# Celebrating Black Artists in 5 New Books
FIVE NEWLY PUBLISHED illustrated art books celebrate an intergenerational slate of Black artists. The volumes include the first monograph of Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu and books dedicated to the work of Ming Smith and Romare Bearden. A collection of found photographs and contemporary Caribbean art are also explored:
*“Wangechi Mutu (Phaidon Contemporary Artists Series),” with contributions by Adrienne Edwards, Courtney J. Martin, Kellie Jones, and Chika Okeke-Agulu (Phaidon Press, 160 pages). | Paperback, Published Jan. 4, 2023*
**Wangechi Mutu (Phaidon Contemporary Artists Series)**
Kenyan-American artist **Wangechi Mutu** creates fantastical universes populated by powerful women and informed by cosmology and the natural world. Expressing herself through paintings, collages, and sculptures, her alternative contexts address real world narratives and challenge colonial legacies and traditional art histories and power structures. The first monograph to chronicle Mutu’s two-decade career, this fully illustrated volume brings together four prominent contributors: scholar/curators Adrienne Edwards, Courtney J. Martin, Kellie Jones, and Chika Okeke-Agulu.
*“Ming Smith: The Invisible Man (MoMA One on One Series),” by Oluremi C. Onabanjo (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 48 pages). | Paperback, Published Jan. 10, 2023*
**Ming Smith: The Invisible Man**
From 1988 to 1991, New York photographer **Ming Smith** made a moving series of photographs based the opening lines of “The Invisible Man,” Ralph Ellison’s landmark novel: “I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids, and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.” Part of the MoMA One on One Series dedicated to a single work from the museum’s collection, this relatively small-format volume focuses on one image from the body of work, “Invisible Man, Somewhere, Everywhere” (1991), a moody street scene featuring a solitary figure. Authored by photography curator Oluremi C. Onabanjo, the publication coincides with the exhibition “Projects: Ming Smith.”
*“What Matters*
What Matters Most: Photographs of Black Life
In 2012, Toronto artist Zun Lee stumbled upon “a few orphaned Polaroids” in Detroit, marking the beginning of the Fade Resistance Collection. With over 4,000 Polaroids capturing moments of Black life from the 1960s to 2000s, the images showcase everyday life, posed portraits, and milestone celebrations. The small-format volume was published in tandem with the exhibition “What Matters Most: Photographs of Black Life” at the Art Gallery Ontario (AGO).
Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today
Edited by Carla Acevedo-Yates, “Forecast Form” rethinks contemporary art in the Caribbean and accompanies the exhibition currently showcased at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. It includes essays, a roundtable discussion with several artists, and features a diverse group of 37 artists, including Christopher Cozier, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Teresita Fernández.
Romare Bearden: Patchwork Quilt
The MoMA series publication delves into “Patchwork Quilt” (1970) by Romare Bearden, offering insights into the artist’s journey in producing this work. MoMA displayed Bearden’s collage in “Romare Bearden: The Prevalence of Ritual” in response to calls for greater visibility of women and artists of color. CT
Books are listed according to their wide-distribution publication dates