Carrie Mae Weems Implores School of Visual Arts Graduates to Consider ‘How Do You Measure a Life?’
ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, Carrie Mae Weems took the stage at Radio City Music Hall delivering more of a performance than a speech. Her address at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) 41st commencement for undergraduate and graduate students was engaging, relevant, thought-provoking and memorable. She asked the audience, “How do you measure life?” And...
Artist Simone Leigh Has Joined Luhring Augustine Gallery
NEWS THAT LUHRING AUGUSTINE GALLERY is now representing Simone Leigh follows a succession of recent exhibitions, honors and engagements recognizing the currency and innovation of the multidisciplinary artist’s practice. Brooklyn-based Leigh, whose work spans sculpture, video, installation and performance, is a 2016 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, 2016 Fellow of A Blade of Grass for...
The Smithsonian is Mounting a Bill Traylor Retrospective, the First Major Exhibition Devoted to an Artist Born Enslaved
THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM (SAAM) says it is mounting the first-ever major exhibition devoted to the work of an artist born enslaved. “Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor,” the retrospective of self-taught African American artist Bill Traylor (1854- 1949) will open Sept. 28, 2018. The Washington, D.C., museum made the announcement in...
At Christie’s Auction, Henry Taylor Painting of Historic Track Star Sets Record for Artist
CAPTURING HISTORIC TRACK STAR Alice Coachman in midair, Henry Taylor‘s painting of the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal sold for $149,000 (including fees) yesterday at Christie’s in New York. The price was twice the high estimate and a record at auction for a work by the Los Angeles-based artist, according...
‘Plunge’ by Kerry James Marshall Sells for $2.1 Million at Christie’s, a New Artist Record
KERRY JAMES MARSHALL, “Plunge,” 1992 (acrylic and paper collage on canvas). THE RECORD PRICE for paintings by Kerry James Marshall doubled last night at Christie’s New York. “Plunge” (1992), a large-scale painting by the Chicago artist sold for more than $2.1 million (including fees), a new auction record for the artist, according to Christie’s...
‘The Figure Remains Essentially Black in Every Circumstance’: Kerry James Marshall Previews His Master Paintings at MCA Chicago
Kerry James Marshall previews his new exhibition “Mastry” at MCA Chicago. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine CHICAGO — TWO PAINTINGS MARKED A TURNING POINT for Kerry James Marshall. Complete with Royal Crown Dressing hair pomade, a Zenith radio, and a business license with the first dollar made tucked into the frame, “De Style,”...
Ethiopian Photographer Aida Muluneh Finds Advantage in Creating and Distorting Reality
David Krut Projects is showing Aida Muluneh’s work at the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York (May 6-8, 2916). WHEN “THE DIVINE COMEDY: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists” opened last year at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., for the first time in the Smithsonian...
Mark Bradford Has Been Chosen to Represent United States at 2017 Venice Biennale
CRITICALLY RECOGNIZED ARTIST Mark Bradford will represent the United States at the 57th Venice Biennale next year. Bradford creates large-scale, abstract paintings, mixed-media works that explore a range of social justice issues. He will create a new site-specific installation for the U.S. Pavilion. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs...
Hauser & Wirth Announces Its Representation of Painter Jack Whitten
KNOWN FOR HIS CONCEPTUAL APPROACH to abstraction, painter Jack Whitten has joined Hauser & Wirth. The New York gallery announced its worldwide representation of the artist on Friday. The news follows the first exhibition to span his entire career. “Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting” was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, San...
Spring Shows: 32 New Exhibitions Feature Innovative Works by Black Artists
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED museum exhibitions of the season, a major survey of Kerry James Marshall‘s work, primarily focused on his painting over the past 35 years, is opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, on April 23. In September, the exhibition will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York...
Pioneering Malian Photographer Malick Sidibé Has Died at Age 80
Embed from Getty Images CONSIDERED ON OF THE MOST influential photographers of his time, Malick Sidibé has died at age 80. For more than half a century, the Malian photographer documented the post-independence cultural transformation in his native country. He was recognized for his legendary studio portraits and dynamic street shots, bringing Mali’s people...
Yale’s Beinecke Library Buys $100,000 Map of Prohibition-Era Harlem
IN 1932, IF YOU WERE LOOKING for an uptown night club or speakeasy that was open all night, an illustrated map by E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971) would have been a valuable resource. Today, it is a valuable treasure. The original artwork for the map sold for $100,000 (including fees) at the Printed and Manuscript African...
Sculptor Martin Puryear to Receive Yaddo Artist Medal in May
YADDO IS HONORING one of its own. The third annual Yaddo Artist Medal will be presented to sculptor Martin Puryear (above), who has deep connections with the artist community. The medal “recognizes individuals who have sustained a high level of achievement in their artistic discipline and reinforced the sense of community that is central...
Culture Talk: Courtney Willis Blair on Ryan Lee Gallery’s Representation of Emma Amos
At Ryan Lee Gallery, EMMA AMOS, “Seated Figure and Nude,” 1966 (oil on canvas). | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine AT THE REAR OF RYAN LEE GALLERY in New York, a 1966 painting by Emma Amos casually sits on the floor leaning against the wall between works by other gallery artists. Blending figuration and...
Sculptor Inge Hardison, Who Paid Tribute to African American Legends, Has Died
New York sculptor Inge Hardison died March 23, 2016, at age 102. | Video by D Scanlon Video A TRUE RENAISSANCE WOMAN, sculptor Inge Hardison (1914-2016) was also a photographer, poet and actress. The New York Daily News published an article announcing her death today, reporting that she died on March 23 “after a...
Studio Museum Director Thelma Golden Joins Board of Los Angeles County Museum of Art
AN INFLUENTIAL FIGURE IN THE ART WORLD, Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem is expanding her institutional reach to the West Coast. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced the election of three new members to its board of trustees today, including Golden. Caroline Grainge and Soumaya...
Portrait of an Artist: Baltimore-based Amy Sherald Wins Smithsonian’s Outwin Boochever Competition
EXPLORING RACE, REPRESENTATION AND PERFORMANCE, there is a certain something about the portraits painted by Baltimore artist Amy Sherald. Painted in grayscale, the bodies of her subjects are absent of color. Everything else in the large-scale fantastical portraits of African Americans—their distinctive clothing and the background against which they are set—celebrates color. The Smithsonian...
Mining the Collection: Julie Mehretu, Rashid Johnson and Wangechi Mutu Discuss Compelling Works at the Met
“HOW DO YOU PAINT YOUR SLAVE?” artist Julie Mehretu wonders. She is looking at “Juan de Pareja,” a 1650 oil on canvas by Spanish painter Velázquez (1599–1660). She describes it as portrait of a black man with copper skin and brown eyes. “He was one of his primary assistants and he was his slave… The...
Winter Wonders: 44 Exhibitions Feature Exceptional Works by Black Artists
LONG OVERDUE, THE COLORFUL AND EXPRESSIVE abstract works of Alma Thomas (1891-1978), pictured above, are being celebrated with a groundbreaking retrospective at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College in upstate New York. This summer, Thomas’s first solo museum exhibition since 2001 will travel to the Studio Museum in Harlem, which is co-organizing the show....
Weschler’s African American Art Sale Features 63 Elizabeth Catlett Prints From Private Collection
THERE IS A ROOM FULL of Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) prints on view at Weschler’s Auctioneers and Appraisers. The Washington, D.C., auction house is exhibiting the works in advance of its African American art sale on Feb. 26. The majority of the lots up for bid are from the collection of Rev. Douglas E. Moore...
