The coming year is filled with exceptional opportunities to discover the works of both historical and contemporary artists. Some of the most highly anticipated events include retrospective exhibitions of Sargent Claude Johnson, the first Black artist from California to achieve national recognition, and Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, the first woman of color to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design. Another noteworthy exhibition is “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism,” curated by Denise Murrell at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Additionally, there are museum surveys and retrospectives dedicated to Awol Erizku, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Lubaina Himid, Stanley Whitney, Robert Earl Paige, and Joyce J. Scott to look forward to.
The year 2024 also marks the centennial of James Baldwin’s birth, inspiring a new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Furthermore, to commemorate the centennial of its founding, the Morgan Library & Museum will explore the life and work of the Black librarian/curator who built the institution’s foundational collection. Meanwhile, new monographs will delve into the portraiture of Barkley L. Hendricks, the photography of Ernest Cole, and the activist letterpress practice of Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.
An array of significant books, lectures, and exhibitions across various locations, from California to Texas, New York, and beyond, are set to take place in the upcoming year. Here are some highlights of what to anticipate in 2024:
WINTER
“Black Artists in America: From Civil Rights to the Bicentennial,” By Celeste-Marie Bernier with Earnestine Lovelle Jenkins, and Alaina Simone (Yale University Press, 144 pages), Hardcover
BOOK | Black Artists in America: From Civil Rights to the Bicentennial, By Celeste-Marie Bernier with Earnestine Lovelle Jenkins, and Alaina Simone. | Published Jan. 9, 2024
This book is the second in a three-volume series following the publication of “Black Artists in America: From the Great Depression to Civil Rights” in 2022. It focuses on the 1950s to 70s and explores how artists such as Emma Amos, Romare Bearden, Ed Clark, Beauford Delaney, Norman Lewis, Howardena Pindell, Alma Thomas, Charles White, Kenneth Victor Young, and members of AfriCOBRA responded to the social, political, and cultural climate of the times. The fully illustrated volume includes essays about art historian James Porter; artist and collector Merton Simpson; and Spiral, the short-lived artist collective (1963-65). The catalog accompanies a traveling exhibition of the same name organized by Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tenn., and curated by Earnestine Jenkins, which recently opened at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Calif. (Feb. 4-May 19, 2024).
“Ernest Cole: The True America,” Photographs by Ernest Cole, Text contributions by Raoul Peck, James Sanders, and Leslie M. Wilson, Design by Oliver Barstow (Aperture, 312 pages), Hardcover
BOOK | Ernest Cole: The True America, Photographs by Ernest Cole. Text by Raoul Peck, James Sanders, and Leslie M. Wilson | Published Jan. 6, 2024
South African photographer Ernest Cole’s landmark publication “House of Bondage,” in 1967, captured the atrocities of apartheid. Following this, he documented racial disparities in American cities and rural communities. The long-lost negatives of these images were found in Sweden in 2017, and this publication is the first to showcase this remarkable trove of photographs, shedding light on the state of race and freedom in the United States in the periods immediately before and after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
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STANLEY WHITNEY (American, born 1946), “No to Prison Life,” 2016 (oil on linen, 96 x 96 inches / 244 x 244 cm), Signed and dated verso. | Artwork © Stanley Whitney, Photo by Adam Reich
EXHIBITION | Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon @ Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, N.Y. | Feb. 9-May 26, 2024
The first career-spanning museum retrospective of Stanley Whitney presents five decades of abstraction, from “early breakthroughs to mature formal experiments.” Large and small paintings, drawings, and prints will be on view with a selection of the Whitney’s sketchbooks. The exhibition is traveling to Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn. (Nov. 14, 2024–March 16, 2025) and ICA Boston (April 17–Sept. 1, 2025) and includes a new exhibition catalog.
