Dawoud Bey and Njideka Akunyili Crosby Awarded 2017 MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grants
Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Dawoud Bey. | Photos courtesy MacArthur Foundation THE LATEST CLASS of MacArthur Foundation fellows includes photographer Dawoud Bey and painter Njideka Akunyili Crosby. The artists are among 24 recipients of 2017 “Genius” grants announced today. MacArthur Fellowships are bestowed upon “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in...
5 Works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby are For Sale at This Week’s New York Art Auctions. Will They Surpass $3.1 Million Artist Record?
Christie’s New York, May 17, 2017 – Lot 64B: NJIDEKA AKUNYILI CROSBY, “I Refuse to be Invisible,” 2010 (ink, charcoal, acrylic and transfers on paper, 117 3/4 x 82 inches). | Estimate $1.5 million-$2 million. Sold for $2,647,500 (including fees) THIS EVENING, A MAJOR PAINTING by Njideka Akunyili Crosby is going on the auction...
Auction Results: New Records Set for Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Henry Taylor, and Alma Thomas, Compelling Works by El Anatsui Among Many Others by Black Artists Sold Too
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES and in London, auctions of post-war, modern and contemporary art were held at the end of February and early March. Records were set in Los Angeles, where an Alma Thomas painting was offered, and London where Henry Taylor and Njideka Akunyili Crosby achieved new benchmarks. Auction values for Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based...
Njideka Akunyili Crosby Painting Sells for Record $3.1 Million at Christie’s, Nearly Three Times Her Previous High Mark
Lot 3: NJIDEKA AKUNYILI CROSBY, “The Beautyful Ones,” 2012 (acrylic, pastel, colour pencil and Xerox transfer on paper). | Estimate $488,800-$733,200. Sold for $3,075,774 (including fees). RECORD ONLY THREE WORKS by Njideka Akunyili Crosby have come to auction and they have all been record breakers. In the span of six months, sales for the...
Black Women in the Art World, Taking Stock on International Women’s Day
Artists Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Julie Mehretu, Museum director Belinda Tate WOMEN ACCOUNT FOR 51 PERCENT of visual artists working today, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. The figure mirrors women’s representation in the U.S. population, which was 50.8 percent in 2015, based on Census statistics. The parity ends there. The National...
How Much is That Painting? Top 25 Auction Lots by African American Artists, 2014-2016
Julie Mehretu, “Looking Back to a Bright New Future” (2003). EARLY NEXT MONTH, major auction houses in New York and London are holding post-war and contemporary art sales. In anticipation of the first significant offerings of the year, Culture Type is assessing the state of art by Black artists. In recent years, a cluster...
Norton Museum is Showing Off Recent Additions to its Collection by African American Contemporary Artists
The new acquisitions exhibition features Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s 2016 painting “Super Blue Omo.” THE NORTON MUSEUM OF ART is celebrating Black History Month by mounting an exhibition of recent acquisitions by black contemporary artists. “Spotlight: Recent Acquisitions” features eight works—recently executed paintings by Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Mickalene Thomas, photographs and a sculpture by...
New Year, New Art: What to Look Forward to in 2017
IN THE COMING YEAR, 20 biennials and triennials are happening around the world. Documenta 14 is opening in Athens, Greece, and Kassel, Germany; the Whitney Biennial and Performa 17 are occurring in New York; and New Orleans is hosting Prospect.4. Meanwhile, artists are diversifying their practices and reaping the benefits of critical recognition. Mark Bradford...
Market Interest: With Intimate Portrait, Njideka Akunyili Crosby Achieves Auction Record for Second Time in Two Months
“Drown” by Njideka Akunyili Crosby sold for more than $1 million at Sotheby’s New York on Nov. 17, 2016. | via Sotheby’s MANY ARTISTS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY to make clear that the issues raised in their work serve to start a conversation rather than reflect their own opinion and the figures they...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Derrick Adams Wins Studio Museum Prize, Influential Young Curators
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. This week, the Studio Museum in Harlem announced the recipient of its annual Joyce Alexander Wein prize; and art news outlets published lists of the most...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Black Panthers at 50, Museums Respond to Charges of Racism and Historical Inaccuracy
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. This week, highlights include news that women artists will gather in Brooklyn for a historic group photo; the grand re-opening of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora...
