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An essential resource focused on visual art from a Black perspective, Culture Type explores the intersection of art, history, and culture

New York Museums are Showcasing African American Art, Exhibitions Feature Lorna Simpson, Rashid Johnson, Beauford Delaney, Amy Sherald, Black Dandyism & More

New York Museums are Showcasing African American Art, Exhibitions Feature Lorna Simpson, Rashid Johnson, Beauford Delaney, Amy Sherald, Black Dandyism & More

TOP NEW YORK MUSEUMS are presenting exhibitions of major African American artists this spring and summer with most on view through fall 2025. Solo exhibitions include the largest-ever surveys of Rashid Johnson at the Guggenheim Museum, Amy Sherald at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Jack Whitten at the...
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Foodways: Artists and Museums are Embracing the Cultural, Creative and Convivial Aspects of the Culinary Experience

Foodways: Artists and Museums are Embracing the Cultural, Creative and Convivial Aspects of the Culinary Experience

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: The Latest News in Black Art - Plans for a Memorial to Lynching Victims

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Plans for a Memorial to Lynching Victims

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...
Studio Museum Curator Lauren Haynes is Joining Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas

Studio Museum Curator Lauren Haynes is Joining Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas

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...
Olympic Spirit: Over the Years, Important African American Artists Have Paid Tribute to the Games and Champion Athletes

Olympic Spirit: Over the Years, Important African American Artists Have Paid Tribute to the Games and Champion Athletes

MARTIN PURYEAR, “Untitled (Olympic Poster),” 1984.   AFRICAN AMERICAN ATHLETES have been competing in the Olympics for more than a century—earning gold medals, breaking records, and making political statements. Who can forget U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) bowing their heads and raising their fists at the 200 meter medal ceremony at...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art - Large Donations Continue at Smithsonian African American Museum

Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Large Donations Continue at Smithsonian African American Museum

  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 departure of the director of El Museo del Barrio; a network of public librarians and a collective black women artists rallying in support of Black Lives Matter; and announcements...
Black Men Keep Getting Killed by Police, Carrie Mae Weems Offers a Graceful Reflection

Black Men Keep Getting Killed by Police, Carrie Mae Weems Offers a Graceful Reflection

A behind-the-scenes look at “Grace Notes: Reflections for Now” by Carrie Mae Weems | Video by Art21   AMID THE TRAGEDY AND VIOLENCE of black lives snuffed out at a Charleston, S.C., church during Bible study and gunned down on the streets of countless cities across the United States at the hands of police, artist...
Elle Magazine: New Photo Project by LaToya Ruby Frazier Reminds Americans that Flint Lives Matter

Elle Magazine: New Photo Project by LaToya Ruby Frazier Reminds Americans that Flint Lives Matter

From left, Shea Cobb with her daughter Zion and mother, Ms. Renee, outside the Social Network banquet hall. | Photo courtesy Elle magazine | © LaToya Ruby Frazier, Photo courtesy Elle magazine   THE NEWS MEDIA HAS MOVED ON, but there is still a water crisis in Flint, Mich. In April 2014, the city switched...
Retrospective: A Review of the Latest News in Black Art - New Appointment for Curator Jamillah James

Retrospective: A Review of the Latest News in Black Art – New Appointment for Curator Jamillah James

RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. This week, highlights include a couple of major appointments: curator Jamillah James is joining the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and poet Kevin Young is taking the helm of the Schomburg Center for Research...
Hammer Museum Launches Digital Archive with 'Now Dig This!' Exhibition About Black Artists in Los Angeles

Hammer Museum Launches Digital Archive with ‘Now Dig This!’ Exhibition About Black Artists in Los Angeles

  THE HAMMER MUSEUM has breathed new life into one of its most dynamic and historically significant exhibitions. “Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980” explored a robust period in the city’s history when a pioneering group of African American artists established an influential creative community and produced important works commenting on the...
First Lady Michelle Obama Visits Kerry James Marshall Exhibition at MCA Chicago

First Lady Michelle Obama Visits Kerry James Marshall Exhibition at MCA Chicago

Kerry James Marshall gave First Lady Michelle Obama a tour of his exhibition. | Photo courtesy MCA Chicago   LAST FRIDAY, FIRST LADY Michelle Obama viewed “Mastry,” the Kerry James Marshall exhibition at MCA Chicago. Marshall’s powerful paintings chronicle the African American experience. The exhibition documents the artist’s practice over the past three decades and...
Retrospective: A  Review of the Latest News in Black Art - Black Art Incubator Encourages Innovative Creative Exchange

