THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT was about strength, community, black identity, and self determination. All of these characteristics are present in “Black Unity” by Elizabeth Catlett. Created in 1968, Catlett’s powerful, wood sculpture covers of the latest issue of Artforum magazine. It’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks at Artforum. Knight Landesman, one of its...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is an element of fantasy in Amy Sherald’s portraits. The Baltimore-based artist usually paints people she spots around the city—men, women, and youth who have a certain something that captures her attention and piques her curiosity. She’s depicted a woman with a baby on her hip, a young man who’s...
ART SHOULD GET RIGHT UP IN YOUR FACE. “A good art work should rush out so close up to you that you are so uncomfortable. It should just rush out and get in your face,” Mark Bradford says in a new WSJ. The Wall Street Journal Magazine video. He talks about how America is...
AMONG THE HALLMARKS of Arnold Lehman’s nearly two-decade tenure as director of the Brooklyn Museum was his focus on community engagement, popular culture, and the visibility of African American artists. After retiring in 2015, he transitioned from the museum world to the auction world, joining Phillips as a special adviser to the CEO, Edward...
SURVEY is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. OVER THE WEEKEND, the feminist art historian Linda Nochlin died at age 86. She wrote the seminal 1971 essay, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?,”...
ABOUT TWO YEARS AGO, Anderson Cooper “got really serious” about collecting art. In an interview with Town & Country, the CNN anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent discusses how he and his partner Benjamin Maisani are assembling a collection that represents their disparate tastes and shared interests. Of the two, Maisani is the veteran collector...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. OVER THE PAST WEEK, compelling conversations about art, politics, and society, took place across the country. The SCAD Museum of Art hosted a symposium in conjunction with...
Kellie Jones, author of “South of Pico.” A DECADE AGO, Kellie Jones set out to write a book about African American artists in Los Angeles. The focus of her research was the 1960s and ’70s, a period when artists in the city were experimenting with materials and form, and mixing art with activism. Shortly...
THE UK GOVERNMENT has selected Adjaye Associates, Ron Arad Architects and landscape architects Gustafson Porter + Bowman to design a new national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London. David Adjaye will serve as lead designer of the project. Commissioned by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, the memorial honors “the six million Jewish men,...
THE FALL SEASON continues with an international slate of black artists presenting new and important work in the United States and abroad. The Whitney is hosting Toyin Ojih Odutola‘s first exhibition in a New York museum. A monumental exhibition of African design is making its U.S. debut at the High Museum in Atlanta. Njideka...
A post shared by Hirshhorn (@hirshhorn) on Oct 14, 2017 at 11:16am PDT Theaster Gates presented “Plantation Lullabies,” a discussion and performance, at the Hirshhorn Museum Oct. 13. THE HIRSHHORN MUSEUM was infused with sacred, soulful music on Friday evening. The museum hosted the second installment of Theaster Gates‘s four-part series Processions. The collaborative...
THE 15TH EDITION of Frieze London was open to the public Oct. 5-8. More than 160 galleries from around the world participated in the art fair at Regent’s Park, where art by more than 1,000 artists were on view. While works by artists of African descent were few and far between, a number received...
TWO AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS are painting official portraits of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The artists were selected by the Obamas. New York-based Kehinde Wiley is painting the president and Baltimore artist Amy Sherald will depict the first lady. The Portrait Gallery commissioned...
TREASURED WORKS BY African American artists Alma Thomas and William H. Johnson are on view outside the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum (SAAM). With the help of the public, the works were selected to grace the new banners hanging at the museum’s entrances. “The Eclipse” (1970) by Thomas and “Flowers” (1939-40) by Johnson greet visitors...
In September, PAFA acquired “Unraveling” (2015-ongoing) by Sonya Clark for $17,000. The artist is deconstructing (or “unraveling”) the Confederate flag on Nov. 4. | Courtesy Sonya Clark THE FATE OF CONFEDERATE STATUES in public spaces. NFL players taking a knee during the National Anthem. America’s complicated history with race and views about protest and...
SUSANNE VIELMETTER LOS ANGELES PROJECTS has announced its representation of Samuel Levi Jones. The Chicago-based artist makes innovative three-dimensional works out of books, taking an intellectual approach to working with the tomes that could be described as anthropological abstraction. The news that Jones is joining Susanne Vielmetter comes about four months after the opening...
Jack Whitten walks through “Soul of a Nation” at the Tate Modern and talks about his work and “present times” in America. | Video by Tate Modern NO STRANGER TO RACIAL DIVISION and political strife, Jack Whitten’s abstract canvases tackle weighty issues, confront hard truths, and consider the insights and sacrifices of important cultural...
Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Dawoud Bey. | Photos courtesy MacArthur Foundation THE LATEST CLASS of MacArthur Foundation fellows includes photographer Dawoud Bey and painter Njideka Akunyili Crosby. The artists are among 24 recipients of 2017 “Genius” grants announced today. MacArthur Fellowships are bestowed upon “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in...
Lot 207: HENRY TAYLOR, “Untitled (Symbol),” 2007 (oil on canvas). | Estimate £30,000-£50,000 / $39,210-$65,350. Sold for £230,750 / $301,590 (including fees) RECORD OVER THE PAST SEVERAL AUCTION SEASONS, paintings by Henry Taylor have been selling at steadily increasing prices, regularly setting incremental new records for the artist. Another benchmark was set on Oct....
OYIN OJIH ODUTOLA (b. 1985), “Pregnant,” 2017 (charcoal, pastel and pencil on paper, 74 1/2 x 42 inches). | © Toyin Ojih Odutola. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York FOR HER FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION in New York, Toyin Ojih Odutola plumbs the culture and heritage of her native Nigeria. She...
Barnes Foundation Appointed Judia S. Jackson Head of Human Resources and Culture at Philadelphia Museum
Jun 1, 2025
Malcolm X at 100: Transformational Leader and Outspoken Orator Inspired Artworks by Jack Whitten and Barbara Chase-Riboud
May 30, 2025
Alma Thomas Way: Washington D.C., Street Where Famous African American Artist Lived is Now Named in Her Honor
May 26, 2025
On View: ‘Vanessa German: Gumball’ Presented Monumental Heads and Fallen Figures at Kasmin Gallery in New York
May 11, 2025
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
May 9, 2025
