Carrie Mae Weems photographed by Mickalene Thomas for The New York Times WHAT DETERMINES GREATNESS? In her introductory note about how the six people featured in “T” magazine’s 2018 Greats issue were selected, Hanya Yanagihara, editor of the New York Times style publication, admits “there is no real metric for greatness.” The candidates could...
BLUM & POE GALLERY is presenting a selection of paintings and drawings made about a half a century ago by Robert Colescott (1925-2009) at this year’s FIAC fair, the International Fair of Contemporary Art at the Grand Palais in Paris (Oct. 18-21). The display is the artist’s first solo show in France and presents...
THE 2018 HUGO BOSS PRIZE has been awarded to Simone Leigh. Best known for her ceramic works, Leigh’s practice examines black female subjectivity, black feminist discourse, and the history of labor and resistance. Her selection was announced last night at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The Hugo Boss Prize recognizes the...
THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM’S 2018 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize has been awarded to Diedrick Brackens. The Los Angeles-based textile artist is recognized for his tapestries and innovative weaving techniques. His selection was announced by Thelma Golden at the museum’s 50th anniversary gala this evening at the Park Avenue Armory. The annual prize...
LINDA HARRISON IS LEAVING the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco to helm New Jersey’s largest museum. Last week, the Newark Museum named Harrison director and CEO. “I’m thrilled to join the Newark Museum family to implement a bold transformation/agenda that lock steps with the City of Newark’s revitalization of the...
Titus Kaphar in his New Haven, Conn., studio. YEARS BEFORE THE DEBATE about decolonizing America’s public squares where monuments pay homage to slaveholders and Confederate generals reached a fever pitch in 2017, Titus Kaphar was engaging with representation in Western art history and its overwhelming penchant for foregrounding white men while people of color...
THE COLLECTION OF THE STUDIO MUSEUM in Harlem has grown by 20 percent thanks to the generosity of the Peggy Cooper Cafritz (1947-2018), the late Washington, D.C. arts patron, activist and co-founder of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. The Studio Museum and Duke Ellington announced yesterday that Cafritz bequeathed the majority of...
DAYS BEFORE THE OPENING of “Charles White: A Retrospective” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York on Oct. 7, a dramatic drawing by the pivotal, 20th-century figure topped the latest African-American Fine Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries. “Nobody Knows My Name #1” sold for $485,000 (including fees) on Oct. 4....
YEAR AFTER YEAR, serious art aficionados descend on various locales around the world for art fairs, biennials, and major exhibition opening. The rolling schedule unfolds in New York, Basel, Paris, Venice, Berlin, Chicago, Miami, Johannesburg, Lagos, Los Angeles, and beyond. Each fall brings buyers and lookers to London for the 1-54 Contemporary Art Fair,...
THREE TREES HAVE SPROUTED in the courtyard at Somerset House where the latest edition of 1-54 London is underway. The installation is by acclaimed Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi, one of the most critically recognized figures in African and Arab Modernism. “Meditation Tree” is part of his ongoing investigation into the tree/body metaphor and references...
“Untitled” (1998) by Berni Searle FRIEZE LONDON AND FRIEZE MASTERS officially open to the public today and black women are notably present. This afternoon, artist Julie Mehretu will be in conversation with Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum in Harlem. The conversation is part of Frieze Masters Talks, which is focusing on women speakers...
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988) is Broadway bound. A musical about the storied artist’s life is in the works, composed by Jon Batiste, the bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. The project is produced by Alan D. Marks and Barbara Marks. Tony winner John Doyle (“The Color Purple”) has...
Sept. 18: After putting her exhibition “America Monuments” on hold, artist lauren woods explains why the action is necessary. | Video by Daily 49er The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: NEWS After four years in Brooklyn,...
Spelman College campus in Atlanta. A GRANT FROM THE WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION positions Spelman College to become an incubator for African American curators. The five-year, $5.4 million grant will inaugurate the Atlanta University Center Collective for the Study of Art History and Curatorial Studies. An art history major and curatorial studies minor will be...
IN A 2008 PAINTING, Nina Chanel Abney brought together the seemingly disparate images of her friend Randal, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a pack of dogs, and Michael Vick, the NFL player who was serving 21 months in prison for participating in dog fighting, when the work was made. Titled “Randaleeza,” the...
“Husband and Wife” (2017) is one of three works by Toyin Ojih Odutola acquired by the Whitney Museum. FOR A YEAR, THE WHITNEY MUSUEM of American Art displayed “Hate Is a Sin Flag” a 2007 work by Faith Ringgold. It is a relatively small print, about 19 inches square, that makes a profound statement....
ISSA RAE OFTEN WEARS statement T-shirts on HBO’s “Insecure.” In recent episodes, her tees have declared “Love is Al Green” and promoted “Inglewood” and “N.W.A.” Another said “Mood” under a portrait of Nina Simone. When she went to the California African American Museum in Season Two, her shirt said, “The Last Poets.” It’s seven...
Installation view of “Frank Bowling: Make It New” at Alexander Gray Associates TEN DAYS AGO, “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” opened at the Brooklyn Museum. The groundbreaking traveling show “shines light on a broad spectrum of Black artistic practice from 1963 to 1983, one of the most politically,...
Curator Lauren Haynes THE CURATORIAL TEAM for the 2019 Armory Show was announced this week. Lauren Haynes is curating the New York City art fair’s Focus section, which is “devoted to solo- and dual-artist presentations by relevant and compelling artists.” This year, Ryan Lee Gallery presented a solo show of works by Emma Amos...
Professor Anita Hill and artist Mark Bradford (2014) GLUED TO THEIR TELEVISIONS, most Americans “met” Anita F. Hill on Oct. 11, 1991. That’s how Mark Bradford was introduced to her, too. In Los Angeles, in the neighborhood of Leimert Park, the TV in the beauty salon owned by his mother, Janice Banks, was tuned...
On View: ‘In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney’ at The Drawing Center in New York Explores Centrality of Drawing in Artist’s Practice
Aug 11, 2025
New African Masquerades: Museums in United States and West Africa Presenting Landmark Look at Contemporary Masquerade Practices
Aug 9, 2025
Culture Type | The Month in Black Art: Here’s What Happened in July 2025
Aug 7, 2025
On the Market: Artist Lorna Simpson’s Studio, Custom-Designed by David Adjaye in Brooklyn, New York
Aug 6, 2025
Betye Saar, 99, Formed a Scholarly Committee of International Curators Charged with Advancing Her Artistic Legacy
Jul 30, 2025
