Metropolitan Museum of Art Welcomed Candice Yates as Senior Research Associate of James Van Der Zee Archive
JAMES VAN DER ZEE (American, 1886-1983), “Self-portrait,” 1931 (gelatin silver print). | © James Van Der Zee Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art A VAST COLLECTION representing the legacy of Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee (1886-1983) is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The expansive holdings include about...
Picturing White House Leadership: For Four Years, Photographer Lawrence Jackson Has Trained His Lens on VP Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris walks onstage to speak at the kickoff for the Reproductive Freedoms Tour, Monday, January 22, 2024, at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 7 in Big Bend, Wisconsin. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson THE IMAGES ARE HISTORIC: Vice President Kamala Harris launching...
2024 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize Goes to Lebohang Kganye, South African Artist Known for Unique Approach to Visual Storytelling
LEBOHANG KGANYE, “Mohlokomedi wa Tora,” 2018, Scene 2 (Xanita board on wood). | © Lebohang Kganye SOUTH AFRICAN ARTIST Lebohang Kganye emerged from a shortlist of four international artists and collectives to win the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2024, including a £30,000 award (about US $38,300). Drawing on oral histories, family photo albums,...
Sixty Years Ago, the March on Washington Inspired Change and Drew Many Artists, Including a Future Photographer Named Frank Stewart
SIXTY YEARS AGO, Bayard Rustin stood on the grounds of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., hoping after a short two months of intense organizing that crowds of demonstrators would come to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. “I was terrified people wouldn’t show,” Rustin told the Washington Post years later....
Barkley L. Hendricks Was a Powerful Portrait Painter Whose Exceptional Photography Practice is Coming to Light
BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS, “Untitled,” circa 1975 (gelatin silver print, 16 x 24 inches, image); 16 1/2 x 24 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches, framed). | © Barkley L. Hendricks. Courtesy the Estate of Barkley L. Hendricks and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS (1945-2017) had an incredible eye. His latest gallery exhibition...
As We Rise: Photography Publication and Coinciding Traveling Exhibition Explore Black Life on Both Sides of Atlantic
OVER THE PAST 25 years, Kenneth Montague has built an expansive photography-based collection that explores Blackness and the Black experience, visualizing what Black life looks like on both sides of the Atlantic. The Wedge Collection features images by Black artists from throughout the diaspora—from Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, Great Britain, South America,...
On View: See Images From ‘Tyler Mitchell: Chrysalis’ at Gagosian Gallery, Artist’s First Solo Exhibition in London
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions FOR HIS FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION in London and his first solo show with Gagosian gallery, Tyler Mitchell is presenting a new series of transporting photographs of Black figures that blend the serene with the surreal. Made this year, the images were captured among the natural...
Confirmed: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Headed to U.S. Supreme Court, Black Woman Photographer Captured History Maker’s First Official Portrait
IN A FORMAL, TRADITIONAL, and somber-toned room, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson stood for her first official portrait. Wearing all black, she posed before a black backdrop and studio lighting, the trappings of contemporary photography temporarily inserted into the White House complex space, literally disrupting history. The Senate confirmed Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court...
Archive of James Van Der Zee, ‘One of the Nation’s Most Important Picture Makers,’ Headed to Metropolitan Museum of Art in Partnership With Studio Museum in Harlem
WEDDINGS, FUNERALS, PARADES, CHRISTMAS SCENES, and all manner of portraits. The photographs of James Van Der Zee (1886-1983) have come to define 20th century Harlem. His powerful pictures capture the beauty and pride of Black life, documenting everyday moments and special celebrations. His subjects were cosmopolitan Black families, artists, and political leaders—Adam Clayton Powell...
Yale’s Beinecke Library Acquired 200+ Prints by Legendary Photographer Gordon Parks
AN IMPORTANT REPOSITORY of images, books, and materials documenting African American history and culture, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University announced the addition of more than 200 photographs by Gordon Parks to its collection. The prints were acquired directly from The Gordon Parks Foundation and include selections from 11 of...
