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An essential resource focused on visual art from a Black perspective, Culture Type explores the intersection of art, history, and culture

Latest News in Black Art: Artist Lorraine O'Grady Has Died, Zoe Whitley is Departing Chisenhale Gallery, Family Seeks Return of Paintings From Louisiana Museums & More

Latest News in Black Art: Artist Lorraine O’Grady Has Died, Zoe Whitley is Departing Chisenhale Gallery, Family Seeks Return of Paintings From Louisiana Museums & More

Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Lorraine O’Grady. | Photo by Lelanie Foster, Courtesy the artist and Mariane Ibrahim gallery   LIVES Conceptual Artist Lorraine O’Grady Has Died at 90 New York artist Lorraine O’Grady (1934-2024) died at...
Nikki Giovanni, 81, Profound Poet Whose Poignant Verse Reflected the Evolving Times in Which She Lived, Has Died

Nikki Giovanni, 81, Profound Poet Whose Poignant Verse Reflected the Evolving Times in Which She Lived, Has Died

Nikki Giovanni. | Photo © Nikki Giovanni   A PROFOUND VOICE and insightful wordsmith has passed on. Nikki Giovanni (1943-2024), the American poet, professor, public intellectual, and key figure in the Black Arts Movement, died in Blacksburg, Va., on Nov. 9. She was 81 years old. Virginia C. Fowler, Giovanni’s...
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Culture Type Gift Guide 2023: Celebrate the Holidays with 50 Great Finds Inspired by Leading African American Artists

Culture Type Gift Guide 2023: Celebrate the Holidays with 50 Great Finds Inspired by Leading African American Artists

THE GRAPHIC QUILT DESIGNS of Gee’s Bend artists inspired a new line of upholstered furniture available exclusively from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Studio Museum in Harlem recently added new items to its Barkley L. Hendricks Collection. Interior designer Sheila Bridges continues to expand the line of products featuring her clever Harlem Toile de...
Sports Agent Rich Paul Advises Athletes to Invest in Art: 'There's More Areas to Park Your Finances Than Clothes, Shoes, and Cars. Those are Depreciating  Assets'

Sports Agent Rich Paul Advises Athletes to Invest in Art: ‘There’s More Areas to Park Your Finances Than Clothes, Shoes, and Cars. Those are Depreciating Assets’

Rich Paul in August, speaking in Invest Fest in Atlanta. | Screenshot from Invest Fest video by Earn Your Leisure   EARLIER THIS YEAR, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced 11 new members were elected to its board of trustees since 2020. The group included Rich Paul, 41, CEO and founder of...
Henry Taylor's Self Portrait of His 65th Birthday, Complete with Cake, Covers Winter Issue of Art in America

Henry Taylor’s Self Portrait of His 65th Birthday, Complete with Cake, Covers Winter Issue of Art in America

A NEW PAINTING by Henry Taylor covers the Winter 2023 edition of Art in America. The image is a self-portrait of the artist that he started on his 65th birthday in June. When Taylor talks about his work, he is usually candid, reflective, introspective, and vulnerable. Taylor sounds particularly vulnerable when speaking about the birthday...
Latest News in Black Art: Abrupt Departure of Newfields CEO Sparks Protest, New Fisk President, 'Black Modernisms in the Transatlantic World' Wins Porter/Driskell Book Award & More

Latest News in Black Art: Abrupt Departure of Newfields CEO Sparks Protest, New Fisk President, ‘Black Modernisms in the Transatlantic World’ Wins Porter/Driskell Book Award & More

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Colette Pierce Burnette. | Photo by Kylie Birchfield   Appointments Newfields Board of Trustees announced the “departure” of its CEO, Colette Pierce Burnette, (above) in a brief statement on Nov. 10, abruptly ending her 15-month tenure....
White Cube Gallery Announced Its Global Representation of Sculptor Richard Hunt, a 'Giant Hiding in Plain Sight for Decades'

White Cube Gallery Announced Its Global Representation of Sculptor Richard Hunt, a ‘Giant Hiding in Plain Sight for Decades’

RENOWNED SCULPTOR Richard Hunt, is now represented worldwide by London-based White Cube. Hunt produces abstract, organic forms that often suggest the figure and speak to African American history and culture. Working with steel, aluminum, copper, and bronze, he describes the forms as “volumetric.” In December, White Cube will present Hunt’s sculpture, “Years of Pilgrimage” (1999),...
Auction Records: At Sotheby's, Julie Mehretu, Barbara Chase-Riboud, and Barkley L. Hendricks Reach New Heights, Major Kerry James Marshall Painting Finds One Bidder