AMY SHERALD (born Columbus, Ga., 1973), “Deliverance,” 2022 (oil on linen, two parts: each 108 1/4 × 124 1/4 inches / 274.8 × 315.5 cm). | The Dean Collection, Courtesy of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. © Amy Sherald, Courtesy of Amy Sherald and Hauser & Wirth. Photo by Joseph Hyde
EXHIBITION | Giants: Art From the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys @ Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N.Y. | Feb. 10–July 7, 2024
The first major museum exhibition of the collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys features nearly 40 works by “giant” figures, including Ernie Barnes, Kwame Brathwaite, Jordan Casteel, Barkley L. Hendricks, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Odili Donald Odita, Ebony G. Patterson, Deborah Roberts, Jamel Shabazz, Amy Sherald, Malick Sidibé, Lorna Simpson, Henry Taylor, and Kehinde Wiley. Among the highlights: iconic photographs by Gordon Parks and large-scale paintings by Nina Chanel Abney, Derrick Adams, Titus Kaphar, and Meleko Mokgosi, and a massive sculpture by Arthur Jafa. Curated by Kimberli Gant, the exhibition will be accompanied by a new catalog.
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NANCY ELIZABETH PROPHET, “Walk Among the Lilies,” circa 1931-32 (carved and polychromed wood panel, approx. 24 x 18 x2 1/4 inches). | Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund. RISD Museum, Providence, R.I.
EXHIBITION | Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend An Inch @ RISD Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I. | Feb. 17-Aug. 4, 2024
Born in Providence, R.I., to parents of African American and Narragansett descent, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (1890-1960) was the first woman of color to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1918. She lived, studied, and worked in Paris from the early 1920s to the early 1930s. Upon her return to the United States, she taught for a decade in the Spelman College art department, where she was a founding faculty member. The first museum survey of Prophet includes marble and wood sculptures, painted wood friezes, watercolors, and photographic documentation of lost or destroyed sculptures. A new fully illustrated catalog accompanies the exhibition, which will travel to the Brooklyn Museum and the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 2025.
Nancy Elizabeth Prophet’s “work reflects skills developed through academic training with a distinctly Modernist sensibility.”
SARGENT CLAUDE JOHNSON, “Chester,” 1931 (terracotta, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 7 inches). | Courtesy San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Albert M. Bender Collection, bequest of Albert M. Bender. Photo by Don Ross
EXHIBITION | Sargent Claude Johnson @ The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif. | Feb. 17-May 20, 2024
The first Black artist based in California to gain national regard, Sargent Claude Johnson worked in a range of mediums, but is best known for his modernist sculptural portraits. This career survey presents 41 works, including a monumental organ screen from the Huntington’s collection and works on loan from other public and private collections, many being shown publicly for the first time in decades. Spanning the 1920s to 1960s, the exhibition is organized in six sections exploring several aspects of Johnson’s practice, including his role in the Black Renaissance, contributions to the federal Works Project Administration in California, works reflecting his travels in Latin America, and examples of his experimentation with materials such as fired enamel. Curated by Dennis Carr with Jacqueline Francis and John P. Bowles, the exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog.
MICHAEL ARMITAGE, “Conjestina,” 2017 (oil on Lubugo bark cloth, 86 3/4 × 67 1/16 × 1 5/8 inches / 220.3 × 170.3 × 4.1 cm). | © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube by Ben Westoby
EXHIBITION | The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure @ National Portrait Gallery, London, UK. | Feb. 22-May 19, 2024
A survey of 22 leading contemporary UK and U.S. artists, this exhibition considers the presence and absence of the Black figure in Western art history through the lens of three key themes: double consciousness; persistence of history; and kinship and connection. Curated by Ekow Eshun, 55 paintings, sculpture, and drawings made between 2000 and the present, are featured, with a selection of works displayed publicly for the first time. The participating artists are: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Hurvin Anderson, Michael Armitage, Jordan Casteel, Noah Davis, Godfried Donkor, Kimathi Donkor, Denzil Forrester, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Titus Kaphar, Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Chris Ofili, Jennifer Packer, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Thomas J Price, Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Henry Taylor, and Barbara Walker.
