Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Hamza Walker to Head LAXART, National Medal of Arts Announced
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent, with a few nods to culture thrown in. This week, highlights include news that President Obama created a national monument, will honor artists Jack Whitten and Ralph Lemon with the National Medal of Arts, and...
At LACMA, Artists Betye Saar and Alison Saar Discuss Intriguing Objects from the Museum’s Collection
Alison Saar on Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. | Video by LACMA CONTAINED IN A DISPLAY BOX, the figure is at once elegant and rough hewn. “She’s a strong, intense female figure …She’s got her one hand up doing this kind of shimmy thing. She is just out there and strutting her stuff,” says artist Alison...
Hammer Museum Launches Digital Archive with ‘Now Dig This!’ Exhibition About Black Artists in Los Angeles
THE HAMMER MUSEUM has breathed new life into one of its most dynamic and historically significant exhibitions. “Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980” explored a robust period in the city’s history when a pioneering group of African American artists established an influential creative community and produced important works commenting on 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....
On the Horizon in African American Art: Artists to Watch and Events to Look Forward to in 2016
WITH A NEW YEAR UNDERWAY and a compelling selection of new books, exhibitions and events on the horizon, here is what to look forward to in African American and African diasporic art—the most-anticipated happenings and artists to watch in 2016: After spending January at the historic residence of a Mexican muralist, Henry Taylor will...
Summer Shows: 25 Noteworthy Exhibitions Feature Black Artists
THIS SUMMER, MAJOR CITIES are presenting major exhibitions featuring the work of important African American artists. In greater Detroit, Nick Cave (shown above) is staging pop-up performances showcasing his mesmerizing Soundsuits in conjunction with a museum exhibition at the Cranbrook Art Museum, his first in Michigan. In New York, the Studio Museum in Harlem is...
National Gallery Curators Explain How Corcoran Works Will Enhance Collection
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART (NGA) recently expanded its holdings of African American art by 40 percent through acquisitions from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. For the first time, NGA owns works by Aaron Douglas, William Edmondson, Gordon Parks, Noah Purifoy and Betye Saar, among others. The historic announcement came last month when NGA...
Ebay Live Auctions Debut with Swann African American Art
BROWSING EBAY, LOTS FEATURING Hale Woodruff, Alma Thomas, Jacob Lawrence and Kara Walker appear. Better known for selling collectibles, resale designer clothing and used books and magazines, eBay is launching a live bidding product with several New York auction galleries today. An offering of African American Fine Art at Swann Galleries is the debut...
Art Agenda | July 14 – 20, 2014
ART AGENDA IS A LISTING OF MUST-SEE EXHIBITION OPENINGS and interesting talks and appearances happening this week in black art. Today’s edition features a new slate of exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem and more: July 17- Oct. 26, 2014 Artists in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem | New York...
Swann Auction Reflects ‘Things to Come’ and Current Art World Programming
NEXT WEEK, SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES is selling African American art from the 1960s and 1970s. Paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and mixed-media works are up for bid, with estimates for most of the 157 lots averaging $1,000-$7,000 and select offerings ranging up to five and six figures. Paintings by Barkley L. Hendricks and William T....
Bartlett’s Black Quotations: New Volume Features Insight from Artists
HAPPY 2014! WHAT BETTER WAY to plunge into the new year than to study the wise words of black artists past and present? After years of establishing itself as the chief purveyor of notable quotes and sayings, Bartlett’s recently published “Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs from Voices...
