RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. This week, the Studio Museum in Harlem announced the recipient of its annual Joyce Alexander Wein prize; and art news outlets published lists of the most collectible living artists and most influential young curators. New exhibitions opened featuring Kerry James Marshall, Carrie Mae Weems, and Charles Gaines, among others. Plus, a photographer has been documenting sites featuring in the historic green book guide for African Americans traveling by car, and the BBC announced a month of programming focused on blacks in the UK.
Clockwise from left, Influential young curators Erin Christovale (Black Radical Imagination, LA Municipal Art Gallery), Photo by Jamie Costa; Lanka Tattersall (MoCA LA), Photo by Myles Pettengill; Rujeko Hockley (Brooklyn Museum), Photo by Elena Olivo; Amanda Hunt (Studio Museum in Harlem), Photo by Sharon Suh; and Naomi Beckwith (MCA Chicago), Photo by Maria Ponce. | via Artsy
NEWS
The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University and The Baltimore Museum of Art announced the two institutions will collaborate on an exhibition by Mark Bradford, who is representing the United States at the 2017 Venice Biennale.
David Rubenstein, the co-founder and co-CEO of the Carlyle Group who donated $10 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture earlier this year, has been named chairman of the governing board of the Smithsonian Institution.
Tufts University in Medford, Mass., has acquired “Fold XII” by Sam Gilliam.
Artsy published a list of the 20 most influential young curators in the United States. The notably diverse group includes Amanda Hunt, Erin Christovale, Claire Tancons, Lanka Tattersall, Jamillah James, Rujeko Hockley, Thomas J. Lax, and Naomi Beckwith.
Ken Wiwa, 47, a journalist and environmental justice advocate, has died. He was the son of author and human rights activist Ken Saro Wiwa.
artnet News named the 100 most collectible living artists based on auction performance between January 2012 and October 2016. Artists Mark Bradford, Glenn Ligon, David Hammons, and Julie Mehretu made the list.
Aljira, a center for contemporary art in Newark, N.J., commissioned a limited-edition print by Faith Ringgold to commemorate the city’s 350th anniversary.
AWARDS
At its annual gala, the Studio Museum in Harlem announced the recipient of its 2016 Joyce Alexander Wein prize is Derrick Adams (at left), and honored the Ford Foundation, a longtime supporter of the museum.
Paul Beatty won the Man Booker Prize for his novel “The Sellout.” He is the first American author to be honored with the British prize.
Gallerist Marian Goodman, who represents artist Julie Mehretu, accepted the LEO Award at the Independent Curators International benefit, where Franklin Sirmans also presented the Independent Vision Curatorial Award to Miguel A. Lopez.
Artadia announced the five finalists for its 2016 Atlanta Awards, including T. Lang, Zipporah Thompson, and Cosmo Whyte. Jamillah James, curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, was among the jurors.
IMAGE: Derrick Adams with George Wein at Studio Museum in Harlem gala. | Photo by Scott Rudd, Courtesy Studio Museum
EXHIBITIONS & TALKS
The Los Angeles Times featured an article about photographer Candacy Taylor who has been documenting the sites listed in “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” the historic guidebook for black travelers. She is discussing the project at the Peterson Automotive Museum Nov. 10.
The Getty Foundation announced an increase in funding with new partners and expanded programming for the third edition of Pacific Standard Time, its region-wide art initiative which will focus on Latin American and Latino art in Los Angeles.
To celebrate the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s 50th anniversary, artist Catherine Opie led a giving campaign encouraging fellow artists to donate their work to the institution. A selection of 60 works—by Edgar Arceneaux, Charles Gaines, and Brenna Youngblood, among others—are on view in “L.A. Exuberance: New Gifts by Artists,” opening Oct. 30.
Several African American artists opened exhibitions this week including Kerry James Marshall at The Met Breuer, Carrie Mae Weems at Jack Shainman Gallery, Melvin Edwards at Oklahoma Contemporary, Toyin Ojih Odutola at the Museum of the African Diaspora, Yinka Shonibare at Stephen Friedman Gallery, and Charles Gaines at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects.
PUBLICATIONS
“British Black Art Works: Debates on Western Art History,” an interesting new volume published this week, “suggests new narratives about canonical artworks of the British Black Art movement” and “introduces readers to an important, long-marginalized movement and recontextualizes it with groundbreaking scholarship.”
A children’s picture book, “Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,” recounts the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the bold and visionary painter who shot to fame in the 1980s.
RECOMMENDED
In its fall edition, BOMB magazine published a lengthy interview with artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby on the occasion of her exhibition at Victoria Miro Gallery in London, her first in Europe.
More than a quarter century after his death, a number of new projects are explore and pay tribute to the minimalist composer Julius Eastman.
“Traveling Soul,” a definitive biography about Curtis Mayfield was published earlier this month. Pitchfork asks, “What took so long?”
The BBC announced a landmark season of programming throughout November titled “Black and British,” a wide-ranging exploration of black British history and culture. CT
“Black and British,” programming coming in November 2016. | Video by BBC
