Washington Renaissance: 8 Distinguished Artists Reflect and Connect in Wide-Ranging Discussion of African American Art in 20th Century Washington
Artists Sam Gilliam and David C. Driskell. | © 2017 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first time Lilian Thomas Burwell met Sam Gilliam, he told her if she wanted to be taken seriously as an artist she should get her own studio space. “He didn’t know me...
Scurlock Photography Studio: Father and Sons Documented Black Washington for Much of 20th Century
ADDISON SCURLOCK, Howard University Students,” circa 1920-30 (printed 1970). | Scurlock Studio Records, circa 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History FOR THE GREATER PART of the 20th century, America’s black metropolises were documented by visionary black photographers who forged successful businesses and important roles as local community historians. They offered portraits of...
Lorna Simpson Goes to Washington, Gives Inaugural Photography Lecture at National Gallery of Art
LORNA SIMPSON, “Untitled (Two Necklines),” 1989 WASHINGTON, D.C. — TWO DAYS AFTER her new exhibition of paintings opened at Salon 94 in New York, Lorna Simpson gave a talk at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She offered a visual journey of her practice over the past three decades, sharing the concepts...
Family Portraits by Archibald Motley are Going on View in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
COME SPRING, VISITORS TO WASHINGTON, D.C.’s National Gallery of Art will have the opportunity to view “Portrait of My Grandmother,” by Archibald Motley (1891-1981). The 1922 painting was Motley’s favorite. In Southern California, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is presenting another family portrait. Motley’s “Uncle Bob” (1928) is expected to be...
National Gallery Curators Explain How Corcoran Works Will Enhance Collection
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART (NGA) recently expanded its holdings of African American art by 40 percent through acquisitions from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. For the first time, NGA owns works by Aaron Douglas, William Edmondson, Gordon Parks, Noah Purifoy and Betye Saar, among others. The historic announcement came last month when NGA...
National Gallery of Art Acquires 190+ Works by African American Artists From Corcoran
CURRENTLY ON VIEW at the National Gallery of Art (NGA), “Into Bondage” by Aaron Douglas hangs in the rear of a three-room gallery dedicated to “masterworks” acquired from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Depicting a procession of Africans chained and walking toward a pair of distant slave ships, the painting is a landmark acquisition...
Collector Rodney Miller Enlists Curators to Hang His Art
THE SUMMER 2014 ISSUE OF ARTNEWS features its annual list of top art collectors in the world. The issue also profiles collector Rodney M. Miller, whose Upper East Side townhouse is filled with modern and contemporary African American and African diasporic art. A member of the acquisitions committee at the Studio Museum in Harlem, where...
Insights From a Conversation with Collector Darryl Atwell at the National Gallery of Art
AFTER DARRYL ATWELL PURCHASED “Number 51,” by Leonardo Drew at an auction, he wrote the artist a note. “I knew somehow he would vibe with me,” says Atwell. “Let’s be honest about it, there are very few young African American persons who collect his work.” Drew wrote him back immediately and sent him a...
