JACOB LAWRENCE COMPLETED “The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture,” his first series of historic narrative paintings in 1938. It was the same year Talladega College commissioned Hale Woodruff to paint a series of murals depicting the Amistad uprising. Both projects document pivotal moments in black diasporic history and demonstrate the immense talent of important 20th century...
A NEW EXHIBITION AT THE STUDIO MUSEUM in Harlem was inspired by the pluck of a young Chicago entrepreneur. When positive images of black people were absent from America’s most popular household magazines, John H. Johnson started his own. Fixtures on the coffee tables of countless black families across the country, Ebony and Jet served...
RECOMMENDED READING FEATURES recently published content from around the web, recommendations from Culture Type worth taking the time to explore: “The Hole Truth” by Raphael Rubinstein | Art in America Howardena Pindell has pursued a number of avenues in her work, but it is her fields of color punctuated with layered scatterings of...
STORIES, MEMORIES AND DREAMS fill Jack Shainman Gallery. They are embedded in ambitious portraits composed of torn paper and installations of found radios, album covers and eyeglasses. The materials have a history that artist Kay Hassan mines for meaning, envisioning how everyday people live, face challenges and find joy. Images from billboard advertisements and the...
ALL THAT STANDS BETWEEN YOU and owning works by some of the most highly regarded artists practicing today is the wave of a paddle. Major auction houses are staging their fall contemporary sales this week. Works by El Anatsui, Chris Ofili, Mickalene Thomas and Glenn Ligon are up for consideration. Bidding is underway already with...
IT WAS THE FIRST LOT OF THE NIGHT, a white-on-white text painting by Glenn Ligon. Originally executed in 1990 and repainted in 2003, “Untitled (I Was Somebody)” opened Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction and sold for more than $3.9 million, according to sales results. The price was well over twice the estimate of $1 million...
A SELECTION OF SHELF-WORTHY, COFFEE TABLE-READY books and catalogs published recently that explore black art and artists “The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume V: The Twentieth Century, Part 2: The Rise of Black Artists” edited by David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Belknap Press, 368 pages) Since 2010, Harvard University Press...
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND MOUNTING “Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist” has everything to do with exposure, recasting the legacy of an important 20th century painter. Based in Chicago, Archibald Motley (1891-1981) painted captivating portraits, lively street scenes and spirited social gatherings with a modern perspective. His canvases capture African American life with wry humor and...
RECOMMENDED READING FEATURES recently published content from around the web, recommendations from Culture Type worth taking the time to explore: “Recovering Weeksville” By Brandon Harris | The New Yorker The new Weeksville Heritage Center, “Brooklyn’s largest African-American cultural center,” cements the legacy of the black landowning community for which it was named. Straddling Bedford-Stuyvesant and...
SINCE LAST FALL, month after month has been punctuated by encounters with photographer Carrie Mae Weems. Not literally, but at every turn it seems another accomplishment or engagement, another confirmation of the importance of her practice, has come to my attention, which is wonderful. Throughout her more than 30-year career, Weems has been critically...
ACROSS THE COUNTRY TODAY, voters are casting ballots in the mid-term elections. Congressional seats, state offices and local initiatives, including arts funding, are up for consideration. Nationwide, President Obama’s handling of ISIS and Ebola is overshadowing fundamental economic issues, though politics remains mostly local. The most competitive states where outcomes will determine the balance of...
SPANNING THREE GALLERY FLOORS, Chris Ofili’s exhibition at the New Museum doesn’t hold back, presenting his greatest hits and new works, fabulous canvases that refute any notion that painting is dead. His culturally tuned layered and embellished canvases from the 1990s are on view, along with a quintet of red, black and green nods...
ART AGENDA LISTS UPCOMING EVENTS, EXHIBITION OPENINGS AND TALKS HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN BLACK ART Prospect 3 New Orleans | Oct. 25, 2014 – Jan. 25, 2015 The first full week of Prospect 3 is underway with a full agenda of talks and events in addition to exhibitions. Exploring the theme “Notes for...
LINKS TO THE LATEST NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE WORLD OF BLACK ART The Times-Picayune visits Newcombe Art Gallery where, as a part of Prospect 3 New Orleans, British artist Hew Locke‘s black rope drawings (above), dangling with beads that conjure Mardi Gras are on view. Read Article St. Louis Public Radio...
EARLIER THIS YEAR, LUHRING AUGUSTINE announced the addition of Jason Moran to its roster. Why would a jazz pianist and composer join a tony New York art gallery? Moran was appointed artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in May 2014. He teaches at the New England...
DEBORAH GRANT GIVES A GOOD INTERVIEW. She is candid and forthcoming about her journey as an artist as well as her views of the art world’s racial fault lines. Born in Toronto, she lives and works in New York, where her exhibition, “Christ You Know it Ain’t Easy,” was on view earlier this year at...
LINKS TO THE LATEST NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE WORLD OF BLACK ART Following a press conference previewing Prospect New Orleans, Hyperallergic talks with artistic director Franklin Sirmans about the biennial’s third edition and how it will reflect its theme “Notes for Now.” Read Interview For the BBC, Daily Telegraph art critic...
ART AGENDA LISTS UPCOMING EVENTS, EXHIBITION OPENINGS AND TALKS HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN BLACK ART Ongoing | Brooklyn, N.Y.: “Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond,” a major survey of more than 100 works by 35 Brooklyn-based artists and collectives, includes Linda Goode Bryant and Project EATS, Aisha Cousins, Heather Hart, Steffani...
LINKS TO THE PAST WEEK’S TOP NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE WORLD OF BLACK ART The Independent talks with Kerry James Marshall about his childhood introduction to art and the motivation behind the images in his paintings, which are on view at David Zwirner in London. Read Article ARTnews publishes an effusive...
SQUIGGLY LINES PUNCTUATED WITH BRIGHT EYES adorn the window of interior designer Kelly Wearstler’s flagship boutique on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Executed with a thick, black marker, the drawing style looks familiar, Keith Haring-esque perhaps, but it is all Shantell Martin, bursting with whimsy, wonder and hipster cool. The British-born artist is collaborating...
On View: ‘Danielle McKinney: Tell Me More’ at Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University is Painter’s First U.S. Solo Museum Exhibition
Sep 10, 2025
A Year of African American Art: New 2026 Wall Calendars Feature Works by Faith Ringgold, Alma Thomas, and Many Others
Sep 6, 2025
Culture Type | The Month in Black Art: Here’s What Happened in August 2025
Sep 4, 2025
Amy Sherald Exhibition Lands at Baltimore Museum of Art After Artist Canceled Presentation at Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Over Censorship Concerns
Sep 3, 2025
Washington, D.C., Museums are Showcasing African American Art, Exhibitions Focus on Photography and the Black Arts Movement, Vivian Browne, Adam Pendleton & More
Aug 31, 2025
