Booklist: Curator and Designer Duro Olowu’s ‘Top 10’ Includes Fela Kuti, David Hammons, Alma Thomas, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Designer Duro Olowu A STANDARD BEARER for fashion, art, design, and style, Duro Olowu is inspired by a spectrum of individuals—cultural figures past and present, including the inimitable Grace Jones, musician and activist Fela Kuti, couturier Madame Grés (Alix Barton), and fashion designer Willi Smith. Olowu’s “Top 10” list, published in the May/June 2020...
Forthcoming Swann Sale Features Selections by Artists Associated With Los Angeles, Including 5 Paintings by Ernie Barnes
LOS ANGELES was a site of inspiration and productivity for a number of artists represented in the forthcoming African-American Fine Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York. (Originally planned for April 2, the auction was postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for June 4, the sale is online only.) The sale features lots...
Culture Type: The Year in Black Art 2019
ONCE RELEGATED TO THE MARGINS, artists of African descent continued to migrate toward the center of the art world in 2019, claiming space on just about every front as the decade came to a close. Black contemporary artists won many of the year’s most prestigious and lucrative international art prizes. They shared their work...
Officially Underway, David Hammons’s Hudson River Project is a Monument to New York City History and Artistic Intervention
THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART sits adjacent to the Hudson River, a waterfront with a storied history that inspired “Day’s End,” a monumental, permanent public art project by David Hammons. Once home to meatpacking warehouses and commercial piers that served the shipping industry, the piers were reclaimed in the early 1970s becoming a...
Flag Flying: Artists Are Using the Symbolic Medium to Raise Political and Social Issues
WHAT TO THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTIST is the Fourth of July? Is it consumed by fireworks and barbecue or grounded, perhaps, in the words of Frederick Douglass? On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a historic address in Rochester, N.Y., at an event commemorating the Declaration of Independence. He said in part: What, to the...
Sales Results: At Christie’s, Portrait by Amy Sherald Marks Artist’s Auction Debut, Plus Mickalene Thomas and Stanley Whitney Establish New Records
WORKS BY FIVE African American artists opened Christie’s contemporary sale on May 16, with exceptional results for women artists. Amy Sherald made her auction debut with a portrait that sold for three times the estimate. Mickalene Thomas achieved a new artist record and a painting by Jordan Casteel more than doubled expectations. A body...
Sales Results: New Records at Phillips for Christina Quarles, Ed Clark, Rashid Johnson, and Stanley Whitney, Plus ‘Helter Skelter II’ by Mark Bradford Hits Auction Block
THE SPRING CONTEMPORARY AUCTIONS at Phillips New York featured a variety of works by critically acclaimed African American artists—emerging, mid-career, and long-established figures. Lots sold against the backdrop of Mark Bradford’s “Helter Skelter II” (2007), which was on display behind the auctioneer’s podium over the course of three sales spanning two days. On May...
Latest News in African American Art: Rashid Johnson’s ‘Native Son’ Acquired by HBO, David Hammons Exhibition Planned at Hauser & Wirth L.A. & More
Director Rashid Johnson at Sundance The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: Prioritizing Museum Board Diversity The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is launching a three-year, $4 million initiative designed to diversify museum boards and leadership. A...
Charles White Drawing Tops Swann African American Art Sale, 12 Artists Achieve Auction Records
DAYS BEFORE THE OPENING of “Charles White: A Retrospective” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York on Oct. 7, a dramatic drawing by the pivotal, 20th-century figure topped the latest African-American Fine Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries. “Nobody Knows My Name #1” sold for $485,000 (including fees) on Oct. 4....
Latest News in African American Art: Nationwide Campaign Will Fund Political Billboards, Julie Mehretu Joins SFMOMA Board, Henry Taylor Wins De Niro Prize
For Freedoms launched a nationwide crowd-sourcing campaign to fund artist-designed billboards for display in advance of the 2018 midterm elections in the United States. The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: NEWS The Brodsky Center, a collaborative...
Auction Results: A Review of African American Art Featured in Sotheby’s Fall 2017 Contemporary Auctions—Several Never Exhibited, Unseen For Decades
IN ANTICIPATION OF THE SPRING 2018 SALES at major auction houses in London this month, Culture Type is taking a look back at recent results at Sotheby’s. One of the benefits of observing auctions is the opportunity see works long held in private hands away from public view. The November 2017 Contemporary Day and...
Annual List of Top 100 Art World Power Players Includes Notable Rankings for Thelma Golden, African American Artists
From left, Curator Thelma Golden. | Photo © Julie Skarratt; Artist Kara Walker. | Photo by Paul Zimmerman, Getty Images THELMA GOLDEN IS THE EIGHTH most powerful person in the art world, according to Art Review. The London-based international contemporary art magazine published its 2017 Power 100 list of the most influential figures in...
David Hammons is Collaborating with Whitney Museum on Proposed Hudson River Public Art Project
THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART has submitted a proposal to the City of New York for a public art project by David Hammons. Titled “Day’s End,” the architectural sculpture bridges the past and the present. It’s a contemporary art work grounded in history. The work would be sited directly across from the Whitney...
‘Black Pope’ by Charles White is Going on View at Museum of Modern Art in October
FOUR YEARS AFTER ACQUIRING “Black Pope (Sandwich Board Man)” by Charles White (1918-1979), the Museum of Modern Art in New York will display the signature work for the first time in a special exhibition conceived by artist David Hammons. “Charles White—Leonardo da Vinci. Curated by David Hammons” opens Oct. 7 and pairs “Black Pope”...
Mixed Media: $2 Million Flag by David Hammons is a Work of Art, Political Statement, and Art World Commodity
Lot 2: DAVID HAMMONS, “African-American Flag,” 1990 (dyed cotton, edition of 5). | Estimate $700,000-$1,000,000. Sold for $2,050,000 (including fees) NEARLY THREE DECADES AGO, David Hammons hoisted his newly created red, black, and green “African-American Flag” (1990) above Museum Overholland. He was participating in “Black USA,” a group show organized by Christiaan Braun, director...
Bringing Attention to Wide Selection African American Artists Since 2007, Swann Marks Decade of Sales with 8 Auction Records
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...
