National Trust Grant Will Help Preserve 1943 Charles White Mural at Hampton University, Part of $3 Million Investment to Save Black History at 40 Sites Across United States
ONLY ONE MURAL by Charles White (1918-1979) was painted directly on a wall, rather than canvas. “The Contribution of the Negro to Democracy in America” was created at Hampton Institute (now University) in 1943. Crispus Attucks, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, and Booker T. Washington are all represented in...
Washington Plans Citywide Celebration of Pioneering Artist Alma Thomas, First Lady Michelle Obama Opening Major Symposium
WASHINGTON, D.C., is gearing up for a citywide celebration of artist Alma Thomas (1891-1978) this fall. Honoring her contributions to the city’s cultural heritage, the events coincide with the traveling exhibition “Alma Thomas: Everything is Beautiful,” opening Oct. 30 at The Phillips Collection. Institutions throughout Washington are participating in the celebration, including the National...
Latest News in Black Art: Rashid Johnson is Incoming Board Chair at Performa, New Representation for Brazilian Artist Elian Almeida, Fast Company Recognizes Destinee Ross-Sutton, Mabel O. Wilson & More
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Artist Rashid Johnson. | Photo by Chris Sorensen Appointments Artist Rashid Johnson will be the next chair of the board of directors at Performa, the New York City organization “dedicated to live interdisciplinary performance...
Latest News in Black Art: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones Now Repped by White Cube, Marcus Jahmal Joins Anton Kern Gallery, Seattle Artist Denzil Hurley Has Died & More
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture From left, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones. | Photo by William Jess Laird; TUNJI ADENIYI-JONES, “Bird Charmer II,” 2016 (oil on canvas, 78 × 52 inches / 198.1 × 132.1 cm). | © Tunji Adeniyi-Jones Representation ...
Coming Soon: Toyin Ojih Odutola’s ‘A Countervailing Theory’ Exhibition Will Make U.S. Debut at Hirshhorn Museum This Fall
THIS FALL, A FASCINATING STORY about Nigerian women, female warriors who ruled a prehistoric civilization, will be told at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. Presented through a series of 40 large-scale monochromatic drawings by Toyin Ojih Odutola, the mythological narrative conceived by the artist will unfold on the Smithsonian museum’s...
Encore Presentation: Cut Short By COVID-19 Closure, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Tate Britain Exhibition is Returning in Fall 2022
THE MOST EXTENSIVE SURVEY of British painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye will open and close at Tate Britain in London. “Lynette Yiadom- Boakye: Fly in League with the Night” features about 80 works made over the span of nearly two decades, dating back to 2003. After debuting at Tate last December, the run of the exhibition...
Best of Both Worlds: For Three Decades, British Painter Frank Bowling Shuttled Between Studios in London and New York
WHEN BRITISH PAINTER Frank Bowling moved to New York in the mid-1960s, the new art scene broadened his perspective. He connected with Jack Whitten, Mel Edwards, Al Loving, and Daniel LaRue Johnson, met Jasper Johns, and began a decades-long dialogue with Clement Greenburg. It was also in New York that Bowling shifted away from...
Acquisition Highlights: Baltimore Museum of Art Adds 250+ Works to Collection, Including Dozens by Black Contemporary Artists
THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART (BMA) recently made a major acquisition announcement. The museum has received a promised gift of 90 works of art by nearly 70 artists from museum patrons Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff, alongside 175 purchases and gifts made during winter and spring 2021. Dozens of works by Black contemporary artists...
Latest News in Black Art: Guggenheim Hires Diversity Chief, Galerie Myrtis Presenting Exhibition at Venice Biennale, Kehinde Wiley Redesigns MTV Moon Person & More
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Kehinde Wiley reimagined MTV’s iconic Moon Person. He is the third artist to create a special edition of the symbol, which has served as the network’s VMA Trophy since 1984. A large-scale version inspired...
Black Female Artists Who Got Their Start in 1960s and 70s are Focus of Two Group Exhibitions in New York
ACTIVE IN THE 1960S AND 70S, Black women artists had to deal with politics, even if their work wasn’t overtly political. Some of the most prominent figures from the time, including Vivian Browne, Emma Amos, Camille Billops, Suzanne Jackson, Senga Nengudi, and Betye Saar, rallied with their peers, taking stands and speaking up for...
