RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include the long-awaited opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; the announcement of the MacArthur Foundation’s 2016 fellows, including Kellie Jones and Joyce J. Scott; a new...
Embed from Getty Images For while the tale of how we suffer and how we are delighted and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard – President Obama, quoting James Baldwin RINGING A HISTORIC CHURCH BELL, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama officially marked the opening...
From left, 2016 MacArthur Foundation Fellows Joyce J. Scott and Kellie Jones. | Courtesy Mac Foundation EVERY FALL, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation selects a new class of MacArthur Fellows, among the most creative and innovative people in the arts, science, and beyond. This year’s winners include art historian and curator...
Jaimie Milner and some of the men she has photographed discuss the Gifted project. FOR MORE THAN FIVE YEARS, Jaimie Milner has been photographing black men. She describes the process as an exploration of the “beauty and ingenuity of black men today.” Milner has made portraits of more than 50 so far, from all...
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is exhibiting works from its collection by African American artists including WILLIAM H. JOHNSON. WITH THE GRAND OPENING of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) less than a week away, anticipation is palpable. Visitor passes for the opening weekend disappeared shortly after their release...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent, with a few nods to culture thrown in. This week, highlights include news that President Obama created a national monument, will honor artists Jack Whitten and Ralph Lemon with the National Medal of Arts, and...
Embed from Getty Images CHICAGO HAS A VIBRANT ART SCENE, which surprised director Stanley Nelson. The Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker known for telling stories about the Freedom Riders, Emmett Till, Wounded Knee, Jonestown, Oak Bluffs, the Black Press, and most recently, the Black Panthers, has trained his lens on Chicago artists. Nelson is directing...
LORNA SIMPSON, “Untitled (Two Necklines),” 1989 WASHINGTON, D.C. — TWO DAYS AFTER her new exhibition of paintings opened at Salon 94 in New York, Lorna Simpson gave a talk at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She offered a visual journey of her practice over the past three decades, sharing the concepts...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include news that Elizabeth Catlett‘s alma mater is attempting make amends for a decades-old discriminatory housing policy. David Adjaye and Chris Ofili may be lighting London’s historic bridges. Steve McQueen won the...
Artist Jacob Lawrence, photo by CARL VAN VECHTEN SOME OF THE MOST AMAZING PORTRAITS of Harlem’s 20th century figures were captured by Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964). A writer and photographer, Van Vechten socialized with the greats of African American arts and letters, including Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. A white patron of the...
ALMA THOMAS, “Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset,” 1970 (acrylic on canvas). | Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist; Courtesy Studio Museum in Harlem AT A TIME WHEN MOST ARTISTS are in the sunset of their careers, Alma Thomas (1891-1978) was on the rise. Recognized for her expressive abstract paintings, her exuberant use...
A VISIT TO A MUSEUM, helped Barack Obama win Michelle Robinson’s heart. “Southside With You,” a new film about the first couple’s first date, includes a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. There they view an exhibition that features paintings by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009), representational works reflecting the African American experience with lithe...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include news that black women artists gathered in New York in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Also motivated by the movement, a group of black creative directors launched an initiative...
TO MARK ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY, the September issue of Frieze magazine features three different covers and a review of the 25 most significant works of art produced over the past quarter century—one for each year since 1991. Chris Ofili was commissioned to create one of the covers for the special issue and was the...
Kara Walker’s puppets for the “Banshee” video include a likeness of Santigold. THE NEW VIDEO for “Banshee,” a track on Santigold’s recent album 99¢, starts off like many others. It’s a street scene filmed in black-and-white, a visual narrative meant to bring the song’s lyrics to life. Soon, however, it becomes clear that this...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include news that timed entry tickets for the Sept. 24 grand opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., will be released starting this morning; an...
Alison Saar on Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. | Video by LACMA CONTAINED IN A DISPLAY BOX, the figure is at once elegant and rough hewn. “She’s a strong, intense female figure …She’s got her one hand up doing this kind of shimmy thing. She is just out there and strutting her stuff,” says artist Alison...
Collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture AFRICAN AMERICANS have a storied history with food. Published last September, “The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks” seeks to tamp down “the demeaning stereotype of an illiterate ‘Aunt Jemima’ who cooked mostly by natural instinct” by emphasizing the contributions women...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include plans for a memorial to lynching victims in Montgomery, Ala.; expansion of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater’s New York headquarters; and news that an outdoor installation of whimsically painted abandoned homes in...
Curator Lauren Haynes. | Photo by King Texas, Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art AFTER A DECADE at the Studio Museum in Harlem, associate curator Lauren Haynes, is pursuing a new opportunity, joining the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art as curator of contemporary art. Located in Bentonville, Ark., Crystal Bridges was established...
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