Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
BEAUFORD DELANEY, “Negro Man (Claude McKay),” 1944 ( oil on canvas, 19.12 x 16.25 inches / 48.6 x 41.3 cm). | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of the 2022 Collectors Committee with additional funds provided by the Robert H. Halff Endowment, the Modern and Contemporary Art Council, and The Buddy Taub Foundation, Jill and Dennis Roach, Directors, © Estate of Beauford Delaney, by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire, Court Appointed Administrator, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, N.Y.
Acquisitions
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced nine new acquisitions, including “Negro Man (Claude McKay)” (1944) by Beauford Delaney, the first Delaney work to enter a public collection in Los Angeles; “Only Time Will Tell” (2011-13), a hand-carved clock by Frank E. Cummings III; and William Armfield Hobday’s “Portrait of Prince Saunders” (circa 1815). | More
Art Fairs
New York City art institutions have collaborated to launch New York Art Week, from May 5-12. The inaugural event is hosted by 20 museums, galleries, art fairs (Independent Art Fair, TEFAF New York, NADA New York, and Future Fair), and auction houses. | More
Underway online, the second edition of the Atlantic World Art Fair (April 19-May 5) wraps up this week. A dozen galleries and art projects from the Caribbean and Atlantic Islands are featuring works by a spectrum of artists from the region. | More
Later this month, the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns to New York at a new location, Harlem Parish, from May 19-22. The fair is hosting 25 galleries from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, with an emphasis on New York and Harlem-based galleries. | More
From left, Exhibition Designer Victoria Renée Edwards and Christopher Moore, preserver of Black New York history. | Photos by Emmai Alaquiva and Courtesy NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
Lives
Exhibition designer Victoria Renée Edwards, 30, died in December of COVID. A native of Philadelphia, Pa., she worked at Eisterhold Associates Inc., a Kansas City, Mo., design firm. She dedicated her final days to “August Wilson: The Writer’s Landscape,” a permanent exhibition that opened April 16 at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (AWAACC) in Pittsburgh, Pa. In honor of Edwards, AWAACC renamed its 1839 gallery, now calling it The Victoria Gallery. | CBS Philly
Christopher Moore, long-serving member of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (1995-2015) and former research coordinator for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, died March 13 in Brooklyn. The cause was complications of COVID and pneumonia. He was 70. A curator, author, and city historian, Moore’s efforts led to the preservation of the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan. | New York Times
From left, Elliott Broom is COO at the Detroit Institute of Arts; Mariel Novas will head learning and community engagement at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. | Courtesy DIA and MFA Boston
Appointments
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston appointed Mariel Novas as chief of learning and community engagement. Most recently, she served as transition director for Mayor Michelle Wu, who was elected the first woman, first person of color, and first Asian American to serve as Mayor of Boston in 2021. Novas officially joins MFA on May 16. | More
Elliott Broom was named chief operating officer of the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). He previously served as vice president of museum operations at DIA. | Detroit News
Tiffany Bradley is the new associate director of communications at Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) in Northampton, Mass. Bradley is the founder of Colored Criticism, a New York-based media and consulting firm. She started at SCMA on April 29. | More
Public Art
Fred Wilson and Rashid Johnson are among six New York artists commissioned to create permanent, large-scale installations for Delta’s new $4 billion Terminal C scheduled to open this spring at LaGuardia Airport. | More
More News
In early April, thieves broke into the donation box on site at the Noah Purifoy Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Art in Joshua Tree, Calif. In an update on Instagram, the Noah Purifoy Foundation wrote: “For us as a small non-profit foundation this is devastating! Much of our funding from the general public is collected this way, and has been for almost two decades. We think it’s probably the same jerks who stole our box a year ago.” | More here and here
Led by Hamza Walker, LAXART in Los Angeles purchased a new building, providing the alternative art space with a permanent home set to open in October. | Art Newspaper
The Historic Savannah Foundation plans to restore the Savannah, Ga., home of artist Virginia Jackson Kiah (1911-2001) where she established a museum in 1959, because “as a Black woman during segregation, she wasn’t allowed to enter other museums as a visitor, much less to exhibit her artwork.” | Associated Press
