The latest in Black Art: International African American Museum opens, Spelman Museum kicks off National Collection tour, Kadir Nelson’s 4th of July vision and more

The latest news in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture

The International African American Museum in Charleston, SC, is located on Gadsdens Wharf. The historic site was a major landing point for enslaved Africans. | Photo courtesy International African American Museum

museum

After two decades of planning and several delayed opening dates, International African American Museum in Charleston, SC, officially opened to the public on June 27. The museum is designed to “demonstrate how enslaved and free Africans shaped economic, political, and cultural development across the country and beyond, providing an inside look at the close ties to South Carolina’s iconic culture.” Lowcountry.” (6/28) | More

APPOINTMENTS

Lauren LeBeaux Craig was named interim executive director of Newark Arts, a “community-centered nonprofit” founded in Newark, NJ, in 1981. LeBeaux Craig is an attorney who, as of 2018, has served as director of development and strategic initiatives at Newark Arts . She succeeds Felicia A. Swoope, who was hired to lead organization in early 2022. (6/26) | More

After the New Orleans Museum of Art announced Amanda M. Maples was hired as curator of African art, the museum received a wave of negative reactions to the appointment on social media. Commentators took issue with the fact that Maples is white. (7/3) | Newspaper Art

EMMA AMOS, “2/4 Time,” 1984 (mixed media, 37 x 47 inches). | Estate of Emma Amos. Spelman College Museum of Fine Arts. Acquisition of Spelman College. Photo courtesy Spelman College Museum of Fine Arts

exhibition

The Spelman College Museum of Fine Arts in Atlanta, Ga., announced the first national tour of its collection. “Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection” premiere at the Spelman in 2022, marking the museum’s 25th anniversary. The group exhibition includes about 40 artists, incl Emma Amos, Firelei Bez, Romare Bearden, Beverly Buchanan, Selma Burke, Elizabeth Catlett, Sam Gilliam, Glenn Ligon, Howardena Pindell, Faith Ringgold, Deborah Roberts, Lorna Simpson, AND Carrie Mae Weems. The first stop on the five-city tour is Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, where the exhibit opens at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center on September 30. Next, the show is traveling to the Boise Museum of Art in Idaho, the University of Michigan Art Museum in Ann Arbor, the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tenn. (6/30) | More

BIENNIAL

Curators Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hlio Menezes AND Manuel Borja-Villel announced the full list of artists for Brazil’s 35th Biennale So Paulo (September 6 – December 10, 2023). After releasing a partial artist list in April, the full list features 120 international artists. Newly announced artists include Snia Gomes – Simone Leigh (Official Music Video) Snia Gomes – Simone Leigh (Official Music Video) AND Charles White. (6/29) | More

EDWARD MITCHELL BANNISTER, “Untitled (Walking Through a Field),” circa 1870 (oil on canvas, 22 x 42 1/4 inches). | Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens

PURCHASES

The Huntington Library, Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, announced new additions to its collection, including a pair of shadow portraits printed on fabric by Letitia Huckaby, made in 2020, and “Untitled (Walking Through a Field)” (circa 1870), a New England landscape painting by Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901). The addition of Bannisters Untitled is a significant milestone for the collection, said Dennis Carr, Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator of American Art at The Huntington. It is a large, previously unpublished work, performed at the height of his career. (6/27) | More

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) acquired more than 100 works of art, a wide selection of works across mediums, times, geographies and cultures. Major works by black artists came from the P. Bruce Marine and Donald Hardy collection. “Peace on Earth” (1938), a drawing by Charles White depicting the 1919 Red Wine race riots in Chicago, was purchased and 19 works by Edward Mitchell Bannister, Eldzier Cortor, David Driskell, Seydou Keta, Joe Overstreet, Charles Ethan Porter, Laura Wheeler Waring, AND Philemon Williamson, among others, they were donated to the museum. The BMA also added to its collection works by Baltimore-area artists (Charles Mason III, Devin N. Morris, Lavar Munroe and Elizabeth Talford Scott, AND Joyce J. Scott) and the artists featured in recent exhibitions (Omar Ba, Darrel Ellis, Larry W. Cook Jr., AND Stephanie Jemison). Painting from Peter Bradley AND Ben Enwonwu also joined the collection. | More

Except this, LaToya Ruby FrazierThe award-winning installation “More Than the Occupiers: A Monument to the Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-2022” was purchased by the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA). Honoring the dedication and essential role of healthcare workers during the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine, the work consists of 18 photographic portraits and related stories presented on socially distanced IV poles (see video at the bottom of this page). The series was produced for the 58th Carnegie International (2022-2023) at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pa., where it won the Carnegie Award. Frazier grew up in Braddock, Pa., outside of Pittsburgh. The Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Md., donated the installation to the BMA. (6/26) | More

KADIR NELSON, “Declaration of Independence”. | The New Yorker, 3 July 2023

MAGAZINE

Los Angeles artist Kadir NelsonThe cover of The New Yorker magazine’s July 3, 2023 issue captures a girl with long braids flowing down her back, skating in Times Square on July 4. Titled “The Declaration of Independence,” the image was inspired by a real person Nelson saw recently at a skating rink where he was celebrating his wedding anniversary. Explaining his vision to New Yorker arts editor Franoise Mouly, Nelson said he noticed a young African-American girl engrossed in her phone, stylishly dressed, wearing custom-painted skates and “sliding effortlessly across the wooden floor to the loud music”. He added that he told his wife: This would make a great cover painting for The New Yorker. (6/26). | More

MORE NEWS

Ghanaian artist Prince GyasiHis latest project is a collaboration with Pirelli, the Italian tire company he is famous for wall calendar Since 1964, the calendar has featured images of prominent models and musicians by internationally renowned photographers. Gyasi describes his work as providing “a counter-narrative to dominant Western notions of ‘Africa'”. His images are defined by electric color and often feature street children from his hometown of Jamestown. Gyasi is photographing Pirelli’s 2024 calendar, celebrating the 60th anniversary of its first launch. (6/28) | More
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Artist LaToya Ruby Frazier explains her Carnegie Award-winning project “More Than the Occupiers: A Monument to the Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-2022” and introduces the health care workers who were her subjects. The installation was purchased by the Baltimore Museum of Art. | Video from the Carnegie Museum of Art