Industrious: Theaster Gates is Selling the Contents of a Now Closed Chicago Hardware Store in an Art Gallery
“Theaster Gates: How to Sell Hardware” at Gray Warehouse, Chicago THE COLLECTING PRACTICE of Theaster Gates is about preserving archives and memorializing social history, cultural history, and changing urban landscapes. His artistic practice imagines new ways to activate, share, present, and reinvent the archives, as he does with his latest exhibition “Theaster Gates: How...
On Occasion of New Exhibition ‘Alma Thomas: Everything is Beautiful,’ Curators and Scholars Reflect on Lesser-Known Aspects of Artist’s Life and Work
“Alma W. Thomas: Everything is Beautiful,” Chrysler Museum of Art A NEW FOUR-CITY traveling exhibition offers an expansive look at the life and work of Alma Thomas (1891-1978). A pioneer in post-World War II abstraction, Thomas is arguably the earliest example of a highly regarded African American female artist working in abstraction. Best known...
Latest News in Black Art: Tau Lewis Joins Stephen Friedman Gallery, Christopher Blay Named Chief Curator at Houston African American Museum, Housing Gallery Receives Armory Show’s Gramercy International Prize
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Tau Lewis in her Brooklyn, N.Y., studio. | Photo by Flo Ngala, Courtesy National Gallery of Canada Representation Jamaican-Canadian artist Tau Lewis is now represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery in London. Lewis makes hand-stitched,...
Art Institute of Chicago Appoints Grace Deveney Associate Curator of Photography and Media
LAST WEEK, Grace Deveney joined the Art Institute of Chicago as the David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Associate Curator of Photography and Media. She is currently associate curator of Prospect.5, the contemporary art triennial in New Orleans. Deveney will serve in both roles concurrently, until she completes her tenure at the triennial, which opens...
Isolde Brielmaier Named Deputy Director of New Museum in New York
THE NEW MUSEUM IN NEW YORK announced today that Isolde Brielmaier has been named deputy director. Brielmaier brings more than two decades of museum, academic, and private sector experience to the New Museum. She is currently serving as curator at large at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York. Her new appointment...
Museum of African Diaspora in San Francisco Will Host First Solo Museum Exhibitions of Amoako Boafo and Billie Zangewa This Fall
THE SEMINAL TEXT OF W.E.B. DU BOIS (1868-1963) inspired the title of a forthcoming solo exhibition of Amoako Boafo. The Ghanaian-born painter grew up in Osu, where Du Bois, the author of “The Souls of Black Folk” is buried. “Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks” will be on view this fall at the Museum...
On View: ‘Beautiful Disruption,’ Photographer Nadine Ijewere’s First-Ever Solo Exhibition at C/O Berlin
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE FRESH PERSPECTIVE and imaginative eye of Nadine Ijewere have produced beautiful and novel images, bringing international attention to the rising young photographer. Known for her striking fashion portraiture, Ijewere became the first Black woman to photograph a Vogue magazine cover when she shot the cover...
Latest News in Black Art: Elvira Dyangani Ose Named Director of Barcelona Museum, Kandis Williams Wins $100K Mohn Prize, Photography Curator Oluremi C. Onabanjo Joins MoMA & More
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture From left, Elvira Dyangani Ose will head the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona and Oluremi C. Onabanjo is joining the Museum of Modern Art in New York as associate curator of photography in October....
Ngaire Blankenberg Named Director of Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art: ‘My Main Priority is to Hire More BIPOC Staff in Positions of Power’
IN WASHINGTON, D.C., the Smithsonian announced Ngaire Blankenberg has joined National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) as director. She started July 6. A consultant for museums and heritage sites around the world, Blankenberg has advised clients on some of the most challenging matters cultural institutions are currently navigating—how to address diversity issues, approach decolonization...
On View: ‘Wardell Milan: Amerika. God Bless You If It’s Good To You’ at Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York
“The Timmerman’s Kitchen, New Canaan, CT” (2020) by Wardell Milan On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE FIRST MAJOR solo museum exhibition of Harlem-based Wardell Milan confronts the hate entrenched in American society. Milan presents new works on paper that explore the daily lives of white supremacists alongside a chapel-inspired “safe space.”...