Auction Records: At Sotheby’s, Julie Mehretu, Barbara Chase-Riboud, and Barkley L. Hendricks Reach New Heights, Major Kerry James Marshall Painting Finds One Bidder

BLACK FEMALE ARTISTS had a great night at Sotheby’s New York. “Walkers With the Dawn and Morning” (2008), an intense storm of hazy grays by Julie Mehretu, set a historic new artist record, pushing the her high mark to more than $10.7 million. Pioneering sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud also achieved a record result and young British...
Auction Results: Robert Colescott Painting Hits $3.9M at Christie's 21st Century Evening Sale, New Record Set by Young British Painter Jadé Fadojutimi

Auction Results: Robert Colescott Painting Hits $3.9M at Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale, New Record Set by Young British Painter Jadé Fadojutimi

Lot 10A: ROBERT COLESCOTT (1925-2009), “Eat dem Taters,” 1975 (acrylic on canvas, 59 x 79 inches / 149.9 x 200.7 cm). | Estimate $2 million-$3 million. SOLD for $3,922,000 fees included   PAINTINGS BY SOME OF THE MOST PROMINENT and promising Black artists on the radar of collectors and institutions were among the offerings in...
Cover Portrait: Envisioning Fall for The New Yorker, Kadir Nelson Illustrates Couple on a Rainy Day in Dumbo, Brooklyn

Cover Portrait: Envisioning Fall for The New Yorker, Kadir Nelson Illustrates Couple on a Rainy Day in Dumbo, Brooklyn

AS THE DAYS OF NOVEMBER roll by, the rainfall that often accompanies the fall months is at the center of Kadir Nelson‘s latest cover for The New Yorker. The artist’s double portrait depicts a couple clad in rain gear standing in the middle of a street in Dumbo, the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood whose name is...
Latest News in Black Art: Rashid Johnson Installation at Whitney Museum Restaurant, Black Women Win Photography Prizes, Kaloki Nyamai Joins James Cohan Gallery

Latest News in Black Art: Rashid Johnson Installation at Whitney Museum Restaurant, Black Women Win Photography Prizes, Kaloki Nyamai Joins James Cohan Gallery

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   RASHID JOHNSON, “New Poetry,” 2023 (black steel, ceramics, grow lights, plants, wood, shea butter, books, films on CRT monitors, 190 x 359 1/2 x 65 inches / 482.6 x 913 x 165 cm). | © Rashid...
Forthcoming: First Career Retrospective of Stanley Whitney Opens at Buffalo AKG Art Museum in February, Exhibition Charts Five Decades of Abstraction

Forthcoming: First Career Retrospective of Stanley Whitney Opens at Buffalo AKG Art Museum in February, Exhibition Charts Five Decades of Abstraction

Stanley Whitney in his studio, Ridgewood, Queens, 2017. | Photo by Katherine McMahon   THE FIRST RETROSPECTIVE of Stanley Whitney opens at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum on Feb. 9, 2024. “Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon” will chart the artist’s five-decade career, enduring investigation of color, and evolving approach to abstraction. Following the presentation...
Rake and Furrow: Artforum Gives Sam Gilliam Cover Treatment and Considers His Unique Approach to Abstract Painting

Rake and Furrow: Artforum Gives Sam Gilliam Cover Treatment and Considers His Unique Approach to Abstract Painting

A FIELD OF FROSTY WHITE flecked with hues of blue, violet, green, and rose, “Foggy” (2021) by Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) graces the cover of the November 2023 edition of Artforum. Inside, an essay by Julia Bryan-Wilson explores the unique characteristics that distinguish Gilliam’s abstract paintings and connects his techniques to Black women’s labor. Gilliam is...
November Exhibitions: 12 Museums Shows Feature African American Artists Betye Saar, Simone Leigh, Dawoud Bey, Charles White, Faith Ringgold, Kehinde Wiley & More

November Exhibitions: 12 Museums Shows Feature African American Artists Betye Saar, Simone Leigh, Dawoud Bey, Charles White, Faith Ringgold, Kehinde Wiley & More

OPENING THIS MONTH, art museums across the United States are presenting the vision and works of a broad array of Black artists—historic figures, mid-career practitioners, and rising talents. Among them are important women artists including Simone Leigh, Betye Saar, Faith Ringgold, Billie Zangewa, Grace Wales Bonner, and Elizabeth Talford Scott (1916-2011). Traveling exhibitions featuring Leigh,...
Forthcoming: Pérez Art Museum Miami is Presenting First Solo Museum Exhibition of Calida Rawles, Her Poetic Water Portraits Blend Hyperrealism and Abstraction

