FLAGS HAVE PROVEN to be a powerful medium in contemporary art, from David Hammons’s “African American Flag” (1990), which sold at Phillips auction for more than $2 million, to Dread Scott’s “A Man Was Lynched by Police Yesterday” (2015) displayed last summer at Jack Shainman Gallery, and Nu Barreto’s “Desunited States of Africa” (2010)...
FAITH RINGGOLD, “American Collection #4: Jo Baker’s Bananas,” 1997 (acrylic on canvas with pieced fabric border). | Purchased with funds donated by the Estate of Barbara Bingham Moore, Olga V. Hargis Family Trusts and the Members’ Acquisition Fund FOUNDED IN 1987, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is celebrating its 30th...
AFTER DEVOTING A SUMMER in Gloucester, Mass., to landscape painting, Jordan Casteel decided to start making portraits of black men. The man who killed Trayvon Martin was acquitted in those months between her first and second year at Yale University where she earned her MFA. The experiences of her twin brother were unsettling, too....
IN ADVANCE OF “A Portrait Show” (June 11-July 22, 2017), Henry Taylor‘s solo exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Zurich, Switzerland, Cultured magazine visited the artist in his studio. The publication paired Hamza Walker, executive director of LAXART, with Taylor. Both live and work in Los Angeles. The artist was still working on canvases...
Embed from Getty Images Troy Carter, Founder and CEO of Atom Factory THREE NEW MEMBERS were elected to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Board of Trustees, including entrepreneur and venture capitalist Troy Carter. A relatively young addition to the museum’s board, Carter, 44, is the influential founder and CEO of Atom...
Embed from Getty Images THE U.S. JAIL AND PRISON POPULATION increased more than ten-fold over the past 40 years, despite crime rates dropping by about 50 percent during the same period. To address the issue, Agnes Gund (above) provided $100 million to establish the Art for Justice Fund. A New York City philanthropist and...
ROBERT COLESCOTT, “George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware” (1975). THE SEATTLE ART MUSEUM (SAM) is organizing a major exhibition of three critically recognized African American artists—Robert Colescott (1925-2009), Kerry James Marshall, and Mickalene Thomas. The exhibition will explore how their distinct approaches to figuration and history painting have recast the Western canon and challenged...
THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART announced the appointment of Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi as curator of African Art. The museum has a significant collection of more than 300 works of traditional art from sub-Saharan Africa, including a broad selection of masks and figurative sculpture from West and Central Africa. An artist, art historian and curator,...
FOR HIS FIRST EXHIBITION in Milan, Theaster Gates presented “True Value” (July 7-Sept. 25, 2016) which centered around the inventory of a shuttered Chicago hardware store. Installed in an art context, he reimagined the abandoned tools and supplies as a monumental visual display. An artist who trained as a potter, Gates has become more...
THE ARMORY SHOW NAMED CURATORS for its Focus and Platform sections today and also announced a new curatorial leadership summit for its 2018 fair. Bringing together an international roster of prominent curators, the daylong summit is designed to foster “new ideas and developments within the curatorial landscape.” Naomi Beckwith, curator at the Museum of...
THE SUGAR HILL CHILDREN’S MUSEUM of Art and Storytelling is promoting from within. The Harlem museum whose primary audience is 3 to 8-year-olds, announced the appointment of Lauren Kelley (above) as director and chief curator. Kelley has been with the museum since 2013, when it was still in development. Previously serving as associate director...
FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION to the 2017 Whitney Biennial, Pope.L utilized processed lunch meat and found photography to raise issues of representation and the pitfalls of population counting and “baloney” that can be embedded in its “accuracy” and use. Always thought-provoking, the multidisciplinary artist’s clever approach has been duly recognized. The Whitney Museum of American...
THE VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (VMFA) named Valerie Cassel Oliver its new Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Recognized for her ability to connect with artists and identify promising emerging figures, Cassel Oliver is expected to invigorate the department, introducing an innovative exhibition program and a broad range...
THE OBAMA FOUNDATION in Chicago announced Louise Bernard will serve as the first director of the Museum of the Obama Presidential Center. Bernard, who has previously been associated with the New York Public Library, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, will...
Embed from Getty Images FASCINATION WITH THE LIFE AND WORK of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) has never really quelled since his death three decades ago. Over the past few years, a crush of exhibitions and catalogs, and soaring auctions sales have further shaped the legacy of Basquiat whose life was cut short by a drug...
Lot 2: DAVID HAMMONS, “African-American Flag,” 1990 (dyed cotton, edition of 5). | Estimate $700,000-$1,000,000. Sold for $2,050,000 (including fees) NEARLY THREE DECADES AGO, David Hammons hoisted his newly created red, black, and green “African-American Flag” (1990) above Museum Overholland. He was participating in “Black USA,” a group show organized by Christiaan Braun, director...
Sotheby’s New York Contemporary Art Day Auction, May 19, 2017 – Lot 416: HENRY TAYLOR, “Miss Kelley,” 2010 (acrylic on canvas). | Estimate $50,000-$70,000. Sold for $231,250 (including fees) THIS MONTH, FOUR PAINTINGS by Henry Taylor were auctioned at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York. As recognition of Taylor increases—his work is displayed prominently...
Lot 75: HENRY TAYLOR, “‘The Young, the Brave, Bobby Hutton’ R.I.P. Oakland, California,” 2007 (acrylic, charcoal and graphite on canvas). Estimate $35,000-$45,000. Sold for $235,500 (including fees) IN MARCH, TWO PAINTINGS by Henry Taylor set artist records at auction. A couple of weeks after Henry Taylor‘s 2011 painting “Terri Philips” sold for $182,078 (including...
Lot 24: JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988), “Untitled,” 1982 (acrylic, spray paint and oilstick on canvas, 72 1/8 x 68 1/8 inches). | Bids began at $57 million. Sold for $110,487,500 (including fees) THE MOST EXPENSIVE WORK OF ART by an American artist ever sold at auction was painted by a black man. A large-scale canvas...
Barkley Hendricks (1945-2017). | Photo by Duke University, Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery THE NASHER MUSEUM OF ART at Duke University is celebrating the life and work of Barley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) today. The extended museum and campus community, along with the family, friends, and fans of Hendricks are gathering at the museum to pay...
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