On View: See Images From ‘In a Time of Panthers: The Lost Negatives’ Featuring Photographs by Jeffrey Henson Scales From Late 1960s at Claire Oliver Gallery in Harlem
Black Panther Party Chairman Bobby Seale (1968) by Jeffrey Henson Scales On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions FOUNDED 55 YEARS AGO, the legacy of the Black Panther Party is being explored and celebrated this fall with art and images often taking center stage. A bronze bust of Huey P. Newton by Dana...
On View: Tyler Mitchell’s First Solo Exhibition at Jack Shainman is Spread Across Gallery’s Two Chelsea Locations in New York
“Connective Tissue” (2021) by Tyler Mitchell On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE PASTORAL AMERICAN SOUTH conjures complex histories, emotions, and experiences for Black people. Family traditions and connections to the land are tempered by racial terror and generational discrimination. Tyler Mitchell focuses nearly exclusively on the blissful moments and the power...
Pioneering Photographer Ming Smith is Now Represented by Nicola Vassell Gallery
TWO POWERFUL, TRAILBLAZING WOMEN are joining forces. Nicola Vassell Gallery in New York announced the representation of Ming Smith on Friday. Smith joins the Black-owned gallery having established a groundbreaking photography practice over the last 50 years. In May, Vassell inaugurated her gallery with a solo exhibition of the Harlem-based artist. “Ming Smith: Evidence”...
On View: ‘Dawoud Bey: An American Project’ at Whitney Museum of American Art in New York
“A Young Man Resting on an Exercise Bike, Amityville, NY” (1988) by Dawoud Bey On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions CHICAGO PHOTOGRAPHER Dawoud Bey has been chronicling America since the mid-1970s, training his lens on individuals, communities, and histories that are often unseen, yet central to the nation’s narrative. “Dawoud Bey: An...
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...
Photographer Tyler Mitchell is Teaching a MasterClass: ‘It’s Always Been Important to Me to Share and Make Accessible the Information I’ve Learned Along the Way’
SPIKE LEE TEACHES independent filmmaking. Anna Wintour provides insights about leadership. Frank Gehry offers fundamentals about architecture and design. A fine art and fashion photographer, Tyler Mitchell provides instruction on how to tell stories through portrait photography. Mitchell shot to fame in the creative world when he became the first Black photographer and youngest...
Lawrence Jackson: Black Photographer Will Document Historic White House Tenure of Incoming Vice President Kamala Harris
Photographer Lawrence Jackson THE TENURE OF THE FIRST WOMAN, first Black, and first Asian American to serve as Vice President of the United States will be visually documented by a Black photographer. Lawrence Jackson was named photographer to Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on Jan. 15. The Biden-Harris transition announced a number of White House...
Across the Nation: 5 Photography Exhibitions Showcase Works by Kay Hickman, Awol Erizku, John Edmonds, Lyle Ashton Harris, and Young Genre-Bending Image Makers
FROM ST. LOUIS TO MIAMI and New York, five photography exhibitions are showcasing the work of Black image makers. John Edmonds, Awol Erizku, and a new generation of fast-rising photographers are exploring fashion, art history, and contemporary culture. On the documentary front, two photographers capture New York. Lyle Ashton Harris’s archival work tracks the...
Finding Joy in the Everyday Mundane, Tyler Mitchell’s Photographs ‘Visualize What a Black Utopia Looks Like, or Could Look Like’
TYLER MITCHELL, Untitled, 2019. | © Tyler Mitchell ALLURING, JOYFUL, AND TIMELY, the photographs of Tyler Mitchell center the Black experiences he didn’t see represented in media when he was growing up. The images Mitchell came across, mostly on Tumblr, focused on attractive white models at leisure and at play, having fun. Shifting how...
Carrie Mae Weems on Kitchen Table Series: ‘Not Simply a Voice for African American Women, but More Generally for Women’
IN A NEW ONLINE VIEWING ROOM, Jack Shainman Gallery is showcasing Carrie Mae Weems‘s iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990). The photographs feature a succession of staged scenes that explore female identity, experiences, and relationships in the context of a traditionally female domain. Employing visual performance, image making, and a compelling narrative text, the powerful...
