A 2014 triptych by Kara Walker dominates the living area of Ari Emanuel’s home. A painting by Mark Bradford is on display to the left. THE ART-FILLED HOME of talent power broker Ari Emanuel is for sale. Emanuel is co-CEO of Endeavor, the talent and entertainment agency, The contemporary-style home in the Mandeville Canyon...
Director Rashid Johnson at Sundance The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: Prioritizing Museum Board Diversity The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is launching a three-year, $4 million initiative designed to diversify museum boards and leadership. A...
Artist Shantell Martin x New York City Ballet BRITISH ARTIST Shantell Martin has turned her bold, black-and-white line drawings into a cottage industry. Over the past decade, Martin has parlayed her work into a series of high-profile exhibitions, projects, and collaborations. In her latest venture, she’s transformed Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, home...
James Baldwin by Rico Gatson THE YEAR 2019 is off to a promising start for artist Rico Gatson. Paying tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., he unveiled a mural titled “Mountain Top” at CityPlace, a shopping plaza and entertainment destination in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla. Also this month, he debuted a series of...
THE YEAR AHEAD begins and ends with major traveling exhibitions, each presenting nearly a century of works by African American artists. The January debut of “Black Refractions: Highlights From the Studio Museum in Harlem” at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco kicks off a tour of six venues. Scheduled for seven...
Portrait of artist Aaron Fowler, and “Derion,” 2018 by Folwer. The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: Jacob Lawrence Prize Announced The Seattle Art Museum announced assemblage artist Aaron Fowler is the recipient of the 2019 Gwendolyn...
Martin Luther King, Jr., looks out at crowd in Montgomery, Ala., 1965 | Courtesy Stephen Somerstein ART MUSEUMS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES are celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., on Monday, Jan. 21, the official federal King Day holiday. This year’s commemoration of King’s birthday marks 90 years since he was born...
VICTORIA MIRO has announced its representation of Howardena Pindell. The UK-based gallery is working with the multidiscplinary artist in collaboration with Garth Greenan Gallery, her rep in New York. Pindell’s first exhibition with Victoria Miro is planned for June 2019 in London. Focusing primarily on abstraction and conceptualism, Pindell engages with personal, political and social...
In her home study, Shonda Rhimes talks about Hughie Lee-Smith’s 1988 painting “Counterpoise.” ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST publishes photos of spectacular, light-filled homes. The magazine’s latest feature focuses on the Los Angeles residence of Shonda Rhimes, an Italianate villa she recently renovated where paintings by Hughie Lee-Smith (1915-1999) hang in the study and living room. “His...
IN MANY WAYS, 2018 was a watershed year for black artists. Overdue recognition of art by African American artists and black artists from throughout the world, continued to grow among collectors, curators, critics, scholars, and gallery owners. There were many indicators of the ever-expanding institutional and market interest. European attention on African American artists rose....
The best illustrated black art books of 2018. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine THE INCREASED INTEREST among some museums in mounting exhibitions featuring the work of African American artists has translated into a growing number of catalogs published to document them, which is wonderful. Many of those catalogs made Culture Type’s 2018 list...
Gordon Parks, Mrs. Ella Watson, Washington, D.C., July 1942 “DUE TO THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, all Smithsonian museums are closed.” The message is featured in a banner across the top of all of the institution’s websites. A similar message is posted on the doors of the museums, which closed to the public on Tuesday. The...
A SELECT GROUP OF BLACK CURATORS is making significant contributions to the museum field—collaborating with artists, organizing important exhibitions, shaping collections and programming, and taking advantage of opportunities to lend their expertise beyond their institutions. Their representation is growing, slowly, but their presence and achievements remain rare. On the American museum front, among curators,...
Collector and Philanthropist Pamela J. Joyner THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST announced the addition of Pamela J. Joyner to its board of trustees in February 2017. The influential philanthropist and art collector accepted the opportunity for one reason. She was intrigued by the possibilities of an ambitious idea the Getty Research Institute (GRI) was...
Artist Betye Saar, 1970 THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST dedicated resources to “recover the historical record of art in Southern California” in 2002. Nearly a decade later, the endeavor led to Pacific Standard Time, a region-wide collaboration with more than 60 institutions that resulted in a sweeping series of exhibitions, programs and publications exploring...
Installation view (partial) of “Storm in a Time of Shelter” (2018) by Paul Rucker at ICA at VCU in Richmond, Va. (2018). | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine ENCOUNTERING 52 MANNEQUINS outfitted in Ku Klux Klan-style hoods and robes is unsettling, to say the least, even when the racist get-ups are made from brightly...
Artist Vanessa L. German THE CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM of American Art announced the 2018 Don Tyson Prize has been awarded to visual and performance artist Vanessa L. German. The $200,000 biannual prize recognizes an individual artist or organization for exceptional achievement in American art. German was selected for “pushing boundaries and taking risks in...
Rendering for Destination Crenshaw The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: NEWS The initial renderings have been released for Destination Crenshaw, a public art experience envisioned as a celebration of black Los Angeles. Perkins + Will is designing...
THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART (LACMA) and Whitney Museum of American Art are co-organizing the first-ever comprehensive retrospective of Julie Mehretu. The traveling mid-career survey will feature more than 60 works, about 30 large-scale paintings and 32 works on paper (drawings and prints) dating from 1996 to the present. The exhibition is...
Portraits of slave resistance leaders Zeferina and João de Deus Nascimento by Dalton Paula. ALEXANDER AND BONIN has added Brazilian artist Dalton Paula to its roster. Working across painting, photography, and installation, his practice explores the exigencies of the Black Atlantic and knowledge production throughout the African diaspora. His work is often realized in...
Turner Prize 2025 Shortlist of Four British Artists Includes Nnena Kalu and Rene Matić
Apr 24, 2025
Diallo Simon-Ponte is Joining Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, as Inaugural Sam Gilliam Assistant Curator of Artist Programs
Apr 23, 2025
On View: ‘Alberta Whittle: Towards a Motherful Loving Praxis, We Cast Seeds Into the Darkness’ at Nicola Vassell Gallery in New York
Apr 19, 2025
Jack Shainman Gallery Now Represents the Estate of Faith Ringgold, ‘Artist Played Significant Role in Shaping Culture of American Art’
Apr 17, 2025
On View: ‘Robert Carter and Charles White in Dialogue’ Presents Moving Figurative Compositions at ACA Galleries in New York
Apr 12, 2025
