11 Los Angeles-Area Museum Exhibitions Are Showcasing Works By a Spectrum of Black Artists: Henry Taylor, Helen Cammock, Milford Graves, Kenturah Davis & More
From San Marino to Downtown L.A., Leimert Park and Long Beach, Los Angeles-area museums are showcasing the work of emerging, mid-career, and historic Black artists. Among the expansive offerings are Afro-Atlantic Histories, a survey of five centuries of art; a Njideka Akunyili Crosby show organized by Hilton Als; the first U.S. exhibition of Turner...
Culture Type: Black Art History, Here’s What Happened in January 2023
Plenty happened in opening weeks of 2023: King sculpture in Boston got unexpected reception, Black artists repping UK and Canada at next Venice Biennale, Winfred Rembert Estate joined mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth, plus Driskell Prize and Gordon Parks Fellows announced, and much more MAGAZINES > | January/February: New issue of Frieze (right) features...
Artist Henry Taylor Covers Frieze Magazine: ‘I Became the Observer Because I Was Trying to Understand My Own Life, That’s Why I Started Making Pictures as a Kid’
THE JANUARY/FEBRUARY issue of Frieze features a cover profile of Henry Taylor authored by Terence Trouillot, a senior editor of the contemporary art magazine. The writer first met Taylor, hung out with the artist, and was introduced to his work a decade ago when “Henry Taylor” (2012), his first institutional exhibition in New York,...
Culture Type: The 18 Best Black Art Books of 2022
The Best Black Art Books of 2022 explore the work of El Anatsui, Firelei Báez, Richard Hunt, Marilyn Nance, Henry Taylor, Black potters, Haitian artists, and more TWO NEW BOOKS harken back nearly 50 years exploring profound moments in Black art history. Published on the occasion of a major exhibition at the Museum...
Holiday Gift Guide 2022: Great Finds Inspired by African American Artists, From Barkley L. Hendricks to Faith Ringgold, Henry Taylor, Kehinde Wiley & More
CRITICALLY RECOGNIZED African American artists are introducing their work to wider audiences through accessible products and design objects sold at museums, galleries, and other outlets. Major exhibitions of Faith Ringgold, Henry Taylor, and Nick Cave this year have inspired skateboard decks, hoodies, boxed note cards, and fine china plates. Artist Kehinde Wiley’s online shop...
50+ Museum Exhibitions to See This Fall Feature Artists Henry Taylor, Fred Eversley, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Theaster Gates, Black Potters, Just Above Midtown Gallery & More
AT A TIME WHEN NEW YORK CITY galleries and museums had little interest in African American artists, Linda Goode Bryant established Just Above Midtown, a gallery and community space that served as both sanctuary and experimental platform for artists of color. Half a century after its founding in 1974, Just Above Midtown is now...
Paintings by 4 Black Female Artists Set Auction Records at Christie’s Evening Sale: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Nina Chanel Abney, Mickalene Thomas, Jordan Casteel
PAINTINGS BY 10 OF THE MOST HIGHLY REGARDED Black contemporary artists active today were featured in Christie’s inaugural 21st Century Evening Sale in New York. Six set new artist records, including four figurative works by women artists. Nina Chanel Abney‘s powerful 2015 painting of two Black cops arresting a white man sold for $990,000....
Auction Records: Paintings Derrick Adams and Jammie Holmes Establish New Benchmarks at Christie’s, Works by Titus Kaphar and Henry Taylor Also Sold
CHRISTIE’S HOSTED A LIVE Post-War to Present auction this week, setting four artist records for Derrick Adams, Elaine de Kooning, Jammie Holmes, and Lucas Samaras. Two figurative paintings set new benchmarks for Adams and Holmes. The second lot in the auction, “Figure in the Urban Landscape 31” (2019) by Adams doubled expectations. The two-figure...
The Week in Black Art: Feb. 1-7, 2021 – Detroit Artist Charles McGee Has Died, Lauren Halsey Nabs Jacob Lawrence Prize, Black Rock Senegal Artists Named, Nick Cave Wins Public Art Battle
This post will be updated throughout the week ELDZIER CORTER, “Southern Souvenir No. II,” circa 1948 (oil on board mounted on Masonite™ on wood strainer, 35 1/2 x 64 1/2 inches). | Art Bridges. © Estate of Eldzier Cortor / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York Feb. 5, 2021 Eldzier Cortor...
For LA Artist Henry Taylor ‘Blackness is Not an Uneasy, Overcompensating Assertion, Blackness Just Is’
THE WRITING AND THE ART featured in Henry Taylor’s first major monograph are just as striking as the vivid orange cloth cover in which it is bound. Los Angeles-based Taylor is known for his richly colored, bluesy approach to figuration. His subjects are rendered loosely and somewhat abstract. He makes paintings of his friends,...