Retrospective: A Review of the Latest News in Black Art – Black Art Incubator Encourages Innovative Creative Exchange

RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. In the last half of July 2016, highlights include the launch of Black Art Incubator, a dynamic New York space for artistic, intellectual and social exchange founded by four young art world influencers; the announcement...
First Woman President?: A Portrait of American History by Simmie Knox

First Woman President?: A Portrait of American History by Simmie Knox

Embed from Getty Images   TWENTY YEARS AGO, Hillary Clinton authored “It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us.” The 1996 book presented her vision for America’s children and the ways in which society can enable their success. In many ways, it was a blueprint for her life’s work up to that point,...
Coming Soon: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Smithsonian's African American Museum

Coming Soon: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Smithsonian’s African American Museum

From left, architects Phil Freelon and David Adjaye discuss the design for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine   WASHINGTON, D.C. — The countdown is officially underway. Two months from today, the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will celebrate its grand opening...
History Makers: 10 African American Firsts in Modern and Contemporary Art Continue to Resonate Today

History Makers: 10 African American Firsts in Modern and Contemporary Art Continue to Resonate Today

  THE LIST OF HISTORY-MAKING firsts and groundbreaking achievements made by African American artists, and more recently curators, is endless, spanning probably as early as the 17th century to the present. The following briefly captures 10 milestones and a corresponding “where are they now” look at each of these important figures.   ALMA THOMAS with...
Collaborations Among Carrie Mae Weems, Sarah Lewis, and Adrienne Edwards  Have Produced Some of the Most Compelling Art Projects of the Year

Collaborations Among Carrie Mae Weems, Sarah Lewis, and Adrienne Edwards Have Produced Some of the Most Compelling Art Projects of the Year

From left, Adrienne Edwards, Carrie Mae Weems, and Sarah Lewis.   ANDERSON RANCH IN SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo., presented Carrie Mae Weems with its National Artist Award yesterday. The honor capped a weeklong celebration of the arts center’s 50th anniversary. Over the past few years, Weems has received more than a dozen awards, including a MacArthur...
Retrospective: A Review of the Latest News in Black Art - Art, Police and Black Lives

Retrospective: A Review of the Latest News in Black Art – Art, Police and Black Lives

  RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. In the first half of July 2016, highlights include responses to police violence through the lens of art by artists including Dread Scott, curator Thomas J. Lax, and writer Taylor Renee Aldridge in the...
Race/Related: Times Reporting Team Gets Backstory on 'A Man Was Lynched' Redux

Race/Related: Times Reporting Team Gets Backstory on ‘A Man Was Lynched’ Redux

  LAST WEEK IN NEW YORK CITY, artist Dread Scott joined protestors in Union Square. The demonstrators were taking a stand against police killing black men after the latest incidents involving the deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in Minneapolis. Scott brought a huge black flag, holding it aloft for...
Global Trotting: From Toronto to London and Addis Ababa, 17 Exhibitions Present the Work of Black Artists This Summer

Global Trotting: From Toronto to London and Addis Ababa, 17 Exhibitions Present the Work of Black Artists This Summer

TRAVELING TO TORONTO? Stop by Art Gallery Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, Canada, where a pair of solo exhibitions featuring British artist Hurvin Anderson and Chicago artist Theaster Gates are on view this summer. Both are also exhibiting in Europe. There is a Gates exhibition in Milan, Italy, and “Hurvin Anderson: Dub Versions” is at the...
Almost Famous: The Ebb and Flow of Sam Gilliam's Formidable Practice

Almost Famous: The Ebb and Flow of Sam Gilliam’s Formidable Practice

  A MUST-READ PROFILE of Sam Gilliam published last week in The Washington Post, begins with a quote from the artist about him being “outlandishly famous.” The comment is meant to be facetious, but is actually not too far off base when one considers the recent trajectory of his recognition weighed against periods of his...
Sonic Spaces: Brothers Peter and David Adjaye Discuss Music for Architecture

Sonic Spaces: Brothers Peter and David Adjaye Discuss Music for Architecture

Peter and David Adjaye on the Sonic Collaboration. | Video by The Spaces   PAIRING A GLOBAL PORTFOLIO of major cultural centers and public institutions with projects that span furniture and textile design, architect David Adjaye‘s latest pursuit is a musical collaboration with his brother. A DJ, musician and sound designer with degrees in mathematics...