Forthcoming: Pérez Art Museum Miami is Presenting First Solo Museum Exhibition of Calida Rawles, Her Poetic Water Portraits Blend Hyperrealism and Abstraction

WATER AND ITS MANY THEMES, characteristics, and metaphors is central to the practice of Calida Rawles and serves as an anchoring through line in her paintings. A hybrid mix of hyperrealism and abstraction, her poetic images capture men, women, and young people submerged and floating in waves of stunning blue pool water. Drawing on the...
Year-Round Celebrations of African American Art, 2024 Calendars Feature Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, Ernie Barnes, and Betye Saar and Her Daughters

Year-Round Celebrations of African American Art, 2024 Calendars Feature Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, Ernie Barnes, and Betye Saar and Her Daughters

  BROADER INTEREST in African American art over the past several years has coincided with the production of more wall calendars showcasing the work of Black artists. In 2021, calendars dedicated to Black female artists were finally added to the mix. Looking forward to 2024, more African American art calendars than ever are available. Art...
Norman Lewis Made Hundreds of Works on Paper, Original Paintings and Drawings That Chart Developments in His Visual Language

Norman Lewis Made Hundreds of Works on Paper, Original Paintings and Drawings That Chart Developments in His Visual Language

NORMAN LEWIS (1909–1979), “Untitled (Seachange),” 1975 (oil on paper, 22 x 30 inches / 55.9 x 76.2 cm, signed). | © Estate of Norman Lewis. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, N.Y.   Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is presenting an exhibition of works on paper by Norman Lewis, accompanied by a digital publication with...
Painter Cy Gavin Wins Studio Museum in Harlem's Annual $50,000 Wein Artist Prize

Painter Cy Gavin Wins Studio Museum in Harlem’s Annual $50,000 Wein Artist Prize

Thelma Golden presents artist Cy Gavin with the 2023 Wein Prize at the Studio Museum in Harlem’s annual gala. | Photo by Bre Johnson, BFA   The museum’s Oct. 30 gala honored Cy Gavin and Elizabeth Alexander   THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM has been recognizing the potential of individual artists since 2006 with the...
Concurrent: Solo Exhibitions of Whitfield Lovell and Chakaia Booker are on View at Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock

Concurrent: Solo Exhibitions of Whitfield Lovell and Chakaia Booker are on View at Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock

WHITFIELD LOVELL (New York, N.Y., b. 1959), “Flight” From the installation Deep River, 2013 (wood cabinet, thirty-three suitcases, music stand, chest, sheet music, chains, and rope, 74 x 89 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches). | Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York. Image Courtesy Jason Masters   Concurrent focuses on museums where...
Honolulu Museum of Art Acquired 55 Works From Robert and Jean Steele, More Than Doubling Representation of African American Artists in its Collection

Honolulu Museum of Art Acquired 55 Works From Robert and Jean Steele, More Than Doubling Representation of African American Artists in its Collection

RON ADAMS (American, 1934–2020), “Blackburn,” 2000 (lithograph). | Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City, Mo. Partial gift of Robert and Jean Steele; Partial purchase with funds from the John V. Levas Trust, 2023. (2023-06-01)   ONE MASTER PRINTER paying homage to another, “Robert Blackburn” (2003) by Ron Adams pictures Blackburn pulling a figurative print from a...
New York Magazine: List of City's Under-the-Radar Power Brokers Includes Collector AC Hudgins and Curator Rujeko Hockley

New York Magazine: List of City’s Under-the-Radar Power Brokers Includes Collector AC Hudgins and Curator Rujeko Hockley

THE LATEST POWER ISSUE published by New York features “The Most Powerful New Yorkers You’ve Never Heard Of. 49 people who are actually running the city.” The list includes iconic collector and longstanding Museum of Modern Art board member AC Hudgins and Rujeko Hockley, an assistant curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. For...
Latest News in Black Art: Lauren Halsey Joins Gagosian, Todd Gray Now Repped by Lehmann Maupin, Harvey B. Gantt Center Turns 50, Plus Major Shake Up at Artforum

Latest News in Black Art: Lauren Halsey Joins Gagosian, Todd Gray Now Repped by Lehmann Maupin, Harvey B. Gantt Center Turns 50, Plus Major Shake Up at Artforum

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture   Lauren Halsey. | Photo by Russell Hamilton   Representation Gagosian, which has locations in the United States, Europe, and Asia, announced its representation of artist Lauren Halsey. Despite characterizing the relationship as global, she will continue...