Latest News in African American Art: Henry Taylor and Simone Leigh Join Hauser & Wirth, United States Artists 2020 Fellows, Made in L.A. 2020 Artist List & More
Artists Simone Leigh and Henry Taylor have joined Hauser & Wirth. The following review presents a snapshot of recent news in African American art and related black culture: REPRESENTATION One of the world’s largest galleries with nine locations (and a 10th planned in Menorca), Hauser & Wirth started off the new year with...
New York Now: Fall Exhibitions Feature Amy Sherald, Roy DeCarava, Wangechi Mutu, Melvin Edwards, Alvin Baltrop, and Ed Clark, Plus Betye Saar and Pope.L at the New MoMA
Installation view of Betye Saar at Museum of Modern Art FALL IN NEW YORK CITY is always a time of renewal and fresh new perspectives when it comes what’s next and relevant in art. This season there are an exceptional number of opportunities to experience the work of African American artists in museums, galleries,...
Latest News in African American Art: Artist Selection for J. Marion Sims Replacement Monument Goes Sideways, 2021 Whitney Biennial Curators Announced & More
VINNIE BAGWELL, Rendering for “Victory Beyond Sims,” 2019. Bagwell’s proposal envisioning a “majestic angel” to replace the Central Park monument to J. Marion Sims was favored by representatives of the community and ultimately emerged as the city’s official choice. | Courtesy the artist ACQUISITIONS Eleven works from South African artist Zanele Muholi‘s “Faces and...
2019 Whitney Biennial: The Museum as a Site of Protest
THE ROOTS OF THE WHITNEY BIENNIAL date to 1932. Originally an annual event, the exhibition was established as a biennial in 1973. Through the decades, organizers of the group show have sought to reflect the state of contemporary art and tap the pulse of what’s going on outside the museum’s galleries. As a result,...
Truth Teller: Next Month, Henry Taylor is Presenting a Series of New Portraits at Blum & Poe in New York
WHETHER YOU CALL HIM a figurative painter or a portrait painter, labels he is reluctant to embrace, Henry Taylor paints people, almost exclusively. He paints his family, his friends, people in his neighborhood, and people he meets when he travels. He connects with his subjects and has a real curiosity about their lives, which...
Sotheby’s Contemporary Sales in New York Yielded Records for Kevin Beasley, McArthur Binion, Michael Ray Charles, Charles Gaines, Rashid Johnson, and Alma Thomas
SOTHEBY’S ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK that it was being acquired by French-Israeli telecommunications billionaire Patrick Drahi in a $3.7 billion deal. The purchase would take the publicly traded auction house private, again, after 31 years on the New York Stock Exchange. (Other major auction houses are privately held, including Christie’s, its chief rival, Phillips, and...
Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated Sale Offered Look at Rarely Seen Works by Faith Ringgold, Henry Taylor, Robert Colescott, Romare Bearden, Jack Whitten & More
AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS figured prominently in Sotheby’s recent Contemporary Curated auction. Works by 32 African American artists were offered, some rarely if ever shown publicly including a 2002 portrait of Malcolm X by Henry Taylor acquired directly from the artist and a pair of Robert Colescott interior scenes that give a nod to Roy...
Culture Type Picks: 18 Best Black Art Books of 2018
The best illustrated black art books of 2018. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine THE INCREASED INTEREST among some museums in mounting exhibitions featuring the work of African American artists has translated into a growing number of catalogs published to document them, which is wonderful. Many of those catalogs made Culture Type’s 2018 list...
Nearing $1 Million, Henry Taylor’s ‘I’ll Put a Spell on You’ Sets New Artist Record
AUCTION PRICES for paintings by Henry Taylor have reached a new realm. This evening, “I’ll Put a Spell on You” (2004) set a new benchmark at Sotheby’s New York. Bids flew past the estimate and the artist’s existing record. Amid the flurry, auctioneer Oliver Barker said “A lot of Henry Taylor collectors here.” After...
Record Breakers? Paintings by Jack Whitten, Sam Gilliam, Barkley L. Hendricks, and Other African American Artists Priced to Set New Auction Highs This Week
Sotheby’s is auctioning “Ancient Mentor I” (1985) by Jack Whitten on Nov. 14 in New York. | Video by Sotheby’s WORKS BY SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR, expensive, and critically recognized African American artists are featured in this week’s auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips in New York. Several lots will arrive at the...
