THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART received a donation of 57 works by 30 African American artists from the South last year. The gift from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation included works by Thornton Dial, Lonnie Hollie, Nellie Mae Rowe and 20 quilts by women artists from Gee’s Bend, Ala. Giving the largest museum in...
EIGHT DAYS BEFORE “Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis” opened at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), one of the large-scale canvases featured in the exhibition was acquired by the Newark Museum. The painting is one of the more striking on view in the Norman Lewis retrospective, a 1953 abstract on untreated canvas,...
SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES has released the catalog for its fall African American Fine Art sale on Dec. 15 in New York. The selection, which it describes as including its “strongest offerings to date,” features a number of Norman Lewis paintings, several works by Hughie Lee-Smith, Lois Mailou Jones, Beauford Delaney, and Charles White, along with...
FEATURED AMONG HIS CONTEMPORARIES, Sam Gilliam experienced a career milestone on Nov. 11. When his work “Empty,” a riot of color painted in 1972 (shown above), came up for auction, it not only exceeded expectations, it sold for more than 10 times the high estimate. Lot No. 228 at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art...
HIGHLY REGARDED FOR HIS GRAND MURALS and monumental canvases, artist Aaron Douglas‘s work straddled the visual and literary arts during the Harlem Renaissance. While his depictions of African American history and culture referenced ancient Egyptian motifs and traditional African forms, his graphic style was decidedly modern. Recognized for his silhouetted figures, Douglas’s work was...
LOS ANGELES-BASED artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby is the recipient of the Studio Museum in Harlem’s 10th Annual Joyce Alexander Wien Artist Prize. Since 2006, the $50,000 prize has honored “the artistic achievements of an African American artist who demonstrates great promise and creativity.” The announcement of the annual prize was celebrated at the museum’s...
Installation by Ebony G. Patterson. IN JUNE, ARTNEWS DEVOTED a special issue to women in the art world and the findings revealed a major gulf between the experiences of male and female artists and curators. According to ARTnews, women are seriously underrepresented when it comes to running major museums. Female artists trail far behind...
THE THREE MAJOR AUCTION HOUSES—Christie’s, Sothebys and Phillips—held contemporary art sales during Frieze London and the events yielded a number of artist records, including career high values for Mark Bradford and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Known for her deft portrayals of compelling figures, Yiadom-Boakye far exceeded pre-sale expectations at Christie’s London on Oct. 16. “Knave” (above),...
THE SHELDON MUSEUM OF ART at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln is presenting four exhibitions that offer a visual journey through black history, culture and politics over the past century. From James VanDerZee and Gordon Parks to Barkley L. Hendricks and Renee Cox works by some of the most celebrated and thought-provoking artists and...
TWO YEARS FROM NOW, in 2017, Los Angeles artist Mark Bradford (above) plans to take full advantage of the unique cylindrical structure of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. The critically recognized artist is installing a suite of site-specific paintings on the third floor of the Smithsonian museum where the work...
THIS SEASON, A VARIETY of magazines feature on their covers some of the most dynamic African American artists (and curator) working today. In addition, the forthcoming issue of the New York Times’s “T” magazine includes Amsterdam-based British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen on one of six covers for its inaugural The Greats issue celebrating...
DURING A TALK ABOUT COLLECTING African American art, collector Rodney Miller told curator Ruth Fine that he is a “big, big, big fan of painting.” And soon, Fine revealed to the audience gathered to hear the conversation at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., that two of Miller’s paintings by Norman Lewis...
MOMA PS1 HAS ASSEMBLED a sprawling exhibition featuring 157 New York artists and collectives that span generations and mediums, and includes more than 400 works, as well as performances and films. Before visitors enter the main museum building, they get an Afrocentric welcome. Flying out front is David Hammons‘s “African American Flag,” the New...
EACH FALL BRINGS A NEW SLATE of art exhibitions, usually the best of the calendar year. This season, commercial galleries are showing an interesting mix of African American and African diasporic artists working in a range of mediums and addressing a diversity of issues. Following William Pope.L‘s “Trinket” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art,...
THE MACARTHUR FOUNDATION has announced its class of 2015 fellows and photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier is among the two dozen recognized for groundbreaking work and outstanding accomplishments in their field. “These 24 delightfully diverse MacArthur Fellows are shedding light and making progress on critical issues, pushing the boundaries of their fields, and improving our world...
FOR GENERATIONS, IT HAS BEEN HARD to visit American museums and genuinely appreciate the experience when rarely is the depth and breadth of American art represented in exhibitions and collections. Far rarer, has been the inclusion of works by African American artists in retrospectives intended to capture the broad sweep of American art history....
SINCE SHE WAS A TEENAGER, LaToya Ruby Frazier has been using a camera to document her family and community. Growing up in Braddock, Pa., where the steel mill was the chief employer, her photographic endeavor became a serious pursuit when the industry collapsed. The local economy failed and its citizens faced critical health challenges caused...
ART + PRACTICE IS PRESENTING “The Beautyful Ones,” Njideka Akunyili Crosby‘s first exhibition in Los Angeles. Awarded the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s 2014 James Dicke Contemporary Artist Prize, Nigerian-born Akunyili Crosby lives and works in Los Angeles. Curated by the Hammer Museum, the exhibition features a new body of work that “explores intimacy and interiority...
FOR THE FIRST TIME in its nearly 50-year history, the Studio Museum in Harlem plans to construct a new building designed expressly to meet the needs of its ambitious programming. The news came last month, coupled with the announcement that architect David Adjaye is designing the $122 million public-private project made possible by partial...
THIS SUMMER, MAJOR CITIES are presenting major exhibitions featuring the work of important African American artists. In greater Detroit, Nick Cave (shown above) is staging pop-up performances showcasing his mesmerizing Soundsuits in conjunction with a museum exhibition at the Cranbrook Art Museum, his first in Michigan. In New York, the Studio Museum in Harlem is...
On View: ‘Paris Noir’ Exhibition at Centre Pompidou ‘Retraces the Presence and Influence of Black Artists in France from 1950s to 2000’
Jun 29, 2025
On View: ‘Michael Armitage: Crucible,’ Paintings by Kenyan British Artist Explore Migration at David Zwirner in New York
Jun 27, 2025
Fresh Out of Graduate School, Christine Sun Kim Helped to Greatly Improve Experiences of Deaf Audiences at the Whitney Museum
Jun 24, 2025
American Sign Language Videos Explore Whitney Museum’s Collection, Including Works by Simone Leigh, Archibald Motley, Diedrick Brackens, Jacob Lawrence & More
Jun 24, 2025
Picturing Freedom: Exhibition and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Book Shed Light on Harriet Tubman’s Greatest Feat, Liberating More than 700 in Combahee River Raid
Jun 19, 2025
