Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
Lorraine O’Grady. | Photo by Lelanie Foster, Courtesy the artist and Mariane Ibrahim gallery
LIVES
Conceptual Artist Lorraine O’Grady Has Died at 90
New York artist Lorraine O’Grady (1934-2024) died at her home on Nov. 13. She was 90. According to reports, her death was confirmed by Marian Ibrahim Gallery, who has represented the artist since last year. O’Grady employed the theory of both/and as a framework for institutional and cultural critique. Working across writing, photography, curating, installation, and video, she was best known for landmark performances of the character Mlle Bourgeoise Noire (1980-83) and “Art is…” (1983), for which she hired actors and dancers to ride on a float in the African American Day Parade in Harlem and interact with people along the crowded parade route, employing empty gold picture frames as props to capture candid moments. “Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And,” the artist’s first retrospective, opened at the Brooklyn Museum in 2021. | More to come
Zoé Whitley is Departing Chisenhale Gallery
In London, Zoé Whitley is stepping down as director of Chisenhale Gallery after a five-year tenure presenting 15 exhibitions. She will depart in March 2025 and return to working as an independent curator and writer. Born in Washington, D.C., Whitley previously served as senior curator at London’s Hayward Gallery; curated Irish artist Cathy Wilkes’s solo exhibition in the British Pavilion, representing the UK at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019; and as a curator at Tate Modern, co-organized the international traveling exhibition “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.” (12/12) | The Art Newspaper
New Artistic Director Joins Also Known as Africa
In Paris, Also Known as Africa (AKAA) announced Sito Senghor (left) is joining the French art and design fair as artistic director for its 10th edition in 2025. An independent curator and advisor, he was a director at Galerie Orbis Pictus in Paris, from 2019-24. The gallery is now closed. Born in Senegal, Senghor is a longstanding collector with a background in international investment banking and interior design. Next year, AKAA will be presented at Carreau du Temple in Paris, from Oct. 24-26. (12/12) | More
Image: Sito Senghor. | Photo © Antoine Tempe, Courtesy AKAA
AWARDS & HONORS
2025 Aminah Robinson Artist Fellowship
The Columbus Museum of Art announced Jared Thorne is the recipient of the 2025 Aminah Robinson Artist Fellowship, including a $15,000 cash award. Thorne will spend three months working in the renovated home studio of Aminah Robinson (1940-2015) in the Shepard neighborhood of Columbus, beginning Jan. 3, 2025. Thorne is an artist, photographer, and professor of art at The Ohio State University. The museum announced the news in partnership with the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC). (12/12) | More
MORE NEWS
Family Seeks Return of Historic Paintings from Louisiana State Museums
In 1910, Marshall Marcell loaned 17th-century Italian and Flemish oil paintings to what is now the Louisiana State Museums, a system of 10 museums and historic sites. A century later, his family wants them back. Museum officials “have said that the dealer’s family was probably not compensated fairly for his art.” The family is seeking the return of the collection, dozens of paintings, including portraits and still lifes attributed to the school of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, the school of Anthony van Dyck, as well as John Vanderlyn, Theodore Sidney Moise, and John L. Boqueta de Woiseri. A mattress maker turned successful art dealer, Marcell was born in Louisiana in 1956, and was likely born enslaved. A document written by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg in the 1930s describing Marcell’s life and work was recently found by a great grandson of Marcell in the New York Public Library’s digital archives. “I’ve been hearing about these paintings since I was a very young child,” said Lauren Nile, one of Marcell’s great granddaughters. “I remember him (her great uncle) saying, ‘One day, we’re going to get our family’s paintings back, and when we do, our ship is going to come in.’” The situation is unresolved. The museums have not offered to return the paintings, but plan an exhibition of the works. (12/12) | New York Times
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