MARILYN NANCE, FESTAC ’77 closing ceremony: USA contingent, Simba Wachanga Cultural Ensemble, 1977. | © 2024 Marilyn Nance / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
EXHIBITION | Marilyn Nance: The Women of FESTAC ’77 @ Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, Calif. | Feb. 24-April 27, 2024
Photographer Marilyn Nance was only 21 years old when she documented one of the most profound Black cultural moments of the 20th century. More than 15,000 artists, musicians, writers, and cultural figures from dozens of nations gathered for FESTAC ’77, the Second Festival of Black Arts and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria (Jan. 15-Feb. 12, 1977). Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Nance attended as the official photographer for the U.S. delegation. She made more than 1,5000 photographs, which serve as an invaluable record of the festival. Following her recent book, “Marilyn Nance: Last Day in Lagos,” this gallery exhibition presents a curated selection of images focused on women artists who attended, including Viola Burley, Carole Byard, Ajuba Douglas, Charlotte Ka, Samella Lewis, Valerie Maynard, Winnie Owens-Hart and Faith Ringgold, among many others. Also featured are archival materials from Betye Saar’s collection, reflecting her FESTAC ’77 experience, including her sketches, personal photos, datebook, official festival documents, and other ephemera. The Nance exhibition coincides with “Betye Saar: New Work,” which is also on view at the gallery.
WILLIAM HENRY JOHNSON (American, 1901–1970), “Woman in Blue,” circa 1943 (oil on burlap, Framed: 35 × 27 inches / 88.9 × 68.6 cm). | Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Permanent Loan from the National Collection of Fine Art, 1969.013. Courtesy Clark Atlanta University Art Museum
EXHIBITION | The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism @ Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. | Feb. 25–July 28, 2024
Many African Americans left the segregated South during the Great Migration. This highly anticipated exhibition delves into how artists who settled in Harlem, Chicago, and other “new Black cities,” depicted modern life in the 1920s-40s. The exhibition features about 160 paintings, sculptures, and drawings by artists such as Charles Alston, Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller, Palmer Hayden, Bert Hurley, William H. Johnson, Archibald Motley, Jr., Winold Reiss, Augusta Savage, James Van Der Zee, and Laura Wheeler Waring. Their work is presented alongside European counterparts who depicted Black subjects, including Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, and Pablo Picasso, as well as Germaine Casse, Jacob Epstein, and Ronald Moody, a Jamaican-born British artist. A significant portion of the works on display were drawn from the collections of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Curated by Denise Murrell, the exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog.
“The exhibition will establish the Harlem Renaissance and its radically new development of the modern Black subject as central to the development of international modern art.”
LUBAINA HIMID, “Pointless Heroism,” 2023 (acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 72 x 72 inches / 183 x 183 centimeters). | Artwork © Lubaina Himid. Courtesy the artist and Hollybush Gardens, London. Image courtesy the artist and Hollybush Gardens, London. Photo by Andy Keate
EXHIBITION | Lubaina Himid: Make Do and Mend @ The Contemporary Austin in Austin, Texas. | March 1-July 21, 2024
Renowned British artist Lubaina Himid’s work encompasses paintings, prints, drawings, and installations exploring the legacy of colonialism, institutional politics, Black representation and identity, and Black creativity, with a particular focus on the contributions of Black women artists. A key figure in the UK Black Arts Movement, Himid achieved a significant milestone in 2017 when she became the first Black woman and the oldest artist to win the Turner Prize. This presentation is the result of Himid receiving the 2024 Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize. The exhibition showcases works spanning over four decades, including two new bodies of work. The show will travel to FLAG Art Foundation in New York in September. A catalog documenting the exhibition is expected to be released in 2025.
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KENNY RIVERO, “Olafs and Chanclas,” 2021 (oil on canvas. 72 x 72 inches). | © Kenny Rivero. Collection of Michael Sherman. Photograph by Ed Mumford, Courtesy of the Artist and Charles Moffett, New York
EXHIBITION | Surrealism and Us: Caribbean and African Diasporic Artists since 1940 @ Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas. | March 10-July 28, 2024
Exploring the history of Surrealism in Caribbean and African diasporic art, this comprehensive survey features over 50 works from the 1940s to the present. The show takes inspiration from an essay titled “1943: Surrealism and Us” by Suzanne Césaire (1915-1966), a French writer, scholar, and activist. Curated by María Elena Ortiz, the exhibition delves into Caribbean aesthetics, Afrosurrealism, and Afrofuturism, showcasing artists such as Suzanne Césaire, Aimé Césaire, Benny Andrews, Belkis Ayón, Firelei Báez, April Bey, Myrlande Constant, Eldzier Cortor, Emory Douglas, Minnie Evans, Ja’Tovia Gary, David Hammons, Hugh Hayden, Arthur Jafa, Wifredo Lam, Simone Leigh, Hew Locke, Kerry James Marshall, Rene Ménil, Toni Morrison, Wangechi Mutu, Lorraine O’Grady, Zak Ové, Naudline Pierre, Kenny Rivero, Betye Saar, and Bob Thompson.
