Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
Gilane Tawadros is the incoming director of Whitechapel Gallery in London. | Photo © Brian Benson
Appointments
London’s Whitechapel Gallery announced Gilane Tawadros as its next director. A curator, writer, and art historian by training, Tawadros brings more than 30 years of experience in the visual arts. She is currently executive director of DACS (The Design and Artists Copyright Society), the nonprofit visual artists rights management organization. Previously, she served as founding director of the Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva). Tawadros will be the first Black person to lead Whitechapel, a publicly funded art space founded in 1901. She officially starts in October 2022. | More
Representation
After a blockbuster auction result with “The Sugar Shack” (1976) by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) selling for $15.3 million at Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale on May 12, the artist’s estate is now co-represented by Ortuzar Projects and Andrew Kreps galleries in New York. The galleries are planning a Barnes exhibition in 2023. United Talent Agency continues to have a relationship with the estate. | ARTnews
ERNIE BARNES, “Storm Dance,” 1977 (acrylic on canvas, in artist’s frame, 48 3⁄4 x 24 3⁄4 inches / 123.8 x 62.9 cm). | Estimate $100,000-$150,000. SOLD for $2,340,000 fees included
Auctions
On May 13, the day after “The Sugar Shack” sold for a record-setting $15.3 million, “Storm Dance” (1977), another painting by Ernie Barnes far exceed its estimate, selling for $2,340,000 at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale in New York. The result is the second-highest price achieved by Barnes at auction and marks the second work by the artist to surpass $1 million. More
Biennials
Opening today, the 14th edition of the Dakar Biennial in Senegal features 59 artists and collectives and runs from May 19-June 21, 2022. | More
Supreme will feature photographs by Roy DeCarava on sweatshirts and tees—a portrait of Malcolm X (shown) and “Mississippi Freedom Marcher, Washington, D.C.,” 1963. | Roy DeCarava/Supreme, 2022. Photograph © The Estate of Roy DeCarava. All rights reserved
Collaborations
The Roy DeCarava Archive has partnered with Supreme. The streetwear brand will feature two different images by the late photographer on sweatshirts and tees, in a variety of colors. The Spring 2022 collaboration drops today and will benefit the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. | More
More News
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York received a $2 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to support the James Van Der Zee Archive, including research, conservation, and providing full public access to the public. Acquired in December, in collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Van Der Zee collection is comprised of more than 20,000 prints and 30,000 negative, along with studio equipment and ephemera. | More
In Los Angeles, Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel and his wife, Miranda Kerr, a model and founder of the beauty company Kora, spoke at the Otis College of Art and Design commencement ceremony on May 16 and announced a gift to the class of 2022—a donation to the school that would pay off the entirety of each graduating student’s college date. | More
CT