Kerry James Marshall Retrospective at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Headlines Robust Fall Season of 50+ U.S. and European Exhibitions Featuring Black Artists
Kerry James Marshall’s retrospective, featuring “Untitled (Studio), opens at The Met Breuer Oct. 25. THE VISIONARY AND IMAGINATIVE PAINTINGS of Kerry James Marshall are coming to New York. Presenting 35 years of painting, “Mastry” is the largest retrospective of the artist’s work to date. After debuting at MCA Chicago in April, the exhibition opens...
Beyond the Fairs: London’s Must-See Exhibitions Featuring Black Artists
Embed from Getty Images LONDON IS THE PLACE TO BE this week with the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair and Frieze London underway. The fourth edition of 1:54 is open Oct. 6-9 at Somerset House. According to the fair, 40 exhibitors are presenting more than 130 African and African diasporan artists, alongside a program...
Where My Girls At?: 28+ Opportunities to See and Support the Work of Black Female Artists and Curators This Fall
Works by Alma Thomas, Simone Leigh, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye IT WAS A GREAT DAY IN HARLEM, a celebration of two important women in art—Alma Thomas (1891-1978) and Thelma Golden. The artist and the director of the Studio Museum in Harlem were both born Sept. 22. Thomas would have been 125. To mark the milestone,...
Retrospective: A Review of the Latest News in Black Art – Art, Police and Black Lives
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to art by and about people of African descent. In the first half of July 2016, highlights include responses to police violence through the lens of art by artists including Dread Scott, curator Thomas J. Lax, and writer Taylor Renee Aldridge in the...
At Art Basel, Significant Sales of Works by African American Artists, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby
MUSEUMS HAVE TAKEN AN INTEREST in Njideka Akunyili Crosby. At Art Basel, Victoria Miro Gallery of London sold “Super Blue Omo” (above), a new, large-scale figurative work by the Los Angeles-based painter to a museum. According to BLOUIN ARTINFO, the painting went to “an unidentified American museum for an otherwise indeterminate five-figure price.” UPDATE:...
Artists Hank Willis Thomas, Nick Cave, and Rick Lowe are Among the African American Creatives Addressing 2016 Commencments
FROM LOS ANGELES TO BOSTON, it’s graduation season. Joining two of this year’s most popular commencement speakers—President Obama (Howard University, Rutgers University, Air Force Academy) and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda (University of Pennsylvania)—Nick Cave, Melvin Edwards, Rick Lowe, Hank Willis Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, and several other African American artists, are participating in graduation ceremonies....
The Year in Black Art 2015: The Newsmakers
OVER THE PAST YEAR, a number of black artists and curators have made news on a regular basis, whether for groundbreaking projects and exhibitions, or for earning a significant honor or appointment. These key figures—both established and recently eclipsing emerging status—are not only pushing their own practices and institutions in innovative new directions, they are...
Studio Museum Awards 2015 Wein Artist Prize to Njideka Akunyili Crosby
LOS ANGELES-BASED artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby is the recipient of the Studio Museum in Harlem’s 10th Annual Joyce Alexander Wien Artist Prize. Since 2006, the $50,000 prize has honored “the artistic achievements of an African American artist who demonstrates great promise and creativity.” The announcement of the annual prize was celebrated at the museum’s...
Where My Girls At? 20 Black Female Artists with Solo Exhibitions on View this Fall
Installation by Ebony G. Patterson. IN JUNE, ARTNEWS DEVOTED a special issue to women in the art world and the findings revealed a major gulf between the experiences of male and female artists and curators. According to ARTnews, women are seriously underrepresented when it comes to running major museums. Female artists trail far behind...