“Barkley L. Hendricks: Solid!,” Edited by Zoé Whitley with contributions by John Jennings, Duro Olowu, Richard J. Powell, Susan Thompson, Susan Hendricks, and Trevor Schoonmaker (Skira, 300 pages), Hardcover
BOOK | Barkley L. Hendricks: Solid! Edited by Zoé Whitley. | Expected March 12, 2024
“Barkley L. Hendricks: Solid!” offers a comprehensive look at the work of Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017), known for his masterful portraits dating back to the 1960s. This monograph, edited by Zoé Whitley, documents the full arc of his distinctive portraiture with rarely seen paintings and photographs. The volume also includes essays by Richard J. Powell, John Jennings, Duro Olowu, Susan Thompson, and a conversation between Trevor Schoonmaker and Susan Hendricks, the artist’s widow. It is available as a single volume or as part of a boxed set.
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“All These Liberations: Women Artists in the Eileen Harris Norton Collection,” Edited by Taylor Renee Aldridge, with contributions by Sophia Belsheim, Susan Cahan, Chelsea Frazier, Thelma Golden, Genevieve Hyacinthe, Kellie Jones, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Kris Kuramitsu, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Steven Nelson, Legacy Russell, Lorna Simpson, and Lowery Stokes Sims (Marquand Books, 272 pages), Hardcover
BOOK | All These Liberations: Women Artists in the Eileen Harris Norton Collection, Edited by Taylor Renee Aldridge. | Expected March 12, 2024
Former educator Eileen Harris Norton is a Los Angeles-based collector, activist, and patron of the arts. She is also a co-founder, with artist Mark Bradford and Allan Dicastro, of Art + Practice, the foundation and exhibition space in Leimert Park. This fully illustrated volume hones in on the women artists represented in Norton’s extraordinary art collection, 50 artists including Belkis Ayón, Sonia Boyce, Sonya Clark, Genevieve Gaignard, Samella Lewis, Sandra McCormick, Julie Mehretu, Adia Millett, Wangechi Mutu, Senga Nengudi, Shirin Neshat, Lorraine O’Grady, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Adrian Piper, Calida Rawles, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Amy Sherald, Doris Salcedo, Alma Thomas, Ruth Waddy, Paula Wilson, Carrie Mae Weems, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Essays by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Steven Nelson, and Legacy Russell, among others, explore the artists and the political and cultural themes raised in their work, from memory and spirituality to women’s rights and Black feminism. Edited by Taylor Renee Aldridge, the volume features a foreword by Lorna Simpson; interview with Norton conducted by Thelma Golden; roundtable discussion among Susan Cahan, Kellie Jones, Kris Kuramitsu, and Lowery Stokes Sims highlighting the influence of Norton on their careers and the art world; and a chronology of the collector’s remarkable life.
SPRING
Clockwise, from far left, Co-curators by Meg Onli and Chrissie Iles. | Photo by Bryan Derballa; Isaac Julien, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Karyn Olivier, Suzanne Jackson, Charisse Pearlina Weston, JJJJJerome Ellis, Dionne Lee, and Torkwase Dyson. | All courtesy Whitney Museum
BIENNIAL | Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing @ Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y. | March 20- 2024
Co-curated by Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli and themed “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” this year’s biennial includes 69 individual artists and two collectives. Twenty-one of the artists are Black, representing about 30 percent of the participating artists. The overwhelming majority of the Black artists are women, including pioneers Suzanne Jackson, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, and Mavis Pusey (1928-2019). The artist list also includes Isaac Julien, Towkwase Dyson, JJJJJerome Ellis, Nikita Gale, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Dionne Lee, Ligia Lewis, Karyn Olivier, Tourmaline, and Charisse Pearlina Weston, among others. Most of the artists will present their work in the galleries and several will be featured in special film and performance programming available at the museum and online. Collaborating with Iles and Onli, the performance program is guest curated by Taja Cheek, and the film program is guest curated by Korakrit Arunanondchai, asinnajaq, Greg de Cuir Jr, and Zackary Drucker.
