Lot 187: BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS, “Yocks,” 1975 (acrylic on canvas). | Estimate $300,000-$400,000. Sold for $942,500 (including fees) WEARING A GREEN LEATHER COAT with wide, white fur lapels, the “Boston-based brother” who appears in a triple portrait by Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) was among the subjects for which the artist “felt one pose was...
Installation view of Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair” at GWU Museum and The Textile Museum. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine MUSEUMS ARE BEING CELEBRATED around the world with an emphasis on the critical role the institutions play in civil society. On May 18, hundreds of museums are observing Art Museum...
Christie’s New York, May 17, 2017 – Lot 64B: NJIDEKA AKUNYILI CROSBY, “I Refuse to be Invisible,” 2010 (ink, charcoal, acrylic and transfers on paper, 117 3/4 x 82 inches). | Estimate $1.5 million-$2 million. Sold for $2,647,500 (including fees) THIS EVENING, A MAJOR PAINTING by Njideka Akunyili Crosby is going on the auction...
Lot 112: ALVIN D. LOVING JR. (1935-2006), “Untitled,” 1968 (diptych of acrylic on shaped cotton canvas). | Estimate $80,000-$120,000. Sold for $130,000 / $161,000 (including fees). RECORD KNOWN FOR THEIR UNIQUE APPROACHES to abstraction, painters Alvin D. Loving Jr. (1935-2005) and Frank Bowling reached new benchmarks at Swann Auction Galleries last month. A geometric...
Lot 38: PHILLIP HAMPTON, “Untitled,” (mixed-media, watercolor and enamel on illustration board). | Estimate $2,000-$3,000. Sold for $2,000 including fees A SHORT MENTION in the May 22, 1952, edition of Jet magazine documents a historic first. The headline reads: “Missouri Art School Graduates First Negro MA.” The pathbreaker was Phillip J. Hampton (1922-2016), an...
Installation view, from left, MARK BRADFORD, “Leucosia,” 2016 (mixed media on canvas); “Medusa,” 2016 (acrylic, paint, paper, rope, caulk), and “Raidne,” 2017 (mixed media on canvas). OVER THE PAST YEAR, Mark Bradford has been ruminating. Chosen in April 2016 to represent the United States at the 57th Venice Biennale, the Los Angeles artist has...
MUST-SEE EXHIBITIONS featuring some of the most interesting black female artists working today are opening around the world this month. The first solo museum show of Los Angeles-based Martine Syms opens May 27 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the same city, an amazing show of new portrait paintings by British...
Works exploring trade and migration by SERGE ATTUKWEI CLOTTEY of Accra, Ghana, at Gallery 1957. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine THIS WEEK, A WIDE SELECTION of art fairs opened around New York. Catering to serious collectors and the art curious, the offerings include Art New York, Collective Design, Spring Break, and TEFAF at...
Detail of LORNA SIMPSON B”lack & Ice” 2017, on view at Hauser & Wirth, Frieze NY KNOWN FOR INTRODUCING the latest in today’s contemporary art, Frieze New York this year features both must-see new works and gems from the past. Some of the highlights include focused exhibitions of new paintings by Lorna Simpson at...
Lubaina Himid, 2017. | Courtesy the Artist and Hollybush Gardens, Photo by Edmund Blok for Modern Art Oxford via Tate TWO OF THE MOST INTERESTING PAINTERS working in Britain were recognized today. The shortlist for the Turner Prize was announced and Hurvin Anderson and Lubaina Himid are among the four artists selected for the...
Lot 2: CHÉRI SAMBA (b. 1956), “Une Vie Ratée ( A Successful Life), 1995 (acrylic on canvas). | Estimate 20,000-30,000 pounds ($25,844-$38,766). Sold for 52,500 pounds ($67,841 including fees) SOTHEBY’S IS HOLDING ITS FIRST-EVER modern and contemporary African art sale May 16 in London. Featuring more than 60 artists from 14 countries, the selection...
Residence in Hollywood, Calif., designed in 1928 by Paul Williams for banking executive Victor Rosetti. STATELY AND GRACEFUL are the descriptors frequently invoked in real state listings for homes designed by architect Paul Revere Williams (1894-1980). The Williams name adds quantifiable prestige to prime properties on the most desirable streets in Beverly Hills, Hollywood...
Ford Foundation President Darren Walker (center) presented a Skowhegan award honoring the Studio Museum in Harlem to Thelma Golden and William T. Williams. | Photo by Benjamin Lozovsky/BFA.com via Skowhegan ONE SOUGHT AFTER RESIDENCY PROGRAM recognized another this week. Skowhegan paid tribute to the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program, presenting the museum...
Chris Ofili shows off his CBE. | Photo by John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images EXCEPTIONAL BRITISH CITIZENS were bestowed with royal honors at Buckingham Palace last week. In January, artist Chris Ofili was announced among Order of the British Empire honorees for 2017. He received a CBE or “Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the...
THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA announced the appointment of Milton S. Curry as dean of its school of architecture. The institution has a storied history. The first accredited architecture school in Southern California, the program marked a century of architecture in 2014, graduating its 100th class of students. Among its earliest alumni, Paul R. Williams,...
DESIGNATED BY THE UNITED NATIONS Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Book Day promotes reading, publishing and copyright. It’s a great excuse to learn more about five new art books. Recently published volumes pay tribute to women artists and explore the work of African American artists active in 1960s and 70s Los Angeles—the work...
Photograph by Broomberg & Chanarin via Time TIME MAGAZINE ANNOUNCED its annual assessment of the 100 Most Influential People and artist Kerry James Marshall made the list. The 2017 roundup of people at the forefront of ideas, innovation, power and change, includes major figures in five categories—pioneers, artists, leaders, titans, and icons. Pope Francis,...
Alma Thomas, “Untitled,” circa 1968. | MoMA A NEW EXHIBITION at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is dedicated to works by women artists created between the end of World War II in 1945 and the onset of the Feminist Movement in the late 1960s. “Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction”...
SPRING SHOWS ARE HERE and the rich selection runs the gamut, from exhibitions of innovative new works to scholarly examinations of important historic movements. Exploring the intersection of race, feminism, political action, art production, the much-anticipated “We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85” is opening at the Brooklyn Museum. In advance of his representation...
Cover Artist: Kara Walker on New York magazine’s Art & Design issue (April 17-30, 2017). FOR THE NEW ART & DESIGN ISSUE of New York magazine, writer Doreen St. Félix profiles Kara Walker. She spent time with the 47-year-old artist at her brownstone in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, her Garment District studio, and also talking...
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
