What to Look Forward to in 2024: 30 Exhibitions, Books, and Events Focused on African American Artists
THE YEAR AHEAD is brimming with unprecedented opportunities to explore the work of historic and contemporary artists. Among the most anticipated are landmark surveys of Sargent Claude Johnson, the first Black artist active in California to gain national renown, and Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, the first woman of color to graduate from the Rhode Island School...
Moving On Up: 34 Museum Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in First Half of 2023
NEARLY THREE DOZEN Black curators and arts leaders accepted new appointments at an array of museums and arts institutions in the first half of 2023. Notably, Brooke A. Minto was appointed executive director and CEO of the Columbus Art Museum in Ohio. She joined the museum from the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums,...
Whitney Museum of American Art Announced Appointment of Meg Onli to the Role of Curator-at-Large: ‘This is Truly a Dream Job’
FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT last fall that Meg Onli would co-curate the 2024 Whitney Biennial, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York has tapped the writer and curator for the position of curator-at-large, a wide-ranging and fully engaged role. The appointment was announced this morning and Onli officially started today. The first person...
Underground Museum in Los Angeles Announces Departure of Co-Directors and Closure ‘Until Further Notice’
THE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM (UM) in Los Angeles announced “with deep sadness” that it is closing “until further notice” and the tenure of co-directors Meg Onli and Cristina Pacheco has ended. The action also cuts short a long-awaited exhibition of paintings by the museum’s visionary co-founder Noah Davis (1983-2015). The survey opened six weeks ago...
On the Rise: 69 Museum Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on Notable New Appointments in 2021
FIVE YEARS AGO, Culture Type began reporting on new appointments of Black curators, primarily in museums. The first review in 2016 was prompted by findings published by the Mellon Foundation (2015) that showed American museums employed very few Black people in positions that shape them in terms of their management and intellectual direction as...
Meg Onli Appointed Co-Leader of Black-Founded Underground Museum in Los Angeles, Will Serve as Director and Curator
THE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM in Los Angeles announced the appointment of Meg Onli as director and curator. She joins the museum from the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where she served as associate curator. Onli is taking on a co-leadership role at the Black-founded museum with Cristina Pacheco. A...
Latest News in Black Art: Sherrill Roland Repped by Tanya Bonakdar, New Hires at Toledo and Harvard Museums, Vision & Justice at Frieze NY, David Hammons Hudson River Installation Complete & More
A snapshot of the latest news in Black visual art and related culture News In South Africa, a major wild fire claimed invaluable archives at the University of Cape Town Libraries, including first-edition books, manuscripts, photographs, and primary sources documenting African history, and destroyed the institution’s film collection, one of the largest in the...
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...
The Year Ahead in African American Art: What to Look Forward to in 2019
THE YEAR AHEAD begins and ends with major traveling exhibitions, each presenting nearly a century of works by African American artists. The January debut of “Black Refractions: Highlights From the Studio Museum in Harlem” at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco kicks off a tour of six venues. Scheduled for seven...
Next: 18 Curators & Cultural Leaders to Watch Who Joined New Institutions in 2016
MANY CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS have finally come around to realizing that it is imperative that their boards, staff and programming reflect the communities they serve. Putting such measures into practice is another matter. A recent Mellon Foundation survey conducted with the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums found most museum staffs...
Retrospective: For the Long Weekend, a Review of the Latest News in Black Art
RETROSPECTIVE is a digest of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. In the latter half of June 2016, the highlights include auction news and acquisitions, and numerous appointments and awards. Johnson Publishing sold its flagship magazines. The Smithsonian’s forthcoming African American museum reached its fundraising...