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JOYCE J. SCOTT, “Dead Albino Boy for Sale,” 2021-2022 (glass and plastic beads, thread, wire, 31 × 18 × 13 inches / 78.7 × 45.7 × 33 cm.). | Image Courtesy Goya Contemporary Gallery, Baltimore. © Joyce Scott. Courtesy Goya Contemporary, Photo By Mitro Hood
EXHIBITION | Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams @ Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Md. | March 24-July 14, 2024
Using numerous beads, glass, and other materials, Baltimore artist Joyce J. Scott produces stunning works that delve into Black history and culture, American politics, racism, violence, and gender issues, often with humor and unwavering honesty. Presenting over 120 works, including sculpture, neckpieces, prints, performance footage, a newly commissioned installation, and heirloom quilts made by Scott, her late mother, and other family members, along with ephemera from the artist’s archive, this 50-year retrospective provides an in-depth look at her artistic journey. Co-organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and the Seattle Art Museum in close collaboration with Scott, “Walk a Mile in My Dreams” will be accompanied by a fully illustrated exhibition catalog. At BMA, the exhibition aligns with “Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs: The Art of Elizabeth Talford Scott” (through April 28), which explores the work of Scott’s mother. Additionally, a concurrent exhibition, “Joyce J. Scott: Messages” is currently on view at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Calif. (Jan. 28-June 3, 2024)
ROBERT EARL PAIGE, “Universal Colours of Paige,” 1990 (hand painted and dyed (batik) Crepe de Chine silk. | © Robert Earl Paige
EXHIBITION | United Colors of Robert Earle Paige @ Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Ill. | April 6-Oct. 27, 2024
The boldly graphic work of renowned Chicago artist and designer Robert Earl Paige is influenced by West African symbolism, contemporary paintings, and “the patterns, colors, and materials of everyday Black life.” The largest exhibition of Paige to date showcases six decades of textile designs and painted fabric alongside recent works spanning collage, clay, wall/floor paintings, and drawings created during his Radicle Residency at Hyde Park Art Center (2022-23). This exhibition is part of Art Design Chicago, a series of citywide programs and exhibitions taking place through 2025.
“`Lorraine O’Grady: The Knight, or Lancela Palm-and-Steel Exhibition at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago, Ill. will run from April 10 to May 25, 2024. Lorraine O’Grady, a New York-based conceptual artist, joined Mariane Ibrahim in September 2023 and will have her first solo show with the gallery this spring. O’Grady is known for her use of the theory of both/and as a framework for institutional and cultural critique. The exhibition will showcase select works from two photography series, “Announcement” (2020) and “Body is the Ground of My Experience” (1991/2019). Mariane Ibrahim, a Black woman-owned gallery, also has locations in Mexico City and Paris, France.
Anna Deavere Smith: 2024 A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts will be held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from April 28 to May 19, 2024. Anna Deavere Smith, a renowned actress, playwright, and professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, is presenting the four-part lecture titled “Chasing That Which Is Me and That Which Is Not Me.”
“Glenn Ligon: Distinguishing Piss from Rain: Writings and Interviews,” By Glenn Ligon, Edited by Glenn Ligon and James Hoff with an introduction by Thomas (T.) Jean Jean (Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 400 pages), Paperback is the latest book release.Ligon: Distinguishing Piss from Rain: Writings and Interviews, By Glenn Ligon. | Expected April 30, 2024
Glenn Ligon is widely recognized for his paintings that incorporate text and explore themes of race, history, culture, and sexuality through the writings of notable figures such as James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Stein, and Richard Pryor. As both an artist and writer, Ligon has produced numerous essays and interviews, providing astute insights into the realms of art, society, and the works of his contemporaries (Chris Ofili, Julie Mehretu) and older artists (David Hammons, Phillip Guston). This 400-page collection of Ligon’s writings spanning two decades includes an introduction by Thomas (T.) Jean Jean, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art.
