Based Paintings, Has Joined Hauser & Wirth

  HAUSER & WIRTH is now representing artist Glenn Ligon. The gallery officially announced the news today, following an article about the representation published yesterday in ARTnews that cited an earlier report from Baer Faxt, a newsletter the covers the art industry. With language as a guiding force, Ligon explores American history and the African...
Brooklyn-Based Artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn is Now Represented by Gagosian

Brooklyn-Based Artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn is Now Represented by Gagosian

  GAGOSIAN ANNOUNCED its representation of Nathaniel Mary Quinn yesterday. Working with family photos and images from fashion magazines, Quinn makes composite portraits that draw on memory and explore the complex relationship between reality and perception. He lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y.   Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s mother died when he was a teenager. He...
On View: 'Rashid Johnson: It Never Entered My Mind' at Hauser & Wirth, St. Moritz

On View: ‘Rashid Johnson: It Never Entered My Mind’ at Hauser & Wirth, St. Moritz

“Untitled (Broken Men)” (2018) by Rashid Johnson   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   NEW WORKS by Rashid Johnson are on view in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Featured at Hauser & Wirth, the paintings, sculptures, and drawings build on themes Johnson has explored previously. Broken Men is a series of mosaic tile paintings that...
San Francisco Bound: Another Stop Added to 'Soul of a Nation' Tour, Exhibition Headed to de Young Museum This Fall

San Francisco Bound: Another Stop Added to ‘Soul of a Nation’ Tour, Exhibition Headed to de Young Museum This Fall

“What’s Goin On” (1974) by Barkley L. Hendricks   A SECOND CALIFORNIA STOP has been added to the “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” tour. The exhibition is headed to the de Young Museum in San Francisco, where it will open Nov. 9. “Soul of a Nation” presents about 150...
Latest News in African American Art: Eric Mack Installation Vanishes, Harvard Sued Over Slave Photographs, Frieze Sculptures by Nick Cave, Hank Willis Thomas, and More

Latest News in African American Art: Eric Mack Installation Vanishes, Harvard Sued Over Slave Photographs, Frieze Sculptures by Nick Cave, Hank Willis Thomas, and More

Installation view of “Halter” (2019) by Eric N. Mack at Desert X   The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related black culture: Harvard Sued for Profiting From Images of Slaves Tamara Lanier of Norwich, Conn., is suing Harvard for “wrongful...
Early Photograph of Harriet Tubman Displayed Publicly for First Time at Smithsonian African American Museum

Early Photograph of Harriet Tubman Displayed Publicly for First Time at Smithsonian African American Museum

  A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN photograph of Harriet Tubman (c. 1822-1913) depicts her seated with her arm draped over the back of a chair. Impeccably dressed, she wears a full skirt and buttoned bodice with detailed stitching on the sleeves. Believed to be the earliest image of Tubman in existence, the portrait of the storied abolitionist...
Recently On View: Florine Démosthène at Mariane Ibrahim, The Armory Show, New York City

Recently On View: Florine Démosthène at Mariane Ibrahim, The Armory Show, New York City

Works by Florine Démosthène at Mariane Ibrahim, The Armory Show 2019   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   AGAINST A GREEN BACKDROP, Mariane Ibrahim gallery showcased figurative works on paper by Florine Démosthène at The Armory Show earlier this month. The mixed-media collage works are composed of pigment, mylar, metallic leaf, and glitter....
LeRonn P. Brooks Named Associate Curator at Getty Research Institute, Newly Created Position is Part of African American Art History Initiative

LeRonn P. Brooks Named Associate Curator at Getty Research Institute, Newly Created Position is Part of African American Art History Initiative

THE GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (GRI) in Los Angeles announced a new hire today. LeRonn P. Brooks has been appointed associate curator for Modern and Contemporary Collections, specializing in African American art. Brooks is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Africana Studies at Lehman College in The Bronx, New York. At the Getty, he...
Prospect New Orleans Announces 2020 Dates, Appoints Director's Council, Including  Gia Hamilton, Courtney J. Martin, Valerie Cassel Oliver, and  Franklin Sirmans

Prospect New Orleans Announces 2020 Dates, Appoints Director’s Council, Including Gia Hamilton, Courtney J. Martin, Valerie Cassel Oliver, and Franklin Sirmans

  THE FIFTH EDITION of Prospect New Orleans officially opens to the public Oct. 24, 2020 and runs through Jan. 24, 2021. The triennial will feature artists from around the world and engage resources throughout New Orleans—the cultural community, arts institutions, and local sites. Prospect.5 is led by curators Naima J. Keith and Diana Nawi....
PAFA Receives Gift of 78 Artworks From Constance E. Clayton, Many by Artists with Ties to Philadelphia

PAFA Receives Gift of 78 Artworks From Constance E. Clayton, Many by Artists with Ties to Philadelphia

  PAINTINGS BY BEAUFORD DELANEY, Edward Bannister, Lois Mailou Jones, and Laura Wheeler Waring have been added to the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia. The works are part of a major gift from Constance E. Clayton, an arts advocate and former superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia....
On View: 'El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale' at Haus der Kunst Museum, Munich

On View: ‘El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale’ at Haus der Kunst Museum, Munich

“In the World But Don’t Know the World” (2019) by El Anatsui   On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions   OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES, El Anatsui has invented and perfected a unique medium. With discarded bottle caps he creates grand sculptural works that read as painted textiles. “Triumphant” and monumentally scaled examples from...
In the Wake of His Passing, Fellow Curators Pay Tribute to Okwui Enwezor with Outpouring of Remembrances and Respect

In the Wake of His Passing, Fellow Curators Pay Tribute to Okwui Enwezor with Outpouring of Remembrances and Respect

Okwui Enwezor (1963-2019)   THE RANKS OF BLACK CURATORS in the art world, while expanding, are relatively thin. Nearly every one has a connection to Okwui Enwezor (1963-2019), whether they were close with him or worked with him, or only of knew him and his work. Enwezor, the renowned curator and critic, died March 15....