The Baltimore Museum of Art announced Friday that philanthropists Eddie and Sylvia Brown are giving the organization $3.5 million to endow the position of chief curator. The couple’s gift will provide a new way of paying for the post of the museum’s chief curator, the person responsible for overseeing the BMA’s 95,000-item collection and for…
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 of best illustrated art books, along with a few monographs, and a volume documenting a…
After 52 years of waiting, Senegal is finally opening what has been described as the largest museum of Black civilization in the capital, Dakar. With close to 14,000 square metres of floor space and capacity for 18,000 exhibits, the new Museums of Black Civilizations is already capable of competing with the National Museum of African…
No, you’re not crazy: photographing darker skin tones, like mine, is harder than photographing lighter ones. Before anyone goes and reports me for reverse racism, which isn’t a thing, lets talk about this in purely technical terms. From the 1950s well into the 1980s, Kodak, the standard in film processing, provided photo labs with “Shirley…
THE MOST RECENT ADDITION to the art collection at The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College is a series of books. The museum acquired “The American Library (Activists)” by Yinka Shonibare, a large-scale installation of 234 books wrapped in the artist’s signature Dutch wax print fabric. The spines of most of the books feature the name of…
The Carters blessed stans everywhere when they released their joint album, Everything Is Love, on June 16th. Rumors had been circulating about the prospect of a collaborative effort for a while, with neither Beyoncé or Jay-Z confirming or denying it. Ultimately, the duo rolled out the album unexpectedly (which has become their preferred method of expression), surprising both…
On a recent wintry morning, the multimedia artist Derrick Adams was sitting in his cozy basement studio in Brooklyn talking about distant cities and faraway times. “It’s like reading a fairy tale book. I see the names of beauty schools and men’s clubs and taverns, and I think, ‘What does that place look like?’” Mr. Adams was…
In 2018, we’re launching a new section: Aesthetics + Design. Our love of architecture, the arts and timeless design is married to our commitment to supporting the brilliant creatives that produce the work that adds value and beauty to our lives. Featuring architects, curators, artists, creators and makers, we’re excited to celebrate those most visually…
Baltimore artist Amy Sherald, who graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2004 and just joined the faculty there, has been commissioned by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery to paint the official portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama. New York-based Kehinde Wiley will paint the official portrait of President Barack Obama. The paintings…
When Columbus, GA artists Najee and Seteria Dorsey purchased a house six months ago, they wanted the yard to reflect their love for art. While searching their belongings, they discovered some aluminum/ployethylene artwork that Najee created four years ago. The pieces — 28-inches tall and 11-14 inches wide — displayed Black women picking flowers wearing…