EXHIBITION | LaToya Ruby Frazier: Monuments of Solidarity @ Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. | May 12–Sep 7, 2024
LaToya Ruby Frazier’s work combines documentary photography and activism to highlight the specific struggles of communities in crisis and broader socio-political issues such as access to affordable healthcare, fair wages, and clean air and water. The exhibition, her first museum survey, features a range of work spanning photography, text, moving images, and performance created between 2001 and 2024. Included in the showcase are series such as The Notion of Family (2001–14), Flint Is Family in Three Acts (2016–20), On the Making of Steel Genesis: Sandra Gould Ford (2017), More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland (2022), and The Last Cruze (2019). Additionally, a newly unveiled “monument” dedicated to labor union leader and workers’ rights activist Dolores Huerta will be on display, accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog.
EXHIBITION | Mystic Parallax: Awol Erizku @ The Momentary, Bentonville, Ark. | May 19-Oct. 13, 2024
This marks the first museum exhibition of Awol Erizku, following the release of the artist’s major monograph “Mystic Parallax” in 2023. Through surreal imagery, Erizku reimagines Black visual culture, infusing iconic symbols from hip hop and Egyptian art with new layers of meaning.The write-up covers a variety of art exhibitions, featuring the works of talented artists representing a rich diversity of styles and perspectives. The art forms range from photography and film to painting, sculpture, and installation. The first exhibition spotlights the work of artist Eric Erizku, whose diverse pieces include studio practice works and high-profile commissioned editorial portraits. Another highlight is an exhibition at the Kuntsmuseum Basel, showcasing over 200 paintings by around 150 artists from Africa and the larger diaspora, exploring themes of Black representation and subjectivity.
Moving on, Mickalene Thomas’s exhibition at The Broad in Los Angeles is set to feature more than 80 works that celebrate Black women and delve into the complexities of Blackness and female identity. This two-decade survey will encompass mixed-media painting, collage, installation, and photography. This exhibition is part of a larger international tour, with each venue offering a unique version of the show and an accompanying exhibition catalog.
BEAUFORD DELANEY, James Baldwin, 1963 (pastel on paper). | National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. © Estate of Beauford Delaney by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire, Court Appointed Administrator; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York
EXHIBITION | This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance @ National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. | June 7, 2024-April 27, 2025
The exhibition, “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance,” at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., explores the life of literary icon James Baldwin in the context of the experiences of other “voices of queer resistance” including Bayard Rustin, Lorraine Hansberry, Barbara Jordan, Essex Hemphill, and Marlon Riggs. The show, curated by Hilton Als to mark Baldwin’s centennial, features portraits by artists Beauford Delaney, Bernard Gotfryd, Richard Avedon, Glenn Ligon, Donald Moffett, Faith Ringgold, Lorna Simpson, and Jack Whitten, and is titled after a short story by Baldwin published in the Atlantic in 1960.
The exhibition aims to reveal how Baldwin’s sexuality, faith, artistic curiosities, and notions of masculinity, along with his involvement in the civil rights movement, helped define his writing and long-lasting legacy.
“Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Citizen Printer,” By Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., with foreword by Austin Kleon, and contributions by Myron Beasley and Kelly Walters ( Letterform Archive Books, 276 pages), Hardcover
BOOK | Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Citizen Printer, Edited by Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. | Expected June 18, 2024
The upcoming book “Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Citizen Printer,” edited by Kennedy himself, tells the story of Kennedy’s transition from corporate America to becoming an artist and activist devoted to the art of letterpress. The publication coincides with the release of “Sista Said: Words of Wisdom from Women of Color in Social Justice & the Arts,” a set of letterpress postcards by Kennedy.
Artists-in-residence Devin Johnson and Zohra Opoku take in the ocean views near Rock Black Sénégal. | © 2023 Kehinde Wiley and Black Rock Senegal, Photo by Abdoulaye Ndao
EXHIBITION | Black Rock Senegal @ Harvey B. Gantt Center, Charlotte, N.C. | Aug. 9, 2024-Jan. 20, 2023
Since 2019, Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock Senegal has hosted more than 60 international artists in Accra. Works by a selection of artists who have participated in the artist-in-residence program will be displayed in Charlotte, N.C. as part of a group exhibition curated by Dexter Wimberly. The Gantt Center will feature this exhibition as part of its special programming for its 50th anniversary. Over the next five years, the Gantt Center will collaborate with Black Rock Senegal on three exhibitions.
“Contextures,” Edited by Linda Goode Bryant and Marcy S. Philips, with afterword by Thomas (T.) Jean Lax (Pacific/Primary Information, 112 pages), Paperback
BOOK | Contextures, Edited by Linda Goode Bryant and Marcy S. Philips. | Exptected Sept. 10, 2024
Four years after Linda Goode Bryant founded Just Above Midtown, the gallery published a landmark exhibition catalog focused on Black artists active in post-war abstraction (1945-78) and conceptual art (1970s) at a time when their contributions were largely absent from the white-dominated canon. About two dozen artists are featured including Frank Bowling, Ed Clark, Mel Edwards, Fred Eversley, Sam Gilliam, David Hammons, Suzanne Jackson, Senga Nengudi, Howardena Pindell, Adrian Piper, Alma Thomas, and William T. Williams. The original publication had only a few hundred copies printed in 1978. This new edition is published in facsimile form by Pacific, a boutique press founded by Adam Turnbull and Elizabeth Karp-Evans.
FALL
George Washington Carver working with plants. | Courtesy Tuskegee University Archives
EXHIBITION | World Without End: The George Washington Carver Project @ California African American Museum, Los Angeles, Calif. | Sept. 18, 2024-March 2, 2025
The exhibition “World Without End: The George Washington Carver Project” features the works of George Washington Carver (c. 1864-1943) at the California African American Museum. Carver, known for his pioneering work in sustainable agriculture and experimentation with peanuts, was also an artist. The exhibition includes Carver’s paintings, paint samples, and lab equipment, alongside works by contemporary artists and scientists inspired by his ideas. Co-curated by Cameron Shaw and Yael Lipschutz, the show is part of the Getty Foundation’s citywide Pacific Standard Time initiative, with the 2024 edition themed “Art and Science Collide.”
George Washington Carver “used sustainable materials such as peanut- and clay-derived dyes and paints in his many weavings and still-life paintings.”
From left: TEBBS & NELL, East Room of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library, between 1923 and circa 1935. | The Morgan Library & Museum, ARC 1637; CLARENCE H. WHITE (1871–1925), Belle da Costa Greene, 1911. | Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies
EXHIBITION | Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy @ The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, N.Y. | Oct. 25, 2024-May 4, 2025
The exhibition “Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy” at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York, N.Y. presents the life of librarian, scholar, and curator Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950), who was Black and passed as white. The show features materials and portraits shedding light on Greene’s legacy, family history, education, and career, including her role as J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian and her contributions to The Morgan Library & Museum’s exceptional collection. The exhibition coincides with The Morgan’s centennial celebration.
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Prospect.6 Participating Artists. | Images Courtesy the artists and Prospect New Orleans
TRIENNIAL | Prospect.6, Various Venues, New Orleans, La. | Nov. 2, 2024-Feb. 2, 2025
Curator Miranda Lash and artist Ebony G. Patterson are co-artistic directors of the forthcoming edition of Prospect New Orleans. Organized around the theme “the future is present, the harbinger is home,” the citywide, contemporary art triennial will feature mostly newly commissioned works across 20 locations in a series of institutional exhibitions, large-scale installations in public spaces, and presentations in alternative venues. The international list of 49 participating artists include Shannon Alonzo, Ewan Atkinson, Mel Chin, Bethany Collins, Myrlande Constant, Christopher Cozier, Ronald Cyrille aka B.Bird, Abigail DeVille, Jeannette Ehlers, Brendan Fernandes, Nadia Huggins, Deborah Jack, Kelley-Ann Lindo, Joan Jonas, Tessa Mars, Jeffrey Meris, Joiri Minaya, Meleko Mokgosi, Karyn Olivier, Marcel Pinas, Didier William, and Amanda Williams. Several artists live and work in New Orleans, including Hannah Chalew, Abdi Farah, L. Kasimu Harris, Ruth Owens, and Ashley Teamer